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New Yorkers will learn who will be their next mayor this election day, in a race that will determine who governs and defends the nation's largest city at a time when Donald Trump has vowed to deploy military troops to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democratic figures against each other. The election has become an acrimonious showdown, laced with accusations of racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two main contenders that could have major implications for how the Democratic party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and people-powered movement has attracted global notice. On the establishment side is the former governor, the ex- Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the support of wealthy contributors and big business.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and promised to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has outpaced Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid allegations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unrealistic, and in the final stretch laughed as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was strongly criticized as bigoted after posting an AI-generated ad that featured a slew of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent releasing a group of criminals.

It's been a rather grubby end to an election that could be key to the direction that the Democratic party, floundering in its response to Trump's power moves, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

Should Mamdani secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has resonated with Americans' anger at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to adopt at least some of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the party arguably not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, should Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, complete a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could cement national Democrats' current model of cautious, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has infuriated the party base. A NYC defeat of Mamdani's optimistic platform could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as polls show the present version of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Residents of the city appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that his backers are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. Mamdani's engaging content on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to actually venture out and meet people in the metropolis has drawn an force of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

However, Cuomo, 67, isn't giving up. And with the risks against him, the former governor has resorted to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might resonate, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting Mamdani directly. He has called his rival, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and appeared on conservative media for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo claimed the city “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy mirrors much of what Trump, who has deployed the military reserves to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to New York, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to the Republican in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent into office, as other influential figures have pressured the Republican candidate to drop out from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should never have come to this. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty New York state assembly members, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, few had known him, and in truth, barely anyone even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the race in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held every edge. The classic establishment figure, he had married a political dynasty member and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was elected to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a more positive vision of the future than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Still, the candidate has faced difficulties in the final phase, after video surfaced suggesting him implying the NYPD and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the police is on your neck, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the recording, recorded at a DSA convention in 2023. The progressive, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the nation is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning joint training exercises between the city police and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, Mamdani appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani responded to Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a Muslim uncle advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, he said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our community. That it is in those shadows alone where followers of Islam could express their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our beliefs.”

Speaking to the behavior of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd