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New Yorkers will discover who will be their new city leader this election day, in a contest that will decide who runs and defends the country's largest city at a time when Donald Trump has vowed to send military troops to the city.

In this context, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has matched two very different Democrats against one another. The contest has become an increasingly bitter showdown, laced with accusations of racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading candidates that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the young progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the former New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the support of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat his opponent in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has run on a platform of affordability and pledged to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys conducted in October, and it is very much the younger man's election to throw away.

A Bitter Contest

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid accusations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed his opponent's objectives as unachievable, and in recent days laughed as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was widely condemned as bigoted after sharing an artificial intelligence video that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a group of criminals.

This represents a particularly ugly conclusion to an election that could be critical to the path that the Democratic party, struggling in its response to the former president's authoritarian grabs, takes in the near future.

National Implications

If Mamdani secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his campaign will be forced to reckon with a message that has appealed to voters' anger at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be hard for the Senate leader and the House leader not to adopt at least some of Mamdani's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the fresh face has generated an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks arguably not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a remarkable comeback victory, it could cement national Democrats' current model of cautious, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has angered the party base. A NYC rejection of the progressive's progressive, positive message could persuade party leaders that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as polls show the current iteration of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in the city appear to favor the progressive agenda. Polls show that his backers are far more enthusiastic about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's engaging content on social media, his hopeful outlook for the city and his willingness to actually get out and connect with voters in the city has attracted an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

Yet, Cuomo, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes stacked against him, the former governor has resorted to ugly messaging in recent weeks.

Following extensive launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting Mamdani personally. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an "radical", and appeared on Fox Business for an interview with a rightwing host, where Cuomo asserted New York “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir last week, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

The line of attack echoes much of what the former president, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to NYC, 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 Trump in the 2024 election, have pumped millions into trying to elect Cuomo elected, as other powerful voices have urged the Republican candidate to drop out from the contest.

Political Histories

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should never have come to this point. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, launched his mayoral bid in last year, few had known him, and in reality, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by contrast, eased his way into the race in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who apparently held all the advantages. The quintessential political insider, he had married a political dynasty member and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became New York governor in 2011, 17 years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the New York state assembly in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – offer a more positive vision of the city's direction than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, Mamdani has faced difficulties in the final phase, after footage surfaced suggesting him implying the New York police department and the IDF were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the clip, recorded at a DSA convention in 2023. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.

Powerful Moment

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

Mamdani addressed Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a Muslim uncle advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a lesson, Mamdani 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 embrace their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our faith.”

Speaking to the actions of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd