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Residents of the Big Apple will learn the identity of their next mayor this Tuesday, in a race that will determine who governs and defends the nation's most populous metropolis at a time when the former president has vowed to deploy armed forces to the city.

In this context, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democrats against one another. The contest has become an acrimonious face-off, marked by accusations of racism and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two main contenders that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. On the establishment side is the former governor, the former New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of wealthy contributors and big business.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who beat his opponent in the party primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has run on a agenda of affordability and promised to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has led his rival by double-digits in every poll taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's race to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, Cuomo, who resigned as the state's leader in recent years amid accusations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has criticized his opponent's objectives as unachievable, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that included a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby end to an election that could be key to the direction that the Democratic party, struggling in its reaction to the former president's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

If Mamdani secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his campaign will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to Americans' anger at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to embrace at least some of the candidate's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the fresh face has generated an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of considered, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has angered the party base. A NYC defeat of the progressive's optimistic platform could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to stick to the political center – even as polls show the present version of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. The candidate's engaging content on digital platforms, his optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has attracted an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them young or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

Yet, Cuomo, 67, continues to fight. And with the risks against him, the former governor has turned to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

Following extensive launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on attacking the candidate personally. He has labelled Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and appeared on conservative media for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted New York “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

The line of attack mirrors much of what the former president, who has deployed the military reserves to Washington DC and warned to do the same to New York, has said about the progressive, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of wealthy residents, including some who contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent elected, as other powerful voices have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

For the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should never have come to this point. When the assemblyman, one of 150 New York state assembly members, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had heard of him, and in truth, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the contest in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who apparently held all the advantages. The classic political insider, he had wed a Kennedy and served in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in 2011, 17 years after his father, the former governor, stepped down from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was elected to the New York state assembly in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – present a more positive vision of the city's direction than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, Mamdani has encountered some challenges in recent days, after video surfaced suggesting him implying the NYPD and the IDF were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the clip, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in recent years. The progressive, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, indicated he was questioning cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, the candidate seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

The progressive responded to Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first ran for state assembly, a family member advised to him that he did not have to disclose about his Muslim faith. It was a realization, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces 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 leave our beliefs.”

Speaking to the actions of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has claimed Mamd