🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will discover who will be their new city leader this Tuesday, in a race that will determine who governs and protects the country's most populous metropolis at a moment when the former president has threatened to deploy military troops to the urban center.

In this context, New York has experienced a race for mayor that has matched two very different Democrats against one another. The contest has become an acrimonious face-off, laced with accusations of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two leading candidates that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has attracted global notice. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the ex- New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the support of wealthy contributors and corporations.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the former longshot who defeated his opponent in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has run on a agenda of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has outpaced his rival by double-digits across all surveys conducted in October, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, the former governor, who resigned as governor in recent years amid accusations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has trashed his opponent's objectives as unrealistic, and in the final stretch laughed as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after sharing an artificial intelligence video that included a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

This represents a particularly ugly end to an race that could be key to the path that the party, floundering in its response to the former president's power moves, adopts in the near future.

Broader Consequences

If the progressive wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a message that has appealed to voters' anger at inequality, inflation and the establishment. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least a portion of the candidate's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the fresh face has created an enthusiasm within the party perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, achieve a surprising comeback victory, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of considered, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has infuriated the party base. A NYC rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to stick to the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the party is widely disliked nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in the city appear to favor the progressive agenda. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's snappy videos on social media, his hopeful outlook for New York and his readiness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the city has attracted an force of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Negative Tactics

Yet, Cuomo, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes stacked against him, the ex-leader has turned to negative campaigning in the final days.

Following extensive launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, Cuomo has concentrated on attacking the candidate directly. He has labelled his rival, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and popped up on conservative media for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate claimed New York “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It hit bottom recently, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the military reserves to the capital and warned to take similar action to New York, has said about the progressive, and maybe that is expected. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent into office, as other powerful voices have urged the Republican candidate to drop out from the contest.

Political Histories

For the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should never have come to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had known him, and in reality, barely anyone even paid attention.

The former governor, by comparison, entered smoothly into the race in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held all the advantages. The classic political insider, he had wed a political dynasty member and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became New York governor in over a decade ago, 17 years after his father, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

Mamdani, who was voted in to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, the candidate has faced some challenges in the final phase, after video surfaced suggesting him implying the New York police department and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the police is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in 2023. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, suggested he was questioning cooperative programs between the city police and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, Mamdani seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

The progressive responded to Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled 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, he said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where Muslims could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our beliefs.”

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