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Residents of the Big Apple will find out who will be their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will decide who runs and protects the country's largest city at a moment when Donald Trump has threatened to send armed forces to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democrats against one another. The contest has become an acrimonious face-off, laced with alleged racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two main contenders that could have major implications for how the party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the support of wealthy contributors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who defeated his opponent in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and pledged to freeze rent for about 2 million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by significant margins across all surveys conducted in October, and it is very much the younger man's race to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid accusations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has criticized his opponent's objectives as unrealistic, and in recent days chuckled along as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a slew of racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani freeing a group of criminals.

It's been a rather grubby conclusion to an race that could be key to the path that the Democratic party, floundering in its reaction to the former president's authoritarian grabs, takes in the near future.

Broader Consequences

If Mamdani secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have declined to support his campaign will be forced to reckon with a message that has resonated with voters' frustration at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least a portion of Mamdani's progressive proposals about affordability, given the fresh face has generated an enthusiasm within the party arguably not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

However, if the former governor, who had been expected to win easily in the June primary, achieve a remarkable comeback win, it could cement the party's current model of considered, lackluster resistance – a tactic that has infuriated the party base. A NYC rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could convince party leaders that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as polls show the current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in the city appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. The candidate's snappy videos on digital platforms, his optimistic vision for the city and his readiness to actually venture out and meet people in the metropolis has attracted an army of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them young or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

Yet, Cuomo, 67, continues to fight. And with the stakes stacked against him, the ex-leader has turned to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might stick, the independent has narrowed his focus on targeting the candidate personally. He has labelled Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and popped up on conservative media for an interview with a rightwing host, where the candidate claimed the city “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It reached a nadir last week, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy echoes much of what the former president, who has sent the military reserves to Washington DC and warned to do the same 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 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to elect Cuomo elected, as other powerful voices have urged the Republican candidate to drop out from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should never have come to this. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, started his mayoral bid in last year, not many had heard of him, and in reality, few even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the race in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held all the advantages. The classic establishment figure, he had wed a Kennedy and served in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as New York governor in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the state legislature in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication 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 Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Still, the candidate has faced some challenges in the final phase, after footage surfaced suggesting him suggesting the New York police department and the IDF were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your throat, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in recent years. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is committing genocide in Gaza, indicated he was criticizing cooperative programs between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, Mamdani appears to have won empathy and backing, however, for his response to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

The progressive addressed the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for state assembly, a family member advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. 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 shadows alone where followers of Islam could express 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 claimed Mamd