🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will discover the identity of their new city leader this Tuesday, in a contest that will decide who runs and defends the country's largest city at a moment when Donald Trump has threatened to deploy armed forces to the city.

In this context, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has pitted two very different Democrats against one another. The contest has become an acrimonious face-off, marked by alleged racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. On the establishment side is the former governor, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat his opponent in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and pledged to freeze rent for about two million New Yorkers, has led Cuomo by double-digits in every poll taken in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's race to lose.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has criticized Mamdani's objectives as unachievable, and in recent days chuckled along as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a group of criminals.

This represents a rather grubby conclusion to an race that could be key to the direction that the Democratic party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's power moves, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his campaign will be compelled to address a platform that has appealed to voters' frustration at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be hard for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least some of Mamdani's progressive proposals about affordability, given the fresh face has created an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders campaigned for the White House in 2016.

However, should Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce national Democrats' existing approach of cautious, lackluster resistance – a tactic that has infuriated the party base. A NYC rejection of the progressive's progressive, positive message could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as polls show the present version of the party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in New York seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident during the race. The candidate's engaging content on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his readiness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has drawn an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

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

Following extensive launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might stick, the independent has narrowed his focus on targeting Mamdani directly. He has called Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an "radical", and appeared on Fox Business for an interview with a rightwing host, where Cuomo asserted the city “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It hit bottom recently, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to Washington DC and warned to do the same to New York, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that is expected. A set of wealthy residents, including some who contributed to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to get the independent elected, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the contest.

Political Histories

For the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When the assemblyman, one of 150 New York state assembly members, started his mayoral bid in last year, few had heard of him, and in truth, few even paid attention.

Cuomo, by contrast, eased his way into the race in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who seemingly held all the advantages. The classic political insider, he had married a Kennedy and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became New York governor in 2011, 17 years after his father, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

Mamdani, who was elected to the New York state assembly in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a more positive vision of the future than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, Mamdani has encountered difficulties in the final phase, after footage emerged suggesting him implying the NYPD and the IDF were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the clip, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in 2023. The progressive, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, indicated he was criticizing joint training exercises between the city police and IDF.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, the candidate seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his response to Cuomo’s escalating attacks.

The progressive responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, he said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces 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 shadows that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Addressing the behavior of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has alleged Mamd