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Residents of the Big Apple will find out the identity of their next mayor this election day, in a race that will determine who governs and defends the nation's most populous metropolis at a time when the former president has threatened to send military troops to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democrats against each other. The election has turned into an increasingly bitter showdown, laced with accusations of racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two main candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has brought global notice. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the backing of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated Cuomo in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has run on a agenda of affordability and pledged to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has led his rival by significant margins across all surveys conducted in October, and it is very much the progressive's race to throw away.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, Cuomo, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid accusations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has criticized Mamdani's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch laughed as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was strongly criticized as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that included a slew of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent freeing a group of criminals.

It's been a particularly ugly end to an race that could be critical to the path that the Democratic party, floundering in its response to the former president's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the coming years.

National Implications

Should Mamdani wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his bid will be compelled to address a message that has resonated with Americans' anger at inequality, inflation 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 affordability, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

However, if Cuomo, who had been predicted to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could cement the party's existing approach of cautious, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has infuriated the party base. A New York defeat of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to stick to the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in New York seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. The candidate's snappy videos on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his willingness to actually get out and meet people in the metropolis has drawn an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them young or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

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

After spending months throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting the candidate personally. He has called his rival, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted the city “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It reached a nadir recently, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to take similar action to NYC, has said about the progressive, and maybe that is expected. A set of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to get Cuomo elected, as other influential figures have urged the Republican candidate to withdraw from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty New York state assembly members, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, not many had known him, and in truth, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the contest in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held all the advantages. The classic political insider, he had wed a Kennedy and worked in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as New York governor in 2011, seventeen years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was elected 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 freeze-the-rent pledge – 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.

Recent Challenges

Still, Mamdani has encountered some challenges in recent days, after video emerged suggesting him suggesting the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the recording, recorded at a DSA gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and IDF.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, the candidate appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a Muslim uncle advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a realization, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must leave our beliefs.”

Speaking to the behavior of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has alleged Mamd