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New Yorkers will learn the identity of their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will decide who runs and defends the country's largest city at a moment when the former president has vowed to send military troops to the city.

In this context, New York has experienced a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democrats against each other. The election has become an increasingly bitter 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 significant consequences 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 progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and people-powered movement has brought 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 corporations.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and pledged to halt rent increases for about 2 million city residents, has led Cuomo by double-digits in every poll taken in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

However, Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has criticized Mamdani's objectives as unachievable, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a radio host 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 slew of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani releasing a convicts.

This represents a particularly ugly conclusion to an election that could be key to the direction that the party, floundering in its response to Trump's authoritarian grabs, takes in the near future.

Broader Consequences

Should Mamdani wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his campaign will be forced to reckon with a platform that has resonated with voters' frustration at inequality, inflation and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least some of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the newcomer has generated an enthusiasm within the party arguably not seen since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House eight years ago.

However, should Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, complete a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could reinforce national Democrats' existing approach of cautious, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has angered the party base. A NYC defeat 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 present version of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of New York seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that his backers are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. Mamdani's engaging content on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his readiness to actually venture out and meet people in the city has drawn an army of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them young or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

However, the former governor, 67, isn't giving up. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has resorted to negative campaigning in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might resonate, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on attacking the candidate directly. He has labelled Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted the city “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It hit bottom recently, when Cuomo 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 military reserves to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about the progressive, and maybe that is expected. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to the Republican in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get the independent into office, as other powerful voices have urged Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the contest.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should never have come to this point. When the assemblyman, one of 150 New York state assembly members, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even paid attention.

The former governor, by comparison, eased his way into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held every edge. The classic political insider, he had wed a political dynasty member and worked in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as the state's leader in over a decade ago, 17 years after his parent, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was elected to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – present a more positive vision of the future than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has encountered difficulties in the final phase, after video surfaced appearing to show him suggesting the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been laced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the recording, recorded at a DSA convention in 2023. The progressive, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the country is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, the candidate seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his response to his opponent's escalating attacks.

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

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