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New Yorkers will discover who will be their next mayor this election day, in a race that will determine who governs and protects the nation's largest city at a time when the former president has vowed to send armed forces to the city.

In this context, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democrats against one another. The contest has turned into an increasingly bitter showdown, laced with accusations of racism 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 midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the young progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the support of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated his opponent in the party primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and pledged to freeze rent for about 2 million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by double-digits in every poll taken in October, and it is very much the younger man's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was strongly criticized as bigoted after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a series of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent freeing a convicts.

It's been a particularly ugly end to an election that could be key to the direction that the party, struggling in its reaction to the former president's power moves, takes in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

If the progressive wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to Americans' anger at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be hard for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least a portion of Mamdani's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the party perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

However, if Cuomo, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a remarkable comeback win, it could reinforce the party's current model of considered, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has angered the party base. A NYC defeat of the progressive's progressive, positive message could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to stick to the political center – even as surveys show the present version of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of the city appear to favor the progressive agenda. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. Mamdani's snappy videos on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his willingness to actually venture out and meet people in the metropolis has attracted an army of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them young or new participants.

Personal Attacks

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

After spending months launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting Mamdani directly. He has labelled Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted the city “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It reached a nadir last week, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Campaign Dynamics

The line of attack echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the military reserves to Washington DC and warned to do the same to New York, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A set of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to get Cuomo into office, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should not have reached to this point. When the assemblyman, 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 contrast, entered smoothly into the contest in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held every edge. The quintessential establishment figure, he had married a political dynasty member and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became the state's leader in 2011, 17 years after his parent, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

Mamdani, who was elected to the New York state assembly in recently, 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 – offer a more positive vision of the city's direction than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Still, the candidate has encountered some challenges in the final phase, after video emerged suggesting him implying the New York police department and the IDF were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the clip, recorded at a DSA convention in 2023. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

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

The progressive addressed Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a Muslim uncle advised to him that he did not have to disclose about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, he said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where Muslims 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 leave our beliefs.”

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