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Residents of the Big Apple will find out who will be their next mayor this election day, in a race that will decide who runs and defends the country's largest city at a moment when Donald Trump has vowed to send military troops to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democratic figures against each other. The contest has become an increasingly bitter face-off, marked by alleged racism and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading contenders that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the young democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and people-powered movement has brought global notice. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the support 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 leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and pledged to freeze rent for about 2 million New Yorkers, has led Cuomo by double-digits across all surveys taken in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's race to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid accusations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an fair fashion. He has criticized Mamdani's objectives as unrealistic, and in recent days chuckled along as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was widely condemned as bigoted after sharing an AI-generated ad that featured a series of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani freeing a convicts.

It's been a particularly ugly conclusion to an race that could be key to the path that the Democratic party, floundering in its response to the former president's power moves, takes in the near future.

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the party establishment who have declined to support his campaign will be forced to reckon with a message that has resonated with Americans' frustration at inequality, inflation and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least a portion of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks arguably not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, if Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a surprising comeback victory, it could cement the party's current model of considered, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has angered grassroots members. A New York rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to stick to the political center – even as polls show the present version of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Voters in New York appear to favor the progressive agenda. Surveys show that his backers are much more excited about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent during the race. The candidate's engaging content on digital platforms, his optimistic vision for the city and his willingness 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.

Personal Attacks

However, the former governor, 67, continues to fight. And with the risks stacked against him, the former governor has turned to negative campaigning in the final days.

After spending months throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might resonate, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting Mamdani directly. He has labelled Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with a rightwing host, where the candidate claimed New York “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what the former president, who has deployed the national guard to the capital and warned to take similar action to New York, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo elected, as other influential figures have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should never have come to this. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had known him, and in reality, few even paid attention.

The former governor, by contrast, entered smoothly into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held all the advantages. The classic establishment figure, he had wed a political dynasty member and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became New York governor in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, left office from the same position.

Mamdani, who was elected to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook of the city's direction than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, the candidate has encountered some challenges in recent days, after footage emerged appearing to show him suggesting the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your neck, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in 2023. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, suggested he was questioning joint training exercises between the city police and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, the candidate seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his response to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

The progressive addressed the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first ran for state assembly, a family member suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a realization, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows of our community. That it is in those shadows alone where followers of Islam could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must leave our beliefs.”

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