🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will learn who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a contest that will determine who governs and defends the nation's largest city at a moment when the former president has threatened to send military troops to the urban center.

In this context, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has matched two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against one another. The election has become an acrimonious showdown, marked by accusations of racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two leading candidates that could have significant consequences for how the party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has attracted international attention. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the ex- New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the backing of wealthy contributors and corporations.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the former longshot who beat Cuomo in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and pledged to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys taken in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's election to throw away.

A Bitter Contest

However, the former governor, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid accusations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has criticized Mamdani's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch laughed as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as bigoted after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a slew of racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani freeing a convicts.

This represents a rather grubby conclusion to an election that could be critical to the path that the party, floundering in its response to the former president's power moves, takes in the near future.

Broader Consequences

If the progressive secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his bid will be forced to reckon with a message that has appealed to Americans' frustration at inequality, inflation and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least some of the candidate's progressive proposals about affordability, given the newcomer has generated an enthusiasm within the party arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

However, should Cuomo, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, complete a remarkable comeback victory, it could reinforce the party's current model of cautious, uninspiring resistance – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the present version of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in the city seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. The candidate's snappy videos on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to actually get out and connect with voters in the metropolis has drawn an force of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

However, Cuomo, 67, continues to fight. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has turned to negative campaigning in the final days.

After spending months throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on attacking Mamdani personally. He has called Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and appeared on Fox Business for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate claimed the city “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It reached a nadir recently, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

The line of attack echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to the capital and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that is expected. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to elect Cuomo into office, as other powerful voices have urged the Republican candidate to drop out from the race.

Political Histories

For the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, started his mayoral bid in last year, few had heard of him, and in truth, barely anyone even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the contest in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held all the advantages. The quintessential political insider, he had married a Kennedy and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became the state's leader in 2011, 17 years after his parent, the former governor, left office from the same position.

Mamdani, who was voted in 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 future than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, Mamdani has faced some challenges in recent days, after footage emerged appearing to show him implying the NYPD and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the recording, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, suggested he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and IDF.

Emotional Response

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

The progressive 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 advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims 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 Muslims could express their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our faith.”

Addressing the behavior of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd