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New Yorkers will discover who will be their next mayor this election day, in a race that will determine who runs and defends the country's largest city at a moment when the former president has threatened to deploy military troops to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democrats against each other. The contest has turned into an increasingly bitter showdown, laced with alleged racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two leading candidates that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has attracted international attention. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the former New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the support of ultra-rich donors and big business.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys conducted in October, and it is very much the younger man's race to lose.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid allegations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unrealistic, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was strongly criticized as bigoted after posting an AI-generated ad that included a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby conclusion to an race that could be key to the path that the Democratic party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the coming years.

National Implications

If Mamdani secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has resonated with Americans' anger at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to adopt at least a portion of the candidate's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the fresh face has created an excitement within the party perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

However, should the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce national Democrats' existing approach of considered, lackluster resistance – a tactic that has infuriated the party base. A NYC rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of the city appear to favor 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. Mamdani's engaging content on social media, his optimistic vision for the city and his readiness to actually get out and connect with voters in the metropolis has attracted an force of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them youth or new participants.

Personal Attacks

However, the former governor, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the stakes stacked against him, the former governor has resorted to negative campaigning in the final days.

After spending months launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might resonate, the independent has narrowed his focus on targeting the candidate directly. He has called his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It hit bottom last week, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy echoes much of what the former president, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and warned to do the same to New York, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that is expected. A set of wealthy residents, including some who contributed to the Republican in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to elect the independent into office, as other influential figures have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had heard of him, and in truth, few even noticed.

The former governor, by comparison, eased his way into the race in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who seemingly held all the advantages. The classic establishment figure, he had wed a Kennedy and served in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in 2011, 17 years after his father, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the identical role.

The progressive, who was voted in to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – present a brighter outlook of the future than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Still, Mamdani has faced difficulties in the final phase, after footage surfaced appearing to show him implying the New York police department and the IDF were intertwined.

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

Emotional Response

As the race closes, the candidate seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani addressed the independent's terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a realization, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows of our city. 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 shadows, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our faith.”

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