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Residents of the Big Apple will learn who will be their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will determine who runs and defends the country's largest city at a time when the former president has vowed to send military troops to the city.

In this context, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against one another. The election has turned into an increasingly bitter face-off, laced with alleged racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two main candidates that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has brought global notice. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the ex- Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the backing of wealthy contributors and corporations.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated Cuomo in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has campaigned on a agenda of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about 2 million city residents, has outpaced Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys conducted in October, and it is very much the progressive's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid accusations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has criticized Mamdani's goals as unrealistic, and in the final stretch laughed as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was widely condemned as bigoted after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a slew of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani releasing a group of criminals.

It's been a particularly ugly end to an election that could be critical to the path that the party, struggling in its reaction to the former president's authoritarian grabs, takes in the near future.

National Implications

If the progressive secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to voters' frustration at inequality, soaring price rises 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 created an excitement within the Democratic ranks arguably not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, should Cuomo, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could cement national Democrats' existing approach of considered, lackluster resistance – a strategy that has infuriated the party base. A New York defeat of Mamdani's optimistic platform could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to stick to the center – even as polls show the present version of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York appear to favor the progressive agenda. Polls show that his backers are far more enthusiastic about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. The candidate's snappy videos on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to actually get out and meet people in the metropolis has drawn an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them young or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

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

After spending months launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might resonate, Cuomo has concentrated on attacking Mamdani directly. He has called his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and popped up on conservative media for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent 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 incident.

Political Landscape

The line of attack mirrors much of what the former president, who has deployed the military reserves to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to NYC, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that is expected. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to elect the independent elected, as other influential figures have pressured the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should never have come to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 New York state assembly members, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, few had known him, and in reality, few even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the contest 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 Kennedy and served in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, left office from the same position.

Mamdani, who was elected to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – offer a more positive vision of the future than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Still, Mamdani has encountered some challenges in the final phase, after video surfaced appearing to show him implying the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the recording, recorded at a DSA convention in 2023. Mamdani, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, suggested he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

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

Mamdani responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled 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, he said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could express their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd