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Residents of the Big Apple will discover the identity of their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will determine who governs and protects the country's largest city at a time when the former president has threatened to deploy armed forces to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has pitted two very different Democrats against each other. The election has become an increasingly bitter face-off, marked by alleged racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two leading candidates that could have major implications for how the party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has brought global notice. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the ex- New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying 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 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 double-digits across all surveys conducted in October, and it is very much the younger man's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who resigned as the state's leader in recent years amid allegations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has criticized Mamdani's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch laughed as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was strongly criticized as bigoted after sharing an artificial intelligence video that included a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby end to an election that could be critical to the direction that the Democratic party, struggling in its reaction to the former president's power moves, adopts in the near future.

Broader Consequences

If Mamdani wins convincingly, 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 economic disparity, inflation and the establishment. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least some of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the party arguably not seen since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House in 2016.

Conversely, if Cuomo, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could cement the party's current model of considered, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has angered the party base. A NYC defeat of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could persuade party leaders that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the present version of the party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in New York seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Surveys show that his backers are much more excited about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident during the race. Mamdani's snappy videos on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his willingness to actually get out and connect with voters in the metropolis has drawn an army of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Negative Tactics

Yet, the former governor, 67, isn't giving up. And with the stakes stacked against him, the former governor has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, the independent has narrowed his focus on targeting Mamdani personally. He has labelled his rival, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted New York “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It hit bottom recently, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what Trump, who has sent the military reserves to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to New York, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to the Republican in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to elect Cuomo into office, as other powerful voices have urged the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, started his mayoral bid in last year, not many had known him, and in reality, barely anyone even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who seemingly held all the advantages. The quintessential establishment figure, he had wed a Kennedy and served in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as the state's leader in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, left office from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the state legislature in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – offer a more positive vision of the future than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, Mamdani has encountered some challenges in recent days, after video surfaced suggesting him suggesting the NYPD and the IDF were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the recording, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a longtime critic 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.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, Mamdani appears to have won empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

The progressive addressed the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a Muslim uncle advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. 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 margins of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Speaking to the actions of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd