🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will discover the identity of their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will determine who runs and protects the nation's largest city at a time when the former president has threatened to send military troops to the urban center.

In this context, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democrats against each other. The contest has turned into an increasingly bitter face-off, marked by accusations of racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two main candidates that could have significant consequences for how the party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has brought global notice. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the support of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and pledged to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by significant margins in every poll taken in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid allegations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed Mamdani's objectives as unrealistic, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that included a slew of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani freeing a group of criminals.

It's been a particularly ugly end to an race that could be key to the direction that the party, floundering in its reaction to the former president's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

If Mamdani wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has resonated with Americans' frustration at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least a portion of the candidate's progressive proposals about affordability, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the party arguably not seen since Bernie Sanders campaigned for the White House eight years ago.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, complete a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could cement the party's current model of considered, lackluster resistance – a tactic that has infuriated the party base. A New York rejection of the progressive's progressive, positive message could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to remain in the political center – even as polls show the present version of the Democratic party is widely disliked nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of New York appear to favor the progressive agenda. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. Mamdani's engaging content on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has attracted an force of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

Yet, Cuomo, 67, continues to fight. And with the risks stacked against him, the former governor has turned to ugly messaging in recent weeks.

Following extensive launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on targeting the candidate directly. He has called his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted the city “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Political Landscape

The line of attack echoes much of what the former president, who has sent the military reserves to the capital and warned to take similar action to NYC, has said about the progressive, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo into office, as other powerful voices have pressured the Republican candidate to drop out from the race.

Political Histories

For the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, started his mayoral bid in last year, not many had known him, and in truth, barely anyone even noticed.

Cuomo, by contrast, eased his way into the contest in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held every edge. The quintessential political insider, he had wed a political dynasty member and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became New York governor in 2011, seventeen years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, left office from the same position.

The progressive, who was elected to the state legislature in 2020, 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 city's direction than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, Mamdani has faced some challenges in the final phase, after footage emerged suggesting him implying 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 IDF,” Mamdani said in the clip, filmed at a DSA gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, suggested he was questioning joint training exercises between the city police and IDF.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, Mamdani seems to have gained 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, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a family member advised 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 Muslims could express their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must leave our beliefs.”

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