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Residents of the Big Apple will find out who will be their next mayor this election day, in a race that will decide who governs and defends the country's most populous metropolis at a time when the former president has vowed to send military troops to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democrats against one another. The election has become an acrimonious face-off, laced with alleged racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two main contenders that could have major implications for how the Democratic party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the young progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has brought global notice. On the establishment side is the former governor, the ex- Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the backing of wealthy contributors and big business.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who beat Cuomo in the party primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and promised to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by significant margins in every poll conducted in October, and it is very much the younger man's race to throw away.

A Bitter Contest

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid accusations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has criticized Mamdani's objectives as unrealistic, and in recent days chuckled along as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a slew of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

This represents a particularly ugly end to an race that could be key to the direction that the party, struggling in its response to the former president's authoritarian grabs, takes in the near future.

National Implications

Should the progressive secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his bid will be compelled to address a platform that has resonated with Americans' anger at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to embrace at least some of the candidate's progressive proposals about affordability, given the newcomer has created an enthusiasm within the party perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

However, if Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, achieve a remarkable comeback win, it could reinforce the party's current model of cautious, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has angered grassroots members. A NYC defeat of Mamdani's optimistic platform could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to stick to the center – even as polls show the current iteration of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Voters in New York seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that his backers are far more enthusiastic about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. The candidate's engaging content on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for the city and his readiness to actually get out and meet people in the city has attracted an force of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them young or new participants.

Personal Attacks

Yet, Cuomo, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the risks against him, the former governor has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

Following extensive 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 Indian parents, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with a rightwing host, where the candidate asserted the city “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir last week, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

The line of attack echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to Washington DC and warned to do the same to New York, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo into office, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the contest.

Political Histories

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should never have come to this point. When the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in last year, few had known him, and in truth, few 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 every edge. The quintessential establishment figure, he had wed a Kennedy and worked in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as the state's leader in over a decade ago, 17 years after his father, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was voted in to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – offer a more positive vision of the city's direction than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, the candidate has encountered some challenges in the final phase, after video emerged appearing to show him suggesting the NYPD and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, indicated he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and IDF.

Powerful Moment

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

The progressive responded to the independent's terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a lesson, he said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Addressing the actions of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has alleged Mamd