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

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democrats against each other. The contest has turned into an acrimonious showdown, marked by alleged racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two leading contenders 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 the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the ex- New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the support of ultra-rich donors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated his opponent in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a agenda of affordability and promised to freeze rent for about 2 million New Yorkers, has led his rival by significant margins in every poll conducted in October, and it is very much the younger man's race to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has trashed his opponent's objectives as unrealistic, and in recent days chuckled along as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was strongly criticized as bigoted after posting an artificial intelligence video that included a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a group of criminals.

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

National Implications

If Mamdani wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his bid will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to Americans' frustration at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and the House leader not to embrace at least a portion of the candidate's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the newcomer has created an excitement within the party perhaps not witnessed since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House in 2016.

However, if Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, complete a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of considered, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has angered the party base. A NYC 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 current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of the city appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident during the race. The candidate's engaging content on social media, his optimistic vision for the city and his willingness to actually get out and connect with voters in the metropolis has attracted 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 ex-leader has turned to ugly messaging in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting Mamdani directly. He has labelled his rival, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and appeared on conservative media for an interview with a rightwing host, where the candidate asserted New York “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It hit bottom recently, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style incident.

Political Landscape

The line of attack echoes much of what the former president, who has deployed the military reserves to the capital and warned to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that is expected. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to get Cuomo elected, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the contest.

Political Histories

For the his team, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had heard of him, and in reality, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by contrast, entered smoothly into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who apparently held all the advantages. The quintessential political insider, he had wed a political dynasty member and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as the state's leader in over a decade ago, 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 dedication to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a brighter outlook of the city's direction than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has faced some challenges in the final phase, after video emerged suggesting him suggesting the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the recording, filmed at a DSA gathering in recent years. The progressive, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the country is committing genocide in Gaza, indicated he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, Mamdani seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his response to Cuomo’s escalating attacks.

Mamdani responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first ran for the legislature, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his Muslim faith. It was a realization, he said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where Muslims could express their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our beliefs.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd