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New Yorkers will learn who will be their next mayor this election day, in a race that will determine who governs and protects the nation's largest city at a moment when Donald Trump has threatened to deploy military troops to the city.

In this context, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democratic figures against each other. The contest has become an acrimonious face-off, marked by accusations of racism and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading candidates that could have major implications for how the party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has attracted global notice. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the support of wealthy contributors and big business.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the former longshot who beat Cuomo in the party primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has run on a agenda of economic justice and pledged to freeze rent for about 2 million city residents, has led Cuomo by double-digits in every poll conducted in October, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid accusations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has criticized Mamdani's objectives as unachievable, and in recent days laughed as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was strongly criticized as bigoted after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a series of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent releasing a group of criminals.

This represents a particularly ugly conclusion to an election that could be key to the direction that the party, struggling in its response to Trump's power moves, adopts in the coming years.

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a message that has appealed to voters' anger at inequality, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to adopt at least some of the candidate's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the fresh face has created an excitement within the party perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders campaigned for the White House in 2016.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, achieve a surprising comeback win, it could reinforce the party's current model of cautious, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has infuriated grassroots members. A NYC rejection of Mamdani's optimistic platform could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as polls show the current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Voters in New York appear to favor the progressive agenda. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their candidate than his opponent's supporters, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. The candidate's snappy videos on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his willingness to actually get out and meet people in the city has drawn an army of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Negative Tactics

Yet, Cuomo, 67, isn't giving up. And with the risks against him, the ex-leader has resorted to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

Following extensive launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might stick, the independent has concentrated on targeting the candidate personally. He has labelled his rival, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and appeared on conservative media for an interview with a rightwing host, where the candidate claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It reached a nadir recently, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the military reserves to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to Trump in the 2024 election, have pumped millions into trying to elect the independent into office, as other influential figures have urged the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should not have reached to this point. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had known him, and in reality, barely anyone even noticed.

Cuomo, by contrast, eased his way into the contest in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who seemingly held every edge. The classic establishment figure, he had wed a political dynasty member and served in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in over a decade ago, 17 years after his father, Mario Cuomo, left office from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was elected to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, the candidate has encountered some challenges in recent days, after footage emerged suggesting him suggesting the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been laced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in recent years. The progressive, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, Mamdani seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s escalating attacks.

Mamdani addressed the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled 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, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our community. That it is in those shadows alone where followers of Islam could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our faith.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd