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New Yorkers will find out who will be their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will determine who governs and protects the country's most populous metropolis at a time when the former president has vowed to deploy military troops to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against each other. The election has become an increasingly bitter face-off, laced with alleged racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two main candidates that could have significant consequences for how the party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has brought global notice. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the ex- Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of wealthy contributors and big business.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid allegations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unrealistic, and in the final stretch laughed as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was strongly criticized as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

This represents a particularly ugly end to an election that could be critical to the direction that the Democratic party, struggling in its reaction to the former president's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the coming years.

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his campaign will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to voters' anger at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be hard for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least some of the candidate's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the party perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

However, if the former governor, who had been predicted to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising comeback victory, it could cement the party's existing approach of considered, lackluster resistance – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York rejection of the progressive's progressive, positive message could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to stick to the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of New York seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. The candidate's snappy videos on social media, his hopeful outlook for New York and his readiness to actually get out and connect with voters in the city has drawn an force of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them young or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

However, the former governor, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has resorted to negative campaigning in the final days.

Following extensive launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on targeting Mamdani personally. He has called Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with a rightwing host, where Cuomo claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what Trump, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to New York, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to the Republican in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to get the independent elected, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the race.

Political Histories

For the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in last year, not many had heard of him, and in truth, barely anyone even noticed.

The former governor, by comparison, entered smoothly into the race in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who apparently held every edge. The classic establishment figure, he had wed a Kennedy and worked in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in 2011, 17 years after his father, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was elected to the New York state assembly in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a more positive vision of the future than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, Mamdani has encountered some challenges in recent days, after video surfaced appearing to show him implying the New York police department and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the recording, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, indicated he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, Mamdani seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani addressed the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a lesson, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where Muslims could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our faith.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd