New Yorkers will learn who will be their new city leader this Tuesday, in a contest that will decide who runs and protects the nation's most populous metropolis at a time when the former president has threatened to deploy armed forces to the city.
In this context, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has pitted two very different Democrats against one another. The election has become an acrimonious face-off, laced with accusations of racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two leading contenders that could have major implications for how the party performs in next year's congressional races.
In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign 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 backing of wealthy contributors and big business.
As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who defeated Cuomo in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a agenda of economic justice and pledged to halt rent increases for about 2 million New Yorkers, has led his rival by double-digits in every poll conducted in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's race to lose.
However, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an fair fashion. He has criticized his opponent's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was strongly criticized as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that included a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.
This represents a rather grubby end to an election that could be critical to the direction that the Democratic party, floundering in its response to Trump's power moves, adopts in the coming years.
Should the progressive secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his campaign will be forced to reckon with a platform that has resonated with voters' anger at inequality, inflation and the establishment. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to embrace at least some of Mamdani's progressive proposals about affordability, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.
Conversely, should Cuomo, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a remarkable comeback win, it could reinforce national Democrats' current model of cautious, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has angered grassroots members. A New York defeat of the progressive's progressive, positive message could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to remain in the center – even as polls show the present version of the Democratic party is widely disliked nationwide.
Residents of New York seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's engaging content on digital platforms, his optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the city has attracted an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them youth or first-time voters.
However, the former governor, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has turned 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 his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and appeared on conservative media for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.
This strategy mirrors much of what the former president, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to take similar action to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A set of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to get the independent into office, as other influential figures have urged Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the race.
For the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 state legislators, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, few had known him, and in truth, few even noticed.
Cuomo, by contrast, eased his way into the race in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held every edge. The classic political insider, he had married a Kennedy and served in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, left office from the identical role.
The progressive, who was elected to the state legislature in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook of the future than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to increase police presence.
Still, Mamdani has encountered difficulties in the final phase, after footage emerged appearing to show him implying the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.
“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the police 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 2023. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the country is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.
As the race closes, Mamdani seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to his opponent's escalating attacks.
The progressive addressed the independent's terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a family member suggested to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a lesson, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where Muslims could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our faith.”
Addressing the actions of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has alleged Mamd
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