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Residents of the Big Apple will find out who will be their new city leader this Tuesday, in a race that will determine who runs and defends the country's largest city at a moment when the former president has threatened to send military troops to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democratic figures against each other. The contest has become an increasingly bitter face-off, marked by accusations of racism and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two leading candidates that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. On the establishment side is the former governor, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the support of wealthy contributors and big business.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who beat his opponent in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has run on a agenda of economic justice and promised to freeze rent for about 2 million city residents, has outpaced 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

However, Cuomo, who resigned as the state's leader in recent years amid allegations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has criticized his opponent's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was strongly criticized as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that featured a series of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

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

Broader Consequences

Should the progressive secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his bid will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to voters' frustration at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be hard for the Senate leader and the House leader not to embrace at least a portion of the candidate's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the fresh face has created an enthusiasm within the party arguably not seen since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House in 2016.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising comeback victory, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of considered, lackluster resistance – a strategy that has angered the party base. A New York rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to remain in the political center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the party is widely disliked nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in New York seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. The candidate's engaging content on social media, his hopeful outlook for New York and his willingness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the city has drawn an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

However, Cuomo, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the risks stacked against him, the ex-leader has turned to negative campaigning in the final days.

After spending months launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on targeting Mamdani directly. He has called his rival, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and appeared on conservative media for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted the city “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It reached a nadir last week, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

The line of attack mirrors much of what the former president, who has deployed the military reserves to Washington DC and threatened to take similar action to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that is expected. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to the Republican in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get the independent into office, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should not have reached to this point. When the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, started his mayoral bid in October 2024, not many had heard of him, and in truth, few even paid attention.

The former governor, by comparison, eased his way into the contest in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held all the advantages. The quintessential establishment figure, he had wed a Kennedy and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became New York governor in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, left office from the identical role.

The progressive, who was elected to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook of the city's direction than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, the candidate has faced some challenges in recent days, after video emerged appearing to show him suggesting the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your throat, it’s been laced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the clip, filmed at a DSA gathering in 2023. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the nation is committing genocide in Gaza, suggested he was criticizing joint training exercises between the city police and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, Mamdani seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his response to his opponent's escalating attacks.

Mamdani responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a family member advised to him that he did not have to disclose about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, he said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been taught “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could express their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must leave our faith.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd