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Residents of the Big Apple will discover who will be their next mayor this election day, in a race that will decide who runs and protects the nation's largest city at a time when the former president has threatened to deploy military troops to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against each other. The contest has turned into an increasingly bitter showdown, marked by alleged racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two leading contenders that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the ex- Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the support of ultra-rich donors and big business.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated his opponent in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has run on a platform of affordability and pledged to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has outpaced his rival by significant margins across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's race to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

However, Cuomo, who resigned 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 above-the-belt manner. He has criticized his opponent's goals as unrealistic, and in the final stretch laughed as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that included a slew of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani releasing a group of criminals.

This represents a rather grubby end to an election that could be key to the path that the party, floundering in its reaction to the former president's power moves, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to Americans' anger at economic disparity, inflation and the establishment. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least some of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the newcomer has created an excitement within the party arguably not seen since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

However, should Cuomo, who had been expected to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of considered, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has angered the party base. A NYC rejection of Mamdani's optimistic platform could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to remain in the political center – even as surveys show the present version of the party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of New York appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that his backers are much more excited about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident during the race. Mamdani's snappy videos on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his readiness to actually get out and meet people in the city has attracted an force of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them young or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

However, Cuomo, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes stacked against him, the former governor has turned to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

After spending months launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on targeting Mamdani personally. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted the city “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It hit bottom recently, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy mirrors much of what the former president, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that is expected. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to the Republican in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to get the independent into office, as other powerful voices have pressured the Republican candidate to drop out from the race.

Political Histories

For the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should not have reached to this point. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, few had known him, and in reality, barely anyone even noticed.

The former governor, by contrast, eased his way into the race 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 Kennedy and served in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in over a decade ago, 17 years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, left office from the same position.

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 affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – offer a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, Mamdani has encountered some challenges in the final phase, after video surfaced suggesting him implying the New York police department and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in 2023. The progressive, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the nation is committing genocide in Gaza, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

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

The progressive responded to the independent's terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first ran 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 local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must leave our beliefs.”

Addressing the behavior of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has claimed Mamd