🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will learn the identity of their next mayor this Tuesday, in a contest that will determine who runs and protects the country's largest city at a time when the former president has threatened to deploy military troops to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has pitted two very different Democrats against each other. The contest has become an increasingly bitter showdown, laced with alleged racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two main candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the support of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a agenda of economic justice and pledged to halt rent increases for about 2 million New Yorkers, has outpaced Cuomo by double-digits across all surveys conducted in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's race to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who resigned as the state's leader in recent years amid accusations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed Mamdani's objectives as unrealistic, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was strongly criticized as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani releasing a group of criminals.

This represents a particularly ugly conclusion to an race that could be critical to the path that the party, floundering in its reaction to Trump's authoritarian grabs, takes in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

If Mamdani wins convincingly, the party establishment who have declined to support his bid will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to voters' anger at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least some of Mamdani's progressive proposals about affordability, given the fresh face has created an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks arguably not seen since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House in 2016.

Conversely, should Cuomo, who had been predicted to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of cautious, uninspiring resistance – a tactic that has infuriated the party base. A NYC defeat of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to stick to the center – even as surveys show the present version of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of the city seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their candidate than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's engaging content on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his readiness to actually get out and meet people in the metropolis has drawn an force of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

Yet, Cuomo, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes stacked against him, the ex-leader has resorted to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

Following extensive launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on attacking the candidate personally. He has called his rival, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It hit bottom recently, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy mirrors much of what the former president, who has deployed the national guard to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to NYC, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that is expected. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed 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 Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the race.

Political Histories

For the his team, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should never have come to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 New York state assembly members, started his campaign for mayor in last year, few had known him, and in reality, few even paid attention.

The former governor, by comparison, eased his way into the contest in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held all the advantages. The quintessential political insider, he had wed a Kennedy and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, left office from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a more positive vision of the future than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, the candidate has faced some challenges in the final phase, after footage emerged suggesting him implying the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the recording, recorded at a DSA gathering in 2023. The progressive, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the country is committing genocide in Gaza, indicated he was questioning cooperative programs between the city police and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, the candidate seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

The progressive addressed Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a family member advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a lesson, he said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where followers of Islam could express 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 beliefs.”

Speaking to the actions of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd