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New Yorkers will find out who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a contest that will determine who runs and defends the nation's most populous metropolis at a moment when the former president has threatened to send military troops to the urban center.

In this context, New York has experienced a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democrats against each other. The election has become an increasingly bitter showdown, laced with accusations of racial bias and Islamophobia, 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 Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has brought global notice. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the former New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the backing of wealthy contributors and corporations.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about 2 million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by double-digits across all surveys taken in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's race to throw away.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, Cuomo, who resigned as governor in recent years amid accusations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has criticized Mamdani's goals as unrealistic, and in recent days laughed as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after sharing an artificial intelligence video that included a slew of racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani freeing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby conclusion to an race that could be critical to the direction that the party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's power moves, adopts in the near future.

Broader Consequences

If the progressive secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his campaign will be forced to reckon with a message that has resonated with Americans' anger at inequality, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to adopt at least a portion of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks perhaps not witnessed since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

However, should Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a remarkable comeback victory, it could cement national Democrats' existing approach of considered, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has infuriated grassroots members. A NYC rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to remain in the center – even as polls show the present version of the Democratic party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Voters in the city appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. Mamdani's engaging content on social media, his hopeful outlook for New York and his readiness to actually venture out and meet people in the metropolis has drawn an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them young or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

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

Following extensive throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might resonate, Cuomo has concentrated on attacking Mamdani directly. He has called his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted New York “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It hit bottom last week, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what the former president, who has deployed the national guard to the capital and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that is expected. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to elect Cuomo into office, as other powerful voices have urged the Republican candidate to drop out from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should never have come to this. When the assemblyman, one of 150 New York state assembly members, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even paid attention.

Cuomo, by contrast, entered smoothly into the contest in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held all the advantages. The quintessential establishment figure, he had married a Kennedy and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as New York governor in 2011, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – offer a more positive vision of the future than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Still, the candidate has faced difficulties in recent days, after footage surfaced suggesting him suggesting the New York police department and the IDF were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” 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 nation is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was questioning cooperative programs between the NYPD and IDF.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, Mamdani appears to have won empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani 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 advised 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 told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where followers of Islam could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Addressing the behavior of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd