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New Yorkers will learn who will be their next mayor 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 witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against each other. The contest has become an acrimonious showdown, marked by accusations of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two main contenders that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the backing of wealthy contributors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat his opponent in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has campaigned on a agenda of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about 2 million New Yorkers, has led Cuomo by significant margins in every poll conducted in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

However, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid accusations of misconduct, has made it clear he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed Mamdani's objectives as unachievable, and in recent days laughed as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after posting an AI-generated ad that featured a series of racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani freeing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby conclusion to an election that could be critical to the direction that the party, floundering in its response to the former president's power moves, adopts in the coming years.

National Implications

Should the progressive secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his campaign will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to voters' anger at inequality, inflation and the political elite. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to embrace at least some of Mamdani's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the fresh face has created an excitement within the Democratic ranks arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House eight years ago.

Conversely, if Cuomo, who had been predicted to win easily in the June primary, complete a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of considered, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has angered grassroots members. A NYC defeat of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could persuade party leaders that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as polls show the present version of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in the city appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than his opponent's supporters, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. The candidate's snappy videos on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his readiness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has drawn an army of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

However, the former governor, 67, isn't giving up. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has turned to ugly messaging in the final days.

After spending months throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting the candidate directly. He has called Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with a rightwing host, where the candidate claimed the city “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It reached a nadir recently, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to the capital and warned to do the same to New York, has said about the progressive, and maybe that is expected. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to the Republican in the 2024 election, have pumped millions into trying to elect the independent elected, as other influential figures have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the contest.

Political Histories

For the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in truth, few even noticed.

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 seemingly held every edge. The quintessential political insider, he had married a Kennedy and worked in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as New York governor in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, left office from the same position.

The progressive, who was elected to the New York state assembly in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – offer a more positive vision of the city's direction than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Still, Mamdani has encountered some challenges in the final phase, after footage emerged appearing to show 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 neck, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the recording, recorded at a DSA gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the nation is committing genocide in Gaza, indicated he was criticizing joint training exercises between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, Mamdani appears to have won empathy and backing, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a Muslim uncle 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 shadows alone where followers of Islam could express their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our faith.”

Speaking to the actions of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has claimed Mamd