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New Yorkers will discover the identity of their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will determine who runs and defends the country's largest city at a moment when the former president has vowed to send armed forces to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against one another. The election has become an acrimonious showdown, marked by accusations of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading candidates that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party performs 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 attracted global notice. On the establishment side is the former governor, the ex- New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the support of wealthy contributors and big business.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the former longshot who defeated Cuomo in the party primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and pledged 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 throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

However, the former governor, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid accusations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed Mamdani's objectives as unrealistic, and in recent days laughed as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a group of criminals.

It's been a particularly ugly conclusion to an race that could be critical to the direction that the party, floundering in its response to Trump's power moves, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

Should Mamdani secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has resonated with Americans' anger at inequality, inflation and the establishment. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least some of the candidate's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the newcomer has created an excitement within the party arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House in 2016.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been expected to win easily in the June primary, complete a remarkable comeback victory, it could reinforce national Democrats' existing approach of cautious, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York defeat of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to stick to the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the Democratic party is widely disliked nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Residents of the city seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that his backers are much more excited about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. The candidate's engaging content on social media, his optimistic vision for the city and his willingness to actually get out and connect with voters in the city has attracted an force of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them young or new participants.

Personal Attacks

However, Cuomo, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the risks against him, the ex-leader has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

After spending months launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might resonate, the independent has narrowed his focus on targeting the candidate personally. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with a rightwing host, where Cuomo claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It hit bottom recently, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to the Republican in the 2024 election, have pumped millions into trying to elect the independent into office, as other powerful voices have urged the Republican candidate to withdraw from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should not have reached to this point. When Mamdani, one of 150 New York state assembly members, started his campaign for mayor in last year, not many had heard of him, and in truth, barely anyone even paid attention.

The former governor, by contrast, entered smoothly into the contest in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who seemingly held all the advantages. The classic establishment figure, he had married a Kennedy and worked in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as New York governor in 2011, seventeen years after his parent, the former governor, stepped down from the identical role.

The progressive, who was voted in to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook of the city's direction than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, Mamdani has faced some challenges in recent days, after video emerged suggesting him implying the New York police department and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the police is on your neck, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the recording, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. The progressive, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the country is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning cooperative programs between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, Mamdani seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

The progressive responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a Muslim uncle advised to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a realization, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must leave our beliefs.”

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