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Residents of the Big Apple will find out who will be their new city leader 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 vowed to send military troops to the urban center.

In this context, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democrats against each other. The contest has become an acrimonious face-off, marked by accusations of racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two main contenders that could have significant consequences for how the party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the young progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the backing of wealthy contributors and big business.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and promised to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys taken in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's race to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, Cuomo, who resigned as the state's leader in 2021 amid allegations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unrealistic, and in recent days chuckled along as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was strongly criticized as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that included a slew of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent freeing a convicts.

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

National Implications

Should Mamdani wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his bid will be compelled to address a platform that has appealed to Americans' frustration at inequality, inflation and the establishment. It would be hard for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least a portion of the candidate's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

However, if Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could cement national Democrats' existing approach of considered, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has angered the party base. A New York defeat of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to remain in the center – even as polls show the current iteration of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of New York appear to favor the progressive agenda. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent during the race. The candidate's engaging content on social media, his hopeful outlook for the city and his willingness to actually get out and connect with voters in the city has attracted an force of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them young or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

However, the former governor, 67, isn't giving up. And with the stakes stacked against him, the former governor has resorted to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

Following extensive launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might resonate, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on attacking the candidate directly. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted the city “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It hit bottom last week, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that is expected. A group of wealthy residents, including some who contributed to the Republican in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo elected, as other influential figures have pressured the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

For the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should never have come to this point. When Mamdani, one of 150 state legislators, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in reality, few even paid attention.

Cuomo, by contrast, entered smoothly into the race in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held every edge. The classic political insider, he had married a Kennedy and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as the state's leader in 2011, 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 comparable background. But his dedication to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – present a more positive vision of the city's direction than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Still, Mamdani has faced some challenges in the final phase, after video surfaced appearing to show 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 IDF,” the candidate said in the clip, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, indicated he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and IDF.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, Mamdani appears to have won empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani responded to Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a family member suggested to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a realization, 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 hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our faith.”

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