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New Yorkers will find out who will be their new city leader this election day, in a contest that will decide who runs and defends the country's largest city at a time when the former president has threatened to deploy military troops to the urban center.

In this context, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democrats against one another. The contest has turned into an acrimonious face-off, marked by accusations of racism and Islamophobia, 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 midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the ex- New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the backing of ultra-rich donors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat Cuomo in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and pledged to halt rent increases 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 younger man's election to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as the state's leader in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair fashion. He has criticized Mamdani's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch laughed as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was strongly criticized as bigoted after posting an AI-generated ad that featured a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby end to an race that could be critical to the direction that the Democratic party, floundering in its response to the former president's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

Should Mamdani wins convincingly, the party establishment who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has resonated with Americans' frustration at economic disparity, inflation and the establishment. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least a portion of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the fresh face has created an enthusiasm within the party perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

However, should the former governor, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, achieve a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could cement the party's existing approach of considered, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has angered the party base. A NYC defeat of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the present version of the party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Campaign Energy

Voters in the city seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that his backers are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's snappy videos on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for the city and his willingness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the city has drawn an force of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

However, the former governor, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the risks stacked against him, the ex-leader has turned to negative campaigning in the final days.

After spending months throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting Mamdani personally. He has called his rival, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an "radical", and appeared on conservative media for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo claimed the city “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It reached a nadir last week, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style incident.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy mirrors much of what the former president, who has deployed the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to take similar action to New York, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that is expected. A set of wealthy residents, including some who donated to the Republican in the 2024 election, have pumped millions into trying to get Cuomo into office, as other influential figures have urged the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

For the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should never have come to this point. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty New York state assembly members, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in reality, few even paid attention.

The former governor, by comparison, 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 classic political insider, he had wed a Kennedy and worked in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was elected to the state legislature in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – present a more positive vision of the city's direction than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Still, Mamdani has encountered some challenges in recent days, after footage surfaced appearing to show him implying the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the police is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the recording, filmed at a DSA convention in 2023. The progressive, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the country is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was criticizing joint training exercises between the NYPD and IDF.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, the candidate seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

The progressive responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his Muslim faith. It was a realization, he said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could express 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 faith.”

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