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New Yorkers will find out the identity of their new city leader this Tuesday, in a race that will determine who governs and defends the country's largest city at a moment when the former president has threatened to send armed forces to the city.

In this context, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democrats against one another. The contest has become an acrimonious showdown, laced with alleged racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two main candidates that could have major implications for how the party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and people-powered movement has brought international attention. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the support of ultra-rich donors and big business.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who defeated his opponent in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and pledged to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by double-digits across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, the former governor, who resigned as the state's leader in recent years amid allegations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unrealistic, and in recent days laughed as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was strongly criticized as bigoted after sharing an AI-generated ad that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

This represents a particularly ugly end to an race that could be key to the path that the party, floundering in its reaction to the former president's power moves, takes in the near future.

National Implications

If the progressive secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his bid will be forced to reckon with a message that has appealed to voters' frustration at inequality, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be hard for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least some of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the party arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, if Cuomo, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, achieve a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could cement the party's existing approach of cautious, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has infuriated the party base. A NYC defeat of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the present version of the Democratic party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York appear to favor the progressive agenda. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been evident during the race. Mamdani'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 volunteers, many of them young or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

Yet, Cuomo, 67, continues to fight. And with the stakes stacked against him, the ex-leader has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might stick, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on targeting the candidate personally. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and popped up on conservative media for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo claimed the city “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It hit bottom recently, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has sent the national guard to the capital and threatened to take similar action to New York, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that is expected. A group of wealthy residents, including some who contributed to the Republican in the 2024 election, have pumped millions into trying to elect the independent elected, as other powerful voices have pressured the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should never have come to this. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had known him, and in truth, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by contrast, eased his way into the race in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who apparently held every edge. The quintessential political insider, he had wed a political dynasty member and served in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the identical role.

The progressive, who was elected to the New York state assembly 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 – present a brighter outlook of the city's direction than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has faced some challenges in the final phase, after video surfaced appearing to show him suggesting the NYPD and the IDF were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the clip, recorded at a DSA gathering in recent years. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was criticizing joint training exercises between the city police and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, the candidate seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

The progressive addressed Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first ran for state assembly, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his Muslim faith. It was a realization, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been taught “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where Muslims could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd