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New Yorkers will find out who will be their new city leader this election day, in a race that will determine who governs and defends the nation's largest city at a time when the former president has vowed to deploy military troops to the urban center.

In this context, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has matched two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against one another. The contest has become an acrimonious showdown, marked by alleged racism and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading candidates that could have significant consequences for how the party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. On the establishment side is the former governor, the former Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the support of ultra-rich donors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a agenda of economic justice and pledged to freeze rent for about two million New Yorkers, has outpaced Cuomo by double-digits in every poll conducted in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

However, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid allegations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has criticized his opponent's goals as unachievable, and in recent days chuckled along as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after posting an AI-generated ad that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani releasing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby end to an race that could be key to the direction that the party, floundering in its response to the former president's authoritarian grabs, takes in the near future.

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to Americans' frustration at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to adopt at least a portion of the candidate's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks perhaps not seen since the Vermont senator ran for president eight years ago.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising comeback win, it could cement the party's existing approach of considered, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has angered the party base. A NYC rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to stick to the political center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in the city appear to favor the progressive agenda. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent during the race. The candidate's engaging content on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his readiness to actually get out and connect with voters in the city has attracted an army of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them youth or new participants.

Negative Tactics

Yet, Cuomo, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the risks against him, the former governor has turned to negative campaigning in the final days.

After spending months launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on attacking Mamdani directly. He has called Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and popped up on conservative media for an discussion with a rightwing host, where the candidate asserted the city “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It hit bottom recently, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what the former president, who has sent the national guard to the capital and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that is expected. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent into office, as other influential figures have pressured the Republican candidate to drop out 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 150 New York state assembly members, started his campaign for mayor in last year, few had heard of him, and in truth, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the contest in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held all the advantages. The quintessential political insider, he had married a Kennedy and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as the state's leader in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, left office from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a more positive vision of the city's direction than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Still, Mamdani has encountered some challenges in the final phase, after footage emerged suggesting him implying the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the police is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the recording, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in recent years. The progressive, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested 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 reaction to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani addressed Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a Muslim uncle suggested 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 taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our community. 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 silence that we must leave our faith.”

Addressing the behavior of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd