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Residents of the Big Apple will discover who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a race that will determine who runs and protects the nation's most populous metropolis at a moment when the former president has vowed to deploy military troops to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a race for mayor that has matched two very different Democrats against one another. The election has turned into an increasingly bitter face-off, marked by accusations of racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two leading candidates that could have major implications 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 people-powered movement has brought international attention. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the backing of wealthy contributors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is the progressive, the former longshot who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and pledged to freeze rent for about 2 million city residents, has outpaced his rival by double-digits in every poll conducted in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid allegations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an fair fashion. He has trashed his opponent's objectives as unachievable, and in the final stretch laughed as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was strongly criticized as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a slew of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani releasing a convicts.

It's been a particularly ugly end to an race that could be key to the path that the Democratic party, struggling in its response to Trump's power moves, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his campaign will be forced to reckon with a message that has appealed to voters' frustration at inequality, inflation and the establishment. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least a portion of the candidate's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the party perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders campaigned for the White House in 2016.

Conversely, should Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, complete a remarkable comeback win, it could reinforce national Democrats' current model of considered, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has infuriated the party base. A New York defeat of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could convince party leaders that the best plan is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular across the country.

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. Mamdani's engaging content on digital platforms, his optimistic vision for the city and his readiness to actually venture out and meet people in the metropolis has attracted an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them youth or new participants.

Negative Tactics

Yet, the former governor, 67, continues to fight. And with the risks against him, the ex-leader has resorted to negative campaigning in the final days.

Following extensive launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on attacking the candidate directly. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted the city “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It hit bottom recently, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Campaign Dynamics

The line of attack echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed 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 set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to get the independent elected, as other powerful voices have urged the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had known him, and in reality, few even paid attention.

The former governor, by comparison, 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 married a political dynasty member and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as the state's leader in over a decade ago, 17 years after his father, the former governor, left office from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was voted in to the state legislature in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook of the city's direction than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

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

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the clip, recorded at a DSA convention in 2023. The progressive, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, the candidate appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

The progressive responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a family member advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a realization, he said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where Muslims could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our faith.”

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