New Yorkers will find out the identity of their next mayor on Tuesday in a race that will decide who will run to protect the largest city in the United States at a time when Donald Trump threatened to send military troops there.
Against this background, mayoral elections took place in New York, in which two completely different Democrats against each other. The race has become an increasingly bitter battle steeped in perceived racism and Islamophobia, but it is the policy differences between the two leading candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic Party fares in next year's midterm elections.
In the progressive corner is Zogran MamdaniA 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign have attracted international attention. Represent the old guard Andrew Cuomothe former Democratic governor of New York, now running as an independent and backed by super-rich donors and corporations.
With Election Day just days away, it is Mamdani, the former outsider who defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary, who has firmly established himself as the front-runner. Mamdani, who campaigned on affordability and promised a rent freeze for about 2 million New Yorkers, beat Cuomo by double digits. in every survey conducted in Octoberand the young man will most likely have to lose the election.
However, Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassmentmade it clear that he would fight to the end, and not necessarily from the waist up. He has called Mamdani's goals unattainable and in recent days has laughed at a radio host making Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was widely condemned as a racist after placing an advertisement created by artificial intelligence It contained numerous racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani freeing a group of criminals (Cuomo's campaign said the video was released in error).
It was a messy end to an election that could be key to the direction the Democratic Party, confused by its response to Trump's authoritarian takeover, takes in the coming years.
If Mamdani wins convincingly, establishment party leaders who refused to support his campaign will be forced to reckon with a message that appeals to Americans' anger at inequality, skyrocketing prices and the establishment. Chuck Schumer, the senior Senate Democrat, and Hakeem Jeffries, his House counterpart, would have a hard time not backing at least some of Mamdani's ambitious ideas on affordability, given that the newcomer has generated enthusiasm within the party that may not have been seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.
But if Cuomo, who was expected to win the Democratic primary in June, pulls off a remarkable riches-to-riches victory, it could reinforce the national Democrats' current pattern of measured, boring opposition – a tactic that has infuriated the party's rank and file. New York's rejection of Mamdani's progressive and positive message may convince Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to stick to the center, even as polls show the current version of the Democratic Party deeply unpopular all over the country.
Voters in New York seem to support Mamdani's concept. Polls show Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than Cuomo supporters, and that has been evident throughout the campaign. Mamdani's vibrant social media videos, his optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to get out and meet people in the city have amassed an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them young or first-time voters.
However, Cuomo, 67, is not giving up. And with the odds stacked against him, the former governor has turned to nasty messages in recent weeks.
After spending months throwing almost anything at Mamdani to see what might be useful, Cuomo turned his attention to a personal attack on Mamdani. He named Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, “extremist”and appeared on Fox Business for interview with Maria Bartiromo, a right-wing Trump supporter, where Cuomo said New York “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. Things reached a low point last week when Cuomo laughed together and said, “That's another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “support” another 9/11-style attack. (Cuomo's campaign said it did not believe Mamdani would celebrate a terrorist event.)
The line of attack echoes much of what Trump has said, sending the National Guard to Washington and threatened to do the same to New York, said about Mamdani, and perhaps that shouldn't come as a surprise. A group of New York billionaires, including those who donated to Trump in the 2024 election, pumped up millions in an attempt to elect Cuomo, while other influential figures pressured Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, to drop out of the race in hopes that his voters would defect to Cuomo's camp. (Plum who votes in about 15%I strongly rejected this idea.)
As for the Cuomo camp and its billionaire supporters, it should never have come to this. When Mamdani, one of the 150 members of the New York State Assembly, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had heard of him and, frankly, few even noticed.
Cuomo, on the other hand, eased his way into the March 2025 race and became the immediate frontrunner. He was a big beast that seemed to have all the advantages. A quintessential political insider, he married the Kennedys—specifically, Robert Kennedy Jr.'s sister (the couple divorced in 2005)—and worked in Bill Clinton's administration. He became governor of New York in 2011, 17 years after his father Mario Cuomo left the same position.
Mamdani, elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020, does not have the same political legacy. But his commitment to providing free buses and free child care – along with a promise to freeze rents – offers a more positive vision of the future than Cuomo's dire warnings of “mayhem” and unlimited crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.
However, Mamdani has faced some trouble in recent days after footage emerged showing him suggesting that the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were linked.
“We have to make it clear that when the NYPD boot is on your neck, it is on the IDF,” Mamdani said in a clip filmed at the 2023 Democratic Socialists of America convention. Mamdani, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the country is committing genocide in Gaza, suggested he was criticizing a joint NYPD-IDF training exercise.
As the race winds down, however, Mamdani appears to have won sympathy and support with his response to Cuomo's rising rhetoric.
Mamdani responded to Cuomo's remarks regarding the events of September 11. emotional video. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for state assembly, his Muslim uncle advised him not to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson that many Muslim New Yorkers had learned “over and over again,” Mamdani said: “Such security can only be found in the shadow of our city. It is only in this shadow that Muslims can fully realize their identity, and that if we are to come out of this shadow, then it is in this shadow that we must leave our faith.”
Referring to the actions of Cuomo and Sliwa, who said Mamdani supports “global jihad”: “While my opponents in this race have brought hate to the forefront, this is only a glimpse of what so many have to endure every day in this city. And while it would be easy for us to say that this is not who we are as a city, we know the truth. This is who we allowed ourselves to become.”
On X alone, the video has been viewed over 25 million times. This led some to compare Mamdani's speech to Barack Obama's signature event. 2008 race performance. He was welcomed by Muslims in New York and elsewhere, and welcomed by liberal commentators. After a months-long and bitterly contested election, it was the youngest person in the room, showing he may be best suited to lead the United States' largest city.
