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Residents of the Big Apple will discover who will be their next mayor this election day, in a race that will decide who runs and protects the nation's largest city at a time when the former president has threatened to deploy armed forces to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a race for mayor that has matched two distinctly opposing Democrats against one another. The election has become an acrimonious face-off, marked by alleged racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two leading candidates that could have major implications for how the party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the young democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the former Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the backing of wealthy contributors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is the progressive, the former longshot who defeated Cuomo in the party primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a agenda of affordability and promised to freeze rent for about 2 million New Yorkers, has led Cuomo by double-digits in every poll taken in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid accusations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed Mamdani's objectives as unachievable, and in recent days laughed as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was widely condemned as bigoted after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

It's been a particularly ugly conclusion to an race that could be critical to the path that the party, floundering in its response to Trump's power moves, takes in the near future.

National Implications

Should the progressive secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to Americans' anger at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and the House leader not to adopt at least some of Mamdani's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

However, should the former governor, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a remarkable comeback win, it could reinforce national Democrats' current model of cautious, lackluster resistance – a tactic that has infuriated the party base. A New York rejection of the progressive's progressive, positive message could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to stick to the political center – even as polls show the present version of the party is widely disliked nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of the city appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that his backers are far more enthusiastic about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. Mamdani's snappy videos on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for the city and his willingness to actually get out and meet people in the metropolis has attracted an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them young or new participants.

Personal Attacks

Yet, the former governor, 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 throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might stick, the independent has narrowed his focus on attacking the candidate directly. He has labelled Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and popped up on conservative media for an discussion with a rightwing host, where the candidate claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It reached a nadir recently, 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 attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what the former president, who has sent the military reserves to the capital and warned 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 donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to elect Cuomo into office, as other powerful voices have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

For the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 New York state assembly members, launched his campaign for mayor in last year, few had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even paid attention.

Cuomo, by contrast, entered smoothly into the contest in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who apparently held all the advantages. The quintessential establishment figure, he had wed a political dynasty member and worked in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, left office from the identical role.

The progressive, who was elected to the New York state assembly in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – offer a more positive vision of the future than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has encountered difficulties in recent days, after video emerged appearing to show him implying the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your neck, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the recording, filmed at a DSA gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is committing genocide in Gaza, indicated he was questioning joint training exercises between the city police and IDF.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, Mamdani appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his response to Cuomo’s escalating attacks.

The progressive responded to the independent's terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a family member suggested to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a realization, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where followers of Islam could express their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our faith.”

Addressing the behavior of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd