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Residents of the Big Apple will learn who will be their new city leader this election day, in a race that will determine who governs and protects the nation's largest city at a moment when the former president has vowed to deploy armed forces to the city.

In this context, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democratic figures against each other. The contest has become an acrimonious face-off, 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 Democratic party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the young democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and people-powered movement has brought international attention. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the former New York governor now campaigning independently – 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 Cuomo in the party primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has run on a agenda of affordability and promised to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by double-digits in every poll taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to lose.

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 criticized his opponent's objectives as unachievable, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was strongly criticized as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani freeing a convicts.

This represents a particularly ugly end to an election that could be key to the direction that the party, struggling in its response to Trump's power moves, takes in the coming years.

National Implications

Should the progressive secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his bid will be compelled to address a platform that has resonated with voters' frustration at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to embrace at least a portion of Mamdani's progressive proposals about affordability, given the fresh face has created an enthusiasm within the party arguably not witnessed since Bernie Sanders campaigned for the White House eight years ago.

However, if the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, achieve a remarkable comeback victory, it could cement national Democrats' current model of cautious, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has angered the party base. A NYC defeat of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade party leaders that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that his backers are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. Mamdani's snappy videos on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for the city and his readiness to actually venture out and meet people in the metropolis has attracted an force of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

However, Cuomo, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes stacked against him, the ex-leader has turned to ugly messaging in recent weeks.

Following extensive launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on targeting Mamdani personally. He has labelled Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and appeared on conservative media for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted New York “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Political Landscape

The line of attack echoes much of what the former president, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that is expected. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo elected, as other powerful voices have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in last year, not many had known him, and in truth, few even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the contest in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held every edge. The quintessential establishment figure, he had wed a political dynasty member and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as the state's leader in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his parent, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

Mamdani, who was voted in to the state legislature 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 – present a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, the candidate has encountered difficulties in recent days, after footage emerged suggesting him implying the NYPD 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 IDF,” Mamdani said in the recording, filmed at a DSA convention in 2023. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the nation is committing genocide in Gaza, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, the candidate seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to his opponent's escalating attacks.

The progressive addressed Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, 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 security 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 step out from those seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our beliefs.”

Addressing the behavior of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has claimed Mamd