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Residents of the Big Apple will learn who will be their next mayor this election day, in a race that will determine who runs and protects the country's most populous metropolis at a moment when the former president has vowed to deploy military troops to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democrats against one another. The election has turned into an increasingly bitter showdown, marked by alleged racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two main contenders that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the young progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. On the establishment side is the former governor, the ex- New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of wealthy contributors and big business.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, 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 promised to halt rent increases for about two million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by double-digits in every poll taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who resigned 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 above-the-belt manner. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unrealistic, and in recent days laughed as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that included 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 key to the direction that the party, floundering in its response to the former president's power moves, takes in the near future.

National Implications

If Mamdani secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his bid will be compelled to address a message that has resonated with voters' frustration at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and the House leader not to embrace at least some of Mamdani's progressive proposals about affordability, given the fresh face has generated an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks arguably not seen since the Vermont senator ran for president eight years ago.

Conversely, if Cuomo, who had been expected to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, achieve a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce national Democrats' current model of considered, uninspiring resistance – a tactic that has angered the party base. A New York rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could convince party leaders that the wisest course is to stick to the political center – even as polls show the current iteration of the Democratic party is widely disliked nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York appear to favor the progressive agenda. Polls show that his backers are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's snappy videos on social media, his hopeful outlook for the city and his readiness to actually get out and meet people in the metropolis has attracted an force of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them young or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

However, Cuomo, 67, continues to fight. And with the stakes stacked against him, the former governor has resorted to negative campaigning in the final days.

Following extensive launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might stick, the independent has concentrated on attacking the candidate personally. He has labelled his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and appeared on conservative media for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted New York “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It hit bottom last week, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style incident.

Political Landscape

The line of attack mirrors much of what the former president, who has deployed the military reserves to Washington DC and warned to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that is expected. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo into office, as other influential figures have urged the Republican candidate to withdraw from the contest.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should not have reached to this point. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, started his mayoral bid in last year, few had known him, and in truth, barely anyone even noticed.

The former governor, by comparison, eased his way into the race in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held every edge. The quintessential establishment figure, he had wed a political dynasty member and served in a Democratic presidency. He became New York governor in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

Mamdani, who was elected to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – present a more positive vision of the city's direction than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, the candidate has encountered some challenges in recent days, after video surfaced appearing to show him suggesting the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the clip, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was questioning cooperative programs between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, the candidate appears to have won empathy and backing, however, for his response to his opponent's escalating attacks.

The progressive responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a family member advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a lesson, 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 followers of Islam could express their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Speaking to the behavior of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd