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New Yorkers will discover who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a race that will decide who governs and protects the country's largest city at a moment when the former president has threatened to send armed forces to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a race for mayor that has matched two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against each other. The election has become an increasingly bitter showdown, marked by alleged racism and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two main candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who beat Cuomo in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a agenda of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about 2 million New Yorkers, has led his rival by significant margins in every poll conducted in October, and it is very much the younger man's election to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, the former governor, who resigned as governor in recent years amid accusations of misconduct, has made it clear he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unrealistic, and in recent days laughed as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as bigoted after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a group of criminals.

It's been a rather grubby conclusion to an election that could be critical to the path that the Democratic party, struggling in its reaction to the former president's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has resonated with voters' anger at inequality, inflation and the establishment. It would be hard for the Senate leader and the House leader not to adopt at least some of the candidate's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the fresh face has generated an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks arguably not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, should Cuomo, who had been expected to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, complete a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce the party's current model of considered, uninspiring opposition – a strategy that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York defeat of Mamdani'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 deeply unpopular nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Voters in the city seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that his backers are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident during the race. The candidate's engaging content on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his willingness to actually get out and meet people in the metropolis has drawn an force of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

However, Cuomo, 67, isn't giving up. And with the risks stacked against him, the ex-leader has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

After spending months launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting Mamdani personally. He has called Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and appeared on conservative media for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted the city “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to New York, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A set of wealthy residents, including some who contributed to the Republican in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent into office, as other powerful voices have pressured Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should never have come to this. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in last year, not many had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the race in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held every edge. The quintessential establishment figure, he had wed a political dynasty member and worked in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his parent, the former governor, left office from the same position.

Mamdani, who was elected to the state legislature in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – offer a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has encountered difficulties in the final phase, after video surfaced appearing to show him suggesting the New York police department and the IDF were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the recording, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. The progressive, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the country is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

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

The progressive addressed the independent's terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first ran for state assembly, a family member suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a lesson, he said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where Muslims could express 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.”

Addressing the behavior of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd