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New Yorkers will find out who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a contest that will decide who governs and defends the country's most populous metropolis at a moment when the former president has vowed to deploy armed forces to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democratic figures against each other. The election has turned into an acrimonious showdown, laced with alleged racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading contenders 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 34-year-old democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the support of wealthy contributors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, 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 pledged to halt rent increases for about 2 million New Yorkers, has led Cuomo by significant margins in every poll conducted in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

However, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid allegations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed Mamdani's objectives as unachievable, and in the final stretch laughed as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was strongly criticized as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a series of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani freeing a group of criminals.

This represents a rather grubby conclusion to an race that could be critical to the path that the party, floundering in its response to Trump's power moves, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

If Mamdani wins convincingly, the party establishment who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a message that has resonated with voters' frustration at inequality, 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 ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the newcomer has created an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks arguably not seen since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been predicted to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a remarkable comeback victory, it could cement the party's current model of cautious, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has angered grassroots members. A New York rejection of Mamdani's optimistic platform could persuade 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.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of the city seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. The candidate's snappy videos on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for the city and his willingness to actually venture out and meet people in the city has drawn an force of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Negative Tactics

Yet, the former governor, 67, continues to fight. And with the stakes against him, the former governor has turned to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on targeting the candidate directly. He has called his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with a rightwing host, where Cuomo claimed the city “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It reached a nadir last week, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another 9/11-style incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has sent the military reserves to the capital and threatened to take similar action to New York, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent into office, as other influential figures have pressured the Republican candidate to drop out from the contest.

Political Histories

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty New York state assembly members, launched his campaign for mayor in last year, not many had known him, and in truth, barely anyone even paid attention.

The former governor, 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 classic establishment figure, he had wed a Kennedy and worked in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in 2011, 17 years after his father, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook of the city's direction than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Still, the candidate has encountered some challenges in recent days, after video surfaced suggesting him suggesting the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the police is on your throat, it’s been laced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the recording, recorded at a DSA gathering in recent years. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the nation is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and IDF.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, the candidate seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to his opponent's escalating attacks.

The progressive responded to Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first ran for the legislature, a family member suggested 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 told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our city. 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 shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd