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Residents of the Big Apple will learn the identity of their new city leader this Tuesday, in a race that will decide who runs and defends the nation's largest city at a time when the former president has vowed to send armed forces to the urban center.

In this context, New York has experienced a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democrats against each other. The election has become an acrimonious showdown, laced with alleged racism and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading contenders that could have major implications for how the Democratic party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has attracted international attention. On the establishment side is the former governor, the former New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of wealthy contributors and corporations.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated Cuomo in the party primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and pledged to halt rent increases for about 2 million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by significant margins in every poll taken in October, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid allegations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unrealistic, and in the final stretch laughed as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, 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 group of criminals.

It's been a rather grubby end to an race that could be key to the path that the Democratic party, struggling in its response to Trump's power moves, adopts in the coming years.

National Implications

If the progressive secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a message that has resonated with Americans' anger at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least a portion of Mamdani's progressive proposals about affordability, given the fresh face has created an excitement within the party perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

However, if Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a surprising comeback win, it could cement the party's current model of considered, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has angered grassroots members. A New York rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could convince party leaders that the wisest course is to stick to the center – even as polls show the current iteration of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Voters in New York appear to favor the progressive agenda. Surveys show that his backers are much more excited about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. The candidate's snappy videos on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his readiness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has attracted an army of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Negative Tactics

However, the former governor, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the risks stacked against him, the ex-leader has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting the candidate personally. He has called his rival, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an "radical", and popped up on conservative media for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted the city “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It hit bottom recently, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to take similar action to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to elect Cuomo into office, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the contest.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, launched his mayoral bid in last year, not many had known him, and in reality, barely anyone even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the race in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held every edge. The classic political insider, he had wed a political dynasty member and served in a Democratic presidency. He became New York governor in over a decade ago, 17 years after his father, the former governor, stepped down from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was elected to the state legislature in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing free buses and free childcare – 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 hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Still, the candidate has faced difficulties in recent days, after video surfaced suggesting him suggesting the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the recording, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in 2023. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning joint training exercises between the city police and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, Mamdani seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani addressed the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani 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 lesson, he said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where Muslims could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our beliefs.”

Speaking to the behavior of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has alleged Mamd