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Residents of the Big Apple will learn who will be their new city leader this Tuesday, in a race that will decide who runs and defends the country's largest city at a time when the former president has vowed to deploy military troops to the urban center.

In this context, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has matched two very different Democratic figures against one another. The contest has become an acrimonious face-off, marked by alleged racism and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two leading candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the support of wealthy contributors and corporations.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and promised to halt rent increases for about 2 million city residents, has outpaced his rival by double-digits across all surveys taken in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who resigned 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 fashion. He has criticized his opponent's objectives as unrealistic, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was strongly criticized as bigoted after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

This represents a particularly ugly end to an election that could be key to the direction that the party, struggling in its reaction to the former president's power moves, adopts 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 message that has appealed to Americans' frustration at inequality, inflation and the establishment. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least a portion of the candidate's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising comeback win, it could cement national Democrats' existing approach of considered, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has angered the party base. A NYC defeat of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to stick to the center – even as polls show the present version of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Voters in New York appear to favor the progressive agenda. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited 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 willingness to actually get out and connect with voters in the metropolis has drawn an force of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Negative Tactics

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

After spending months launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on attacking Mamdani personally. He has labelled Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted the city “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. 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 attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to NYC, has said about the progressive, and maybe that is expected. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent into office, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the contest.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should never have come to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 New York state assembly members, launched his mayoral bid in last year, few had heard of him, and in reality, few even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the race in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who apparently held all the advantages. The classic political insider, he had wed a political dynasty member and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was elected to the state legislature in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Still, Mamdani has encountered difficulties in recent days, after footage emerged appearing to show him suggesting the New York police department and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the clip, recorded at a DSA convention in recent years. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, Mamdani seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani addressed the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first ran for state assembly, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a realization, he said, that many local Muslims had been told “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 express their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our beliefs.”

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