Between Brooklyn and Albany - New York’s Election as a Mirror of American Times

New York - On this Tuesday, the largest city in the United States is deciding not only on its next mayor but also on a political self-conception that reaches far beyond the borders of the five boroughs. It is the first major vote since Donald Trump returned to the White House - and it comes at a time when the president is expanding his power so extensively that even conservative jurists are speaking of an “executive in a state of exception.”

At the center of this political earthquake stands a three-way race the likes of which New York has never experienced before: 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani, son of Ugandan immigrants and representative of the progressive wing of the Democrats, against the once all-powerful former governor Andrew Cuomo, who, after his resignation in 2021 over harassment allegations, is seeking an almost unimaginable political resurrection - and against Curtis Sliwa, the eternal street fighter with the red beret, who hopes that his mix of anger, pathos, and law-and-order rhetoric will be enough this time to achieve the unthinkable: a Republican mayor in 2025.

A Mamdani victory would mark a turning point. He would be the first Muslim mayor in New York’s history - and the youngest in generations. But above all, he would catapult the ideals of democratic socialism into one of the most visible seats of government in the United States. Mamdani speaks of free childcare, free public transport, frozen rents for about one million apartments. His speeches carry the tone of renewal, but also the toughness of a man who knows what resistance means. Born in Kampala, raised in Queens, shaped by the experience of being in between - and now ready to challenge the establishment that once overlooked him.

But the battle lines are brutal. Trump himself has targeted Mamdani, calling him a “danger to the city” and openly threatening to “take control of New York” if he wins. On the eve of the election, the president called on Republicans to vote for Cuomo - an alliance between archrivals born of tactical calculation. The Democrat Mamdani is seen in the White House as the symbol of a “new radicalism” that Trump has vowed to destroy. Cuomo, meanwhile, walks a narrow line between remorse and revenge. Four years after his fall, he returns with the posture of the unflinching. He plays the experienced operator, the last adult in the room, the one who can manage the city when ideologues tear each other apart. His message to voters is: “I made mistakes - but I governed New York when it was burning.” He is supported by the old forces of the center: Michael Bloomberg, who poured 1.5 million dollars into a pro-Cuomo super PAC; outgoing mayor Eric Adams, whose withdrawal could tie many of his moderate voters to Cuomo; and Orthodox communities that see Mamdani’s positions on Palestine as an affront.

For Mamdani has never shied away from calling things by their name. He called Israel’s military campaign in Gaza “genocidal,” refused to use the phrase “Jewish state,” and thus found himself in the crossfire of those Democrats who long ago learned to treat criticism of Israel as a political liability. Some of his statements from earlier years now follow him like shadows that even the most gifted politicians cannot escape. Mamdani has softened his wording but not his stance - and that makes him all the more fascinating to many New Yorkers, unbearable to others.

Curtis Sliwa, 71, meanwhile embodies the opposite of any new world. Founder of the Guardian Angels, permanent fixture on radio shows, a man who never left the 1980s. His campaign is a tribute to that era when crime shaped the cityscape and law and order were considered salvation. His chances are slim, his ego large - and his staying in the race ultimately serves only one purpose: to hurt Mamdani. Even Trump called him “not exactly prime time” and urged him to withdraw to clear the way for Cuomo. Sliwa refused, with the stoic conviction that there is still room in New York for “a real fighter.”

The election is a test of what has become of America’s liberal icon. Under Trump’s second term, the political climate has warped even here. To moderate Democrats, Mamdani seems too risky, to Republicans, Cuomo too scheming, and the anger underground is growing. The former governor relies on the pragmatism of everyday life, the socialist on the pathos of change - two languages that rarely meet and yet both promise something genuine: security or hope.

Cuomo’s past, however, remains an open wound. The attorney general’s report, eleven women who spoke of touches, looks, gestures, hangs indelibly in the air. He called his critics “liars,” spoke of “political enemies,” showed remorse and defiance in changing order. That he, of all people, is now running again for the city’s highest office is either a sign of American forgiveness - or of its collective amnesia.

Mamdani, on the other hand, carries the future in his face, but also the weight of a movement that often stands in its own way. Between idealistic fervor and strategic naivety, he balances on a tightrope stretched across Manhattan. In the cafés of Harlem and the backyards of Queens, young people swear by him, while in Midtown, votes are being quietly, calculatingly, and wealthily gathered for Cuomo. At the end of this election, it is not only about a city. It is about the self-image of a nation still searching for an answer to how much change it can bear. Will New York once again become a symbol of progress - or the stage for a comeback once thought impossible?