New York City’s three mayoral candidates faced off on Thursday night in the first of two televised debates, less than three weeks before voters head to the polls.
On stage were Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, former governor Andrew Cuomo – now running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani in June – and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. Mayor Eric Adams, who dropped out of the race several weeks ago, did not participate.
During the two-hour-long debate, the candidates clashed over a variety of local and national issues, including crime, policing, affordability, housing and transportation, as well as how they would handle the Trump administration and the recent Gaza ceasefire deal.
Mamdani and Cuomo, the race frontrunners, wasted no time and began sparring – with Sliwa between them – almost immediately.
Cuomo is notably attempting a political comeback after resigning as governor of New York in 2021 in the wake of multiple allegations of sexual harassment. He started the night echoing his performance in the primary debates, painting Mamdani as too unqualified and inexperienced to lead the city.
“This is no job for on-the-job training,” Cuomo said. “If you look at the failed mayors, they’re ones that have no management experience.”
Mamdani, the 33-year-old state assemblyman from Queens and self-described democratic socialist, pushed back on Cuomo by citing his five years in the New York state assembly and his lived experience in New York City. He touted himself as “someone who has actually paid rent in the city” and “who has had to wait for a bus that never came, someone who actually buys his groceries in this city”.
Cuomo shot back: “What the assemblyman said is he has no experience.”
Mamdani fired back: “What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity, and what you don’t have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience.”
At one point, Cuomo was pressed on the allegations that preceded his resignation and his handling of nursing home deaths during the Covidf-19 pandemic. He was asked why voters should trust that he has the “character to be mayor”.
Cuomo defended his record and denied the allegations, saying “none of that came to anything”.
Throughout the night, Sliwa, the Republican nominee and founder of the Guardian Angels, took shots at both candidates, describing Mamdani’s plans as “fantasies” and mocking Cuomo for losing the Democratic primary. He also went after the former governor on the allegations of sexual harassment.
Donald Trump was a major specter during the debate’s first hour, with each candidate addressing some of his policies and how they would engage with his administration if elected.
Mamdani said he’d be willing to work with Trump “if it means delivering on lowering the cost of living for New Yorkers”, but warned that “if he ever wants to come for New Yorkers in the way that he has been, he’s going to have to get through me as the next mayor of this city”.
Cuomo said he’d work with Trump but that he would fight the president if he tries to “hurt New York”, while Sliwa said he would “sit and negotiate” with him.
“You can be tough, but you can’t be tough if it’s going to cost people desperately needed federal funds,” Sliwa said.
All three candidates agreed that Trump should not send national guard troops to New York City.
Sliwa pushed back when Cuomo suggested that he was the only candidate who could handle Trump: “You think you’re the toughest guy alive. You lost your own primary.”
The recent ceasefire deal in Gaza was also addressed on the debate stage. Mamdani, who has been critical of the Israeli government and vocal about Palestinian rights, was asked about his views on Hamas.
“Of course I believe that they should lay down their arms” he said. “A ceasefire means ceasing fire. That means all parties have to cease fire and put down their weapons, and the reason that we call for that is not only for the end of the genocide, but also an unimpeded access of humanitarian aid.”
Cuomo went after Mamdani and claimed the latter was refusing to “denounce Hamas” and that he was speaking in “code” with his answer. Mamdani pushed back, calling Cuomo the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “legal defense team during the course of this genocide”.
Mamdani also said that in talking to Jewish New Yorkers, he was discouraged from using the phrase “globalize the intifada”.
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“What I’m looking to do as the first Muslim mayor of this city is to ensure that we bring every New Yorker together – Jewish New Yorkers, Muslim New Yorkers, every single person that calls the city home. They understand they won’t just be protected, but they will belong,” he said, prompting Cuomo to call Mamdani “a divisive personality across the board”.
Both Sliwa and Cuomo praised the Trump administration for its role in for brokering of the ceasefire deal, which many have said directly mirrored the deal Biden brokered during his administration.
Mamdani was also asked about past comments he made on social media, including comments he made in 2020 about the New York police department during the nationwide protests against police brutality sparked by the killing of George Floyd. Mamdani called the department “racist” demanded the defunding of the the police in social media posts.
Earlier this week, Mamdani appeared on Fox News and apologized to the police department for those remarks. He added that he has also apologized to officers in private meetings.
On Thursday, Mamdani said that despite his previous calls for defunding the police, he no longer believed that should happen, and that he is “looking to work with police officers not to defund the NYPD, looking to ensure that officers can actually do one job when they’re signing up to join that department”.
Mamdani touted his plan to create a department of community safety that would send dedicated mental health teams to handle relevant 911 calls.
Cuomo pledged to hire 5,000 more officers and assign 1,500 of them to the subways, raise starting salaries, and “work on the relationship between the community and the police”.
Sliwa called for hiring 7,000 officers and reinstating qualified immunity to officers.
On mass transit, Mamdani described his plans for “fast and free” buses while Cuomo claimed such a program would be subsidized by wealthy bus riders and effectively become mobile homeless shelters.
When the issue of affordability came up, and candidates were asked how much they spend per week on groceries. Cuomo said about $150, Sliwa said about $175 and Mamdani said about $125.
Mamdani, who has made affordability the focus of his campaign, reiterated some of his longstanding pledges to increase taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers, freeze rent increases on rent-stabilized apartments and build more housing.
He also called out Cuomo for not addressing a pressing issue for most of the debate. “I just have to say it’s been an hour and 20 minutes of this debate, and we haven’t heard Governor Cuomo say the word ‘affordability’. That’s why he lost the primary,” Mamdani said.
A poll released last week showed Mamdani leading, with 46% of likely voters supporting him, followed by Cuomo, at 33%, and Sliwa, at 15%.
The final mayor debate is scheduled for Wednesday 22 October.
Election day is Tuesday 4 November. Early voting begins on 25 October and runs through 2 November.
