- Mamdani attacks Cuomo for his alleged sexual misconduct.
- Mamdani pulls off a stunning upset in the Democratic primary.
- The second debate will take place on October 22.
A socialist, an accused abuser and a vigilante all hoping to become New York’s next mayor clashed Thursday in a debate with “high testosterone levels” as the unpredictable campaign enters its home stretch.
Democratic candidate and front-runner Zohran Mamdani, independent former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa introduced themselves to voters in the first of two televised debates ahead of the Nov. 4 election.
Early voting begins October 25.
Mamdani attacked Cuomo for his alleged sexual misconduct and controversial record of governing “sending elderly people to their deaths in nursing homes” during the Covid pandemic.
“Thank God I’m not a professional politician because they created the crime crisis in this city,” Sliwa said, pointing to his two rivals.
“There are high levels of testosterone in this room,” he later said.
Mamdani pulled off a stunning upset in the Democratic Party primaries, defeating political scion Cuomo who had been the frontrunner for weeks, becoming the party’s official nominee.
Mamdani promised free bus service, rent freezes and city-run supermarkets, which Cuomo called a fanciful and unaffordable government overreach.
The race to govern the city’s 8.5 million residents was shaken up again when incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who has been implicated in corruption allegations, left the race without supporting another candidate.
Cuomo, 67, served as the state’s governor from 2011 until 2021, when he resigned following sexual assault allegations.
Mamdani, 33, is a Queens borough representative and led a grassroots insurrection campaign that strongly motivated young New Yorkers.
“Confront Trump”
Trump threatened to withdraw federal funds from Mamdani’s administration if elected, calling him a “communist.”
But Mamdani said: “I would make clear to the president that I am prepared not only to talk to him, but also to work with him, if that means achieving a reduction in the cost of living in New York.”
Cuomo warned that “Trump will take over New York City, and it will be Mayor Trump” if Mamdani wins – reflecting the takeover of much of the administration in the capital, Washington.
Trump said Wednesday that he had “finished” the $16 billion Hudson Gateway Tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey, a megaproject years in the making.
Asked during the debate what his dream title would be, Mamdani said it would be “Mamdani continues to attack Trump.”
A Quinnipiac University poll suggests that most voters won’t have their minds changed by the televised debate, with only 18% of Mamdani and Cuomo supporters “unlikely” to change their choice, compared to 24% of Sliwa supporters.
In the latest poll, Sliwa, a 71-year-old who founded the vigilante group Guardian Angels in 1979, came in third with 15 percent in the most recent poll, behind Cuomo’s 33 percent and Mamdani’s 46 percent.
Sliwa insisted he would not give in to incentives he said were arranged by Cuomo — who denies the claim — to leave the race, such as lucrative jobs with big salaries and a driver.
“I said, ‘Hey, this is not only unethical, it’s corrupt and it could be criminal,'” Sliwa said. AFP before the confrontation.
A second debate will take place on October 22.
