New York City mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa traded blows on the debate stage on Thursday, with the trio clashing over everything from Israel to the cost of living and President Donald Trump.
In truth, the evening was all about Mamdani, the progressive Democrat leading the race, and his independent challenger Cuomo, New York’s scandal-hit former governor, who each fought to make the case that he is the best man to lead the Big Apple. At the same time, the other was too compromised and inept for the job.
Sliwa, a Republican, struggled to make an impact, so much so, in fact, that he had to remind the moderators in the NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza that there were three people on the stage, not two.
Here’s a look at some of the key issues from last night’s encounter, which was co-hosted by NBC 4 New York/WNBC, Telemundo 47/WNJU, and Politico.
Israel and Hamas
Cuomo worked hard to cast Mamdani as an inexperienced politician with a history of making problematic statements, particularly about Israel.
“If you notice, the assemblyman still won’t say he believes that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state. He is a divisive personality,” Cuomo argued. “All across the board. NYPD are racist. Barack Obama is evil, liar, and he gave the finger to the Christopher Columbus statue.”
But, according to The New York Times, Mamndai explicitly said at another debate in June that “Israel has a right to exist as a state with equal rights.” He has also apologized for previous criticisms of the NYPD and Obama, telling Politico that his attack on the 44th president was “the stupid tweet of a college student.”
Pressed on Hamas, Mamdani answered: “Of course, I believe that they should lay down their arms. I’m proud to be one of the first elected officials in the state who called for a ceasefire, and calling for 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 continued to push his rival by claiming, “I know there are many Jewish people who believe he is antisemitic,” and attacking him over his past willingness to defend the phrase “globalize the intifada.” Mamdani countered that he would not use the phrase nor recommend others do so.
He continued: “I have denounced Hamas again and again, and it will never be enough for Andrew Cuomo, because what he is willing to say, even though not on this stage, is to call me, the first Muslim on the precipice of leading this city, ‘a terrorist sympathizer,’ is to send mailers that artificially lengthen my beard.”
He also accused Cuomo of failing to visit a single local mosque until he, Mamdani, prompted him to do so.
Grocery prices
All three candidates were asked by the moderators how much they spent per week on groceries and gave answers between $120 and $170.
Mamdani in particular has made affordability central to his candidacy and said that he believed the mayor’s job involved “ensuring that the wealth that we generate in this city is also wealth that every single New Yorker can actually feel in their pockets.”
He continued: “What we have today is a system that generated the most wealth in the wealthiest country in the history of the world where one in four of our neighbors are living in poverty. That’s unacceptable. We can’t look at 500,000 kids hungry every single night as just the cost of doing business in this city.”
He also accused Cuomo of heartlessness, saying his answer to New York’s housing crisis was to “evict my wife and I.”
Mamdani continued: “He thinks you address this crisis by unleashing my landlord’s ability to raise my rent. If you think that the problem in this city is that my rent is too low, vote for him. If you know the problem in this city is that your rent is too high, vote for me.”
Donald Trump
The Democrat also rebuked Cuomo for liaising with the president, who has cast a long shadow over the mayor’s race in his hometown.
“What distinguishes me from Andrew Cuomo is the fact that he has gotten on the phone with that same president – not asking him how to work together to help New Yorkers or not telling him that he would refuse to back down to protect those New Yorkers, but instead asking him how to win this race,” Mamdani said. “That’s something I can do myself.”
Cuomo hit back by claiming that his rival did not have the authority or experience to be able to protect their city: “If the assemblyman is elected mayor, Donald Trump will take over New York City, and it will be Mayor Trump.”
Mamdani responded by gesturing at Cuomo and saying, “If you think that there’s no difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, then that’s the candidate for you.
“If you think it’s time to have a Democratic Party that actually stands up to Donald Trump and his billionaire-backed donors, then vote for me.”
He also derided the former governor for putting out a weak statement in response to the grand jury indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James, noting that Cuomo had not even dared to call out Trump by name when doing so.
Experience
Arguably, what the debate really boiled down to was which of the two men was best qualified for the monumental task ahead of them.
“This is no job for on-the-job training, and if you look at the failed mayors, they’re ones that have no management experience. Don’t do it again,” Cuomo told his audience, dismissing Mamdani’s four years as a state assemblyman as insignificant.
The Democrat shot back by taunting him over his handling of COVID-19: “And if we have a health pandemic, then why would New Yorkers turn back to the governor who sent seniors to their death in nursing homes? That’s the kind of experience that’s on offer here today.
“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.”
