- Mamdani attacks Cuomo for his alleged sexual misconduct.
- “Mamdani pulls off stunning upset in Democratic primary”.
- The second debate will take place on October 22.
A socialist, an accused abuser and a vigilante hoping to be New York’s next mayor faced off in a “high-testosterone” debate Thursday, as the unpredictable campaign enters its final stretch.
Democratic candidate and front-runner Zohran Mamdani, former independent New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa addressed 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 his 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 have created the crime crisis in this city,” Sliwa said, pointing to his two rivals.
“There are high levels of testosterone in this room,” he said later.
Mamdani pulled off a stunning upset in the Democratic Party primaries, defeating political scion Cuomo, who had been the favorite for weeks, to become the party’s official candidate.
Mamdani has promised free bus service, rent freezes and city-run supermarkets, which Cuomo has criticized as fanciful and unaffordable government overreach.
The race to govern the city’s 8.5 million residents changed again when incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who has been embroiled in corruption allegations, dropped out of the race without endorsing another candidate.
Cuomo, 67, was the state’s governor from 2011 to 2021, when he resigned over sexual assault allegations.
Mamdani, 33, is a state legislator from the urban district of Queens and has led a grassroots insurgent campaign that has greatly motivated young New Yorkers.
‘Take on Trump’
Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds from Mamdani’s administration if elected, calling him a “communist.”
But Mamdani said: “I would make it clear to the president that I am willing not only to talk to him, but to work with him, if it means lowering the cost of living in New York.”
Cuomo warned that “Trump will take over New York City, and he will be Mayor Trump” if Mamdani wins, mirroring the takeover of much of the administration from the capital, Washington.
Trump said Wednesday that he had “finished” the $16 billion Hudson Gateway tunnel linking New York to New Jersey, a years-long megaproject.
When asked in the debate what his dream headline would be, Mamdani said it would be “Mamdani continues to take on Trump.”
Quinnipiac University polls suggest the TV debate will not change the minds of most voters, with only 18% of Mamdani and Cuomo supporters “not likely” to upset their choice, compared to 24% of Sliwa supporters.
In the latest poll, Sliwa, a 71-year-old who founded the watchdog group Guardian Angels in 1979, is a distant third at 15% in the most recent poll, behind Cuomo’s 33% and Mamdani’s 46%.
Sliwa insisted he would not give in to incentives he says were arranged by Cuomo, who denies the claim, to drop out of the race, such as lucrative high-paying jobs and a driver.
“I said, ‘Hey, this is not only unethical, but it’s bribery and could be a crime,'” Sliwa said. AFP before the confrontation.
A second debate will be held on October 22.
