Zohran Mamdani, Andrew M. Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa trade verbal jabs in final mayoral debate

Over 95 minutes Wednesday at the final debate of this year’s New York City mayoral race, candidates Andrew M. Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa sought to dampen the double-digit lead of front-runner Zohran Mamdani as New Yorkers prepare to begin voting this weekend.

Cuomo, 67, and Sliwa, 71, teamed up to attack Mamdani, 34, particularly as Mamdani dodged attempts by opponents and moderators to pin him down about issues on which he has refused to take positions, including a pro-development housing initiative also on the ballot.

"Oh, shocker!" Cuomo said. "Again and again and again." 

"Zohran is a great actor. He missed his calling,” said Cuomo, who mocked Mamdani, raising both hands to pantomime blah-blah-blah that Mamdani is a naive upstart making specious promises.

Sliwa joined in but criticized both opponents: "Zohran, your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin, and Andrew, your failures could fill a public school library in New York City."

For his part, Mamdani said: "My opponents only have fear" and "I am the sole candidate running with a vision for the future of this city." As for Cuomo, Mamdani called him "a desperate man, lashing out because he knows that the one thing he's always cared about, power, is now slipping away from him.”

Mamdani announced at the debate he would ask NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to stay on the job.

At the venue were several of Cuomo’s harshest critics, some invited by Mamdani. One of the critics was a woman whose elderly mother died during the COVID-19 pandemic — a death she blames on Cuomo’s policies directing nursing homes to accept infected patients. Another critic at the venue was one of the 13 women who accused Cuomo of sexual harassment, claims he denies, which drove him from the governorship in 2021.

The debate covered a range of topics — transit, housing, affordability and education.

The candidates all criticized the federal government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for staging a raid earlier in the week on immigrant vendors who were selling counterfeit luxury goods on Canal Street. Mamdani called ICE a "reckless entity" and said he’d expand the number of street vendor permits. Sliwa said that although the raid shouldn't have happened, the police are the ones who should be cracking down. Cuomo, pointing to his past arguments with President Donald Trump, promised he’d have confronted Trump and demanded that ICE back off.

"I would have called the president, and I would have said, 'Look, you're way out of bounds, they're way out of bounds, call them back, or I'm gonna have the NYPD step in and stop them,' " Cuomo said.

Early voting starts Oct. 25 and ends Nov. 2, with Election Day Nov. 4.

The three men debated before a live audience in an auditorium on the campus of LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens. It was the second debate of the general election and the fourth time that Mamdani and Cuomo had been on the same debate stage together.

They entered the venue to raucous cheering from supporters — and jeering from opponents. Bag pipers played for Cuomo, the state’s former governor who is running on a third-party ticket. A marching band did the same for Mamdani, an assemblyman representing nearby Astoria, Queens, who is the Democratic nominee. Backers of Sliwa, the Republican nominee, waved American flags and some wore MAGA hats.

Since once-front-runner Cuomo’s stunning defeat by Mamdani in June’s primary, every public poll has put the democratic socialist ahead, even after Cuomo picked up almost all of incumbent Eric Adams’ support when Adams dropped out in late September.

Sliwa, who is polling in third place, has refused calls by Cuomo, several local billionaires and others to drop out of the race to make it easier for Cuomo to win.

"Curtis Sliwa is a man of the people. I’m not a man who takes orders from billionaires or influencers or insiders," said Sliwa, walking into the debate venue donning his signature red beret and promising to challenge both Cuomo and Mamdani.

After finishing the debate, Cuomo zipped into Manhattan to the Knicks game, where he was photographed sitting next to Adams.