- Mamdani is attacking Cuomo for his alleged sexual misconduct.
- Mamdani is stunningly troubled in the Democratic primary.
- The second debate will be held on 22 October.
A socialist, an accused abuser and a vigilante all hoping to become New York’s next mayor clashed in a “testosterone high” debate Thursday as the unpredictable campaign hits home turf.
Democratic candidate and front-runner Zohran Mamdani, independent former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa squared off for voters in the first of two televised debates ahead of the Nov. 4 election.
Early voting begins on October 25.
Mamdani attacked Cuomo for his alleged sexual misconduct and controversial government record “sending seniors to die 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, gesturing at 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 primary, defeating political scion Cuomo, who had been the favorite for weeks, to become the party’s official nominee.
Mamdani has promised free bus service, a rent freeze and city-run supermarkets, which Cuomo has dismissed as fanciful and unaffordable government overreach.
The race to govern the city of 8.5 million people was flipped again when incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who has been engulfed by corruption allegations, left the race without endorsing another candidate.
Cuomo, 67, was the state’s governor from 2011 to 2021, when he resigned amid sexual assault allegations.
Mamdani, 33, is a state legislator for the borough of Queens and has run an insurgent grassroots campaign that has greatly motivated young New Yorkers.
‘Take on Trump’
Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding from Mamdani’s administration if elected, calling him a “communist.”
But Mamdani said, “I want to make it clear to the president that I’m willing not only to talk to him, but to work with him if it means we can lower the cost of living for New York.”
Cuomo warned “Trump will take over New York City and it will be Mayor Trump” if Mamdani won – reflecting the takeover of a large part of the administration of the capital Washington.
Trump said Wednesday that he had “terminated” the $16 billion Hudson Gateway tunnel connecting New York to New Jersey, a years-long megaproject.
Asked in the debate about his dream news headline, Mamdani said it would be “Mamdani continues to take on Trump.”
The Quinnipiac University poll suggests most voters won’t have their minds changed by the televised debate, with only 18% of Mamdani and Cuomo’s supporters “not likely” to change their choice, compared to 24% of Sliwa’s supporters.
In the latest poll, Sliwa, a 71-year-old who founded the Guardian Angels vigilante group in 1979, trails by a distant third with 15% in the latest poll, behind Cuomo’s 33% and Mamdani’s 46%.
Sliwa insisted he would not bow to inducements he claimed were arranged by Cuomo — who denies the allegation — to leave the race, like lucrative jobs with fat salaries and a driver.
“I said, ‘Hey, it’s not only unethical, it’s bribery and it could be criminal,'” Sliwa recounted AFP prior to the match.
A second debate will be held on 22 October.
