New York City mayoral candidates Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa tried to land a decisive blow against Zohran Mamdani in the last debate before early voting began.
Mamdani leads the two by double digits, a clear lead that hasn’t budged since a largely unremarkable debate last week. While analysts have echoed similar sentiments about Wednesday night’s debate, it didn’t stop Cuomo and Sliwa from increasing pressure against Mamdani.
Both picked up on accusations of antisemitism against Mamdani. Sliwa said it was a personal matter, speaking on behalf of his two sons, who were raised Jewish.
“Let me speak on behalf of my two sons when they’ve heard some of the statements you’ve made, like in support of global jihad, and I hear some people out there saying, ‘the Jews, their time is due,’ which means the same thing,” he said. “They’re frightened. They’re scared. They view you as the arsonist who fans the flames of antisemitism. They cannot suddenly accept the fact that you’re coming in like a firefighter and you’re going to put out these flames.”
“You got a lot of explaining to do. A lot of apologizing to do,” Sliwa added.
Mamdani countered by saying he’d “never” supported calls for “global jihad” and blamed the accusation on “the fact that I am the first Muslim candidate to be on the precipice of winning this election.”
When asked about pro-Palestinian protests, Cuomo said he supports the right to protest under the First Amendment but turned it against Mamdani.
“It doesn’t justify leaders who stoke the flames of hatred against Jewish people, which is what Zohran does, in my opinion,” he said.
“I’ve heard Jewish New Yorkers, about their fears about antisemitism in this city, and what they deserve is a leader who takes it seriously,” Mamdani responded. “Not one who weaponizes it as a means by which to score political points on a debate stage.”
Sliwa also took the discussion on crime personally, blaming the light sentencing of gang members who attacked his oldest son last year on Cuomo “and his apprentice, Zohran.”
“It’s personal for me. My oldest son, Anthony, last October, was the victim of a vicious assault that could have killed him. And what happened to these juveniles … cut free because they went to family court, not criminal court,” he said.
“So how can both of you look at me. I almost lost my oldest son to gang violence, and the perpetrators went to family court and got a little pat on the wrist and was sent home to do it again and again. No, we need to start charging juveniles who commit violent crime in criminal court, and I’ll appoint criminal court judges who follow the law and don’t just release them because of no cash bail,” Sliwa added, drawing applause from the crowd.
Sliwa wasn’t entirely negative against Mamdani this time around, however. He drew the biggest laughs of the night from both his opponents and the audience after making a crude joke in response to Mamdani saying he would vote for himself first and Sliwa second if there were ranked choice voting.
Mamdani got his best blows in against Cuomo on the topic of experience, where Cuomo is best positioned. The Democratic candidate accused Cuomo of leading “an incompetent government” during his time as governor of New York.
“You will hear from Andrew Cuomo about his experience as if the issue is we don’t know about it. The issue is that we have all experienced your experience. The issue is that we experienced you taking a $5 million book deal while you sent seniors to their deaths in nursing homes,” Mamdani said.
At another part, he used Cuomo’s words against him when he denounced the behavior of the state toward New York City.
“We just had a former governor say in his own words that the city has been getting screwed by the state. Who was leading the state? It was you!” Mamdani said.
Cuomo retaliated by harping on Mamdani’s inexperience in government.
“I did things. You have never had a job. You’ve never accomplished anything. There’s no reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for 8.5 million lives. You don’t know how to run a government, you don’t know how to handle an emergency, and you’ve literally never proposed a bill on anything that you’re not talking about in your campaign,” Cuomo said.
Sliwa got in his own jab on the topic of experience.
MAMDANI DEBATE PERFORMANCE DASHES OPPONENTS’ HOPES OF A BLOW TO HIS CAMPAIGN MOMENTUM
“Zohran, your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin, and Andrew, your failures could fill a public school library in New York City,” he quipped.
All three candidates were asked if they would accept an endorsement from incumbent Mayor Eric Adams. Mamdani said no, Sliwa said he should be thrown in jail, but Cuomo said yes. Notably, after the debate, Cuomo joined Adams at a Knicks game.
