Cuomo and Mamdani trade barbs again in NYC mayoral debate

MANHATTAN (CN) ­— Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo faced off against mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani on Thursday evening as the candidates for New York City Mayor, along with Republican Curtis Sliwa, sparred on policy in the first of two charged debates ahead of the city’s general election on Nov. 4.

Mamdani, the 33-year-old Democratic Socialist State Assemblyman who secured the Democratic nomination in June, was leading the race, according to polls going into the debate.

Cuomo, the former New York governor who resigned in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment, touted the importance of his political experience as three-term governor and former secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Bill Clinton.

“This is no job for on-the-job training,” Cuomo said, repeatedly attacking Mamdani during the debate for lacking experience as legislator. “And if you look at the failed mayors, they’re the ones that have no management experience. Don’t do it again."

Cuomo, who previously faced off against Mamdani during the Democratic primary debate in June, dubbed his opponent on Thursday “Bill de Blasio Lite,” referring to the Brooklyn Democrat who was mayor from 2014 to 2021.

“He is a divisive personality across the board,” Cuomo said, prodding Mamdani for refusing to denounce the pro-Palestine slogan “Globalize the Intifada” and referencing the assemblyman’s past comments calling the New York City Police Department “racist” and a “threat to public safety.”

Cuomo, who is running as an independent after defeat by Mamdani the Democratic primary, said Mamdani’s “whole plan is based on a myth” of believing that state lawmakers in Albany would pass tax hikes to enable his plans.

Cuomo said he thought Mamdani’s proposal to make the city’s buses free is “a mistake.”

“It’s been done before in other cities, it was a disaster,” Cuomo said. They basically became mobile homeless gathering places.”

Mamdani, who turns 34 next weekend, remained composed and on message amidst Cuomo’s attacks, and attempted to moderate the perception of him as too radical.

“What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity,” he said. “And what you don’t have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience.”

“If you want more of the same, vote for Andrew Cuomo,” he said at another point. “I am proud to have a comprehensive plan to bring new ideas to this city.”

Sticking mostly to his campaign’s focus of affordability in the city, including a promise to freeze increases on rent-stabilized apartments and launching a free city bus program, Mamdani swiped at Cuomo for the affordability and costs of living issues he’s running on.

“I just have to say it’s been an hour and 20 minutes of this debate, and we haven’t heard Governor Cuomo say the word affordability,” Mamdani said. “That’s why he lost the primary.”

Republican nominee Sliwa — a former radio talk show host and founder of the crime-fighting volunteer group Guardian Angels — did not don his signature red beret at the debate on Thursday, but he repeatedly invoked his experience around public safety.

“Thank God I’m not a professional politician because they have helped create this crime crisis in the city that we face,” he said.

Sliwa took a swipe at Mamdani’s age, recalling that in 1991, the year Mamdani was born, Sliwa and his Guardian Angels patrolled the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn as violent unrest broke between Black and Jewish New Yorkers after 7-year-old child was struck and killed by a car in a rabbi’s motorcade.

“Jews don’t trust that you are going to be there for them when they are victims of antisemitic attacks,” Sliwa said.

“I agree,” Cuomo chimed in.

Cuomo called for adding 5,000 more officers to the New York Police Department, while Sliwa said the department needs 7,000 more officers.

Sliwa repeatedly derided Mamdani’s campaign platform of replacing police officers with social workers and mental health professionals for non-violent calls as “fantasy.”

“What you have proposed with this new police outreach unit will endanger women and children in domestic violence situations,” Sliwa said. “I know, I’ve been involved in so many of them with the Guardian Angels, they will be killed. They will be maimed.”

In a debate segment about how the candidates would address prostitution that has flourished recently in immigrant neighborhoods in Northern Queens, Cuomo reprised a frequent campaign claim that Mamdani supports the legalization of prostitution, citing a bill he co-sponsored in the State Assembly that would decriminalize certain offenses.

Mamdani pushed back on Thursday against Cuomo’s assertion. “I want to be very clear, not only have I never called for the legalization of prostitution, I’m not calling for that today either,” he said.

“And I also have never said anything about not enforcing misdemeanors. This is just yet another figment of Andrew Cuomo’s imagination,” Mamdani added.

During a segment on affordability and cost of living in New York City, each candidate was asked what they paid in groceries and rent.

For monthly rent, Sliwa said he paid around $3,900, Mamdani said $2,300 for his rent-stabilized apartment in Queens, while Cuomo said he pays $7,800.

The two-hour debate on Thursday concluded on a lighter note with a question to the candidates asking whether they would rather attend game seven of the World Series or game seven of the NBA finals. Mamdani said he would watch the New York Knicks.

Sliwa defiantly picked the New York Yankees over the moderators’ offered Mets, while Cuomo said he would “go half and half.”

Cuomo’s campaign quickly claimed “resounding victory” on Thursday night following the debate.

“Andrew Cuomo demonstrated that he is not only the best candidate for mayor, he was the only candidate on that stage capable of doing the job on Day One. Zohran Mamdani has offered no straight answers, no workable solutions, and no proposals other than to tax New Yorkers into becoming ex-New Yorkers,” Bill Mulrow, Chair of the Cuomo for Mayor campaign wrote.

A Quinnipiac University New York City poll last week found Mamdani leading the race with 46% of likely voters backing him, ahead of Cuomo with 33% support and Sliwa with 15% support.

The city’s current mayor Eric Adams, who won as a Democrat four years ago, skipped the Democratic primary and briefly ran for re-election as an independent candidate, before dropping out last month.

The early voting period begins next week on Oct 25, and runs until Nov. 2.

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