Frontrunner Zohran Mamdani appeared to duck taking a stand throughout Wednesday night time’s ultimate NYC mayoral election debate on a number of key poll questions that may affect the way forward for New York Metropolis.
The Oct. 22 showdown featured fixed, chaotic, and infrequently private clashes between the three main candidates. However Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and Queens Meeting member, sidestepped when pressed to supply direct solutions to questions on main points, together with a number of vital poll questions on reasonably priced housing, simply days forward of the beginning of early voting.
Many of the heated exchanges all through the 90-minute affair had been sparked by a pugnacious impartial former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as he repeatedly tried to rating last-minute factors in opposition to Democratic nominee Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist Queens Meeting member.
On the identical time, Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa — after per week of very public stress to bow out of the race — lobbed broadsides at each Cuomo and Mamdani. He portrayed himself because the “adult in the room” and Cuomo and Mamdani as being one in the identical, arguing that Cuomo was the “master” of passing many progressive insurance policies as governor and Mamdani was the “apprentice” for desirous to proceed them.
A non-answer from Mamdani that evoked jeers
Democratic candidate Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani participates in a second New York Metropolis mayoral debate on the LaGuardia Performing Arts Middle at LaGuardia Group Faculty in Lengthy Island Metropolis, Queens, New York, October 22, 2025. Hiroko Masuike/Pool through REUTERS
But Mamdani, who stays forward by double-digits in quite a few polls, drew jeers from his opponents and people in attendance at LaGuardia Group Faculty in Lengthy Island Metropolis when he was pressed to supply clear solutions on his positions on three November poll proposals on reasonably priced housing — and indicated he was nonetheless undecided.
In some ways, long-time political observers famous, Mamdani appeared to fall right into a “prevent defense,” a frontrunner entice of failing to take a place that may alienate a small a part of the bottom he might have already gained, when it got here to the poll questions. The referendums proved politically divisive at Metropolis Corridor, as they had been superior to the poll by way of Mayor Eric Adams’ Constitution Revision Fee over the objections of the Metropolis Council.
The proposals — superior by a panel convened by present Mayor Eric Adams — have drawn intense backlash from Metropolis Council management, who argue it might hand an excessive amount of of the council’s say over land use choices to the mayor’s workplace. Nevertheless, when pressed for a solution on the place he stands, Mamdani appeared to take a cautious method.
“I’m appreciative that those measures will be on the ballot and that New Yorkers will be able to cast their votes for them,” Mamdani stated, when requested by the moderators for his stance on the measures.
That reply instantly prompted jeers and shouts from each Cuomo and Sliwa.
“What’s your opinion, Zohran?” Sliwa stated.
“Answer the question for once,” stated Cuomo, who has usually criticized Mamdani for shifting a few of his positions towards the middle in the course of the normal election.
Mamdani, who has drawn criticism that his marketing campaign has not centered sufficient on schooling, maintained that he would nonetheless push for eliminating mayoral management of public faculties. He argued that he needs to implement a system that also holds the mayor accountable for the efficiency of public faculties whereas giving college students, mother and father, and academics a better say.
“This is a system where we are failing to deliver excellence to students, to teachers, to parents, and it is time to have a mayor who understands not only the crisis in front of us, but the fact that we have to change our ways if we want to change our results,” Mamdani stated.
Cuomo pounced on Mamdani’s reply, insisting that he would maintain mayoral management in place, whereas dinging Mamdani’s proposal to implement a city-run grocery retailer pilot program.
“It is wholly inconsistent to say I think it’s a top priority, but I want to give up mayoral control, but I want to be a mayor who runs grocery stores,” Cuomo stated of Mamdani. “Forget the grocery stores. Run the Department of Education.”
Cuomo and Mamdani duke it out
Impartial candidate former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo participates in a second New York Metropolis mayoral debate on the LaGuardia Performing Arts Middle at LaGuardia Group Faculty in Lengthy Island Metropolis, Queens, New York, October 22, 2025. Hiroko Masuike/Pool through REUTERS
All through the talk, Cuomo took almost each alternative to hammer Mamdani with acquainted strains of assault. The previous governor ripped the frontrunner’s bold affordability platform, shifts on sure coverage positions, persistent criticism of Israel, and expertise stage.
Mamdani hit again by ripping Cuomo over his decade-long tenure as governor and the sexual harassment scandal that spurred him to resign in 2021.
Cuomo, who has been tying Mamdani to his political nemesis, former Mayor Invoice de Blasio, blasted the frontrunner’s proposal to freeze rents for town’s almost a million stabilized tenants as one thing that didn’t work when the ex-mayor tried it and won’t work now. He charged that the coverage primarily pauses lease hikes that might be applied afterward, whereas lowering the variety of accessible rental items.
“We did freeze the rent with de Blasio, we lost units because the landlords took them off the market because you weren’t covering their costs,” Cuomo stated. “It’s all BS because the mayor doesn’t have the power to do it anyway, the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) does, and he doesn’t control the Rent Guidelines Board.”
The mayor appoints all 9 members of the RGB to mounted phrases of between two and 4 years.
Mamdani, whose marketing campaign has centered on utilizing the mayor’s workplace to decrease New Yorkers’ general value of dwelling, sought to show Cuomo’s assault in opposition to him.
“If you want a candidate for mayor who tells you everything that he cannot do, then Andrew Cuomo should be your choice,” Mamdani stated. “If you want a candidate for mayor who will use every tool at their disposal, including the nine appointees at the Rent Guidelines Board, all of whom are appointed by the mayor, then I am the candidate for you.”
Sliwa spent a lot of the talk throwing jabs in each instructions, usually referring to Cuomo and Mamdani as “two kids in a schoolyard.”
In the meantime, Cuomo nonetheless couldn’t escape questions on and assaults associated to the roughly a dozen sexual harassment allegations that led to his resignation, which he strongly denies.
In a very salient second, the place candidates may ask questions of each other, Mamdani requested Cuomo to reply to the ladies he’s accused of sexually harassing. He additionally identified that a type of girls, former Cuomo aide Charlotte Bennett, was within the debate viewers as a visitor of his.
Cuomo responded by mocking Mamdani as not being “serious” or “mature.” He then insisted that as a result of he was dropped from a few of the civil fits in opposition to him that nothing got here of the allegations, which had been corroborated by a report from state Lawyer Common Letitia James.
“Everything you just stated was a mistatement,” Cuomo stated to Mamdani.
Sliwa will get private with Mamdani on antisemitism
Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa participates in a second New York Metropolis mayoral debate on the LaGuardia Performing Arts Middle at LaGuardia Group Faculty in Lengthy Island Metropolis, Queens, New York, Wednesday, October 22, 2025. Hiroko Masuike/Pool through REUTERS
At one level, Sliwa — who has two Jewish sons — gave impassioned remarks calling out Mamdani’s frequent criticism of the Israeli authorities and fierce advocacy for Palestinians. Specifically, Mamdani has caught flak for initially refusing to denounce the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which he now discourages the usage of, and saying Israel needs to be a state with “equal rights,” somewhat than a Jewish state.
Talking on behalf of his Jewish sons, Sliwa stated they imagine Mamdani is an “arsonist, who fanned the flames of antisemitism.”
“My sons are afraid, their family, their friends, many of the Jewish community are concerned if you become mayor,” he continued, addressing Mamdani. “Because they don’t think when antisemitism rears its ugly head…that you will have the ability to come in and put out those flames of hate.”
Mamdani responded, “I think there is room for disagreement on many positions and many policies.”
“All the same, Curtis, I do still want to be the mayor that will keep your sons safe,” Mamdani added.
Cuomo additionally took additional concern with Mamdani’s previous statements and questioned his sincerity in defending Jewish New Yorkers — pointing to a letter wherein greater than 600 rabbis throughout the nation publicly voiced their opposition to Mamdani and the general “political normalization” of antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
Mamdani has usually emphasised his dedication to tremendously enhance funding for combating antisemitism by way of his proposed Division for Group Security and the numerous conversations he has had with these within the Jewish group to know their issues.
The controversy was co-hosted by NY1, WNYC, and THE CITY at LaGuardia Group Faculty.
