5 things that defined the first NYC mayoral debate

Three candidates. One stage. And according to Curtis Sliwa, way too much testosterone.

With just over three weeks to go until Election Day, time is dwindling for independent candidate Andrew Cuomo to overcome current front-runner Zohran Mamdani, who is the Democratic nominee and maintains a double digit lead in the polls. Republican nominee Sliwa is faced with an even greater deficit. Mamdani, meanwhile, has to not blow it.

So all three came out swinging on Thursday night, the first of two official mayoral debates in the general election. Whether you missed it or just want to relive it, these are the can’t-miss moments from the two-hour debate, moderated with aplomb by Sally Goldenberg, Melissa Russo, David Ushery and Rosarina Bretón.

Standing up to Trump

Which candidate is best equipped to handle President Donald Trump and his numerous threats to New York City? Mamdani said he’d stand up to Trump. Cuomo said he would – and has as governor. Sliwa said they’re both posturing as “tough guys,” asserting “there’s high levels of testosterone in this room.” 

Mamdani has made fighting Trump a key part of his general election campaign, while Cuomo has been less critical and on multiple occasions spoken about having a cooperative relationship. Despite stating on the debate stage that his last phone call with the Republican president was “during his assassination attempt,” The New York Times reported in August that the two had a phone call about the mayoral race.

But Cuomo argued that he has actual experience dealing with Trump as president – during the years they overlapped when Cuomo was governor. He says he could stop Trump from sending in National Guard troops because he did it during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sorry, Kathy Hochul 

Given an opportunity to say whether they support Gov. Kathy Hochul for reelection, none of the three opted to endorse her. While that’s not particularly surprising for Republican Sliwa, Mamdani’s silence raised some eyebrows – particularly given the fact that Hochul endorsed his mayoral bid last month. “I’m focused on November,” Mamdani said, though he later added that he thinks Hochul “has been doing a good job” delivering for New Yorkers and standing up to Trump. Cuomo meanwhile said he wants to wait and see who is running before making any decisions. 

Skeletons in Cuomo’s closet

Cuomo deflected questions about several different investigations during the debate. He repeatedly said that allegations against him of sexual harassment were unfounded. “It was a political report and … there was no basis to it,” Cuomo said of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ 2021 report that found he sexually harassed 11 women. “During COVID, everyone did whatever they could in this state, and there have been numerous investigations where they've gone through it, and they said we follow the federal guidance,” Cuomo said of investigations that his team undercounted deaths in nursing homes. “There have been multiple investigations where the DOJ found that the nursing home investigation was politically motivated,” Cuomo said of the investigation into his testimony about the investigation into nursing homes.

Mamdani also has a past

For months, Cuomo has tried to nail Mamdani on a handful of controversies: A 2020 tweet calling the NYPD “racist” and “anti-queer,” his criticism of Israel and even the statements of leftist streamer Hasan Piker, with whom Mamdani did a friendly interview.

If Cuomo’s goal going into this debate was to draw attention to these issues, he succeeded – largely by talking about them at every opportunity he got. Mamdani was pressed on some of these issues by the moderators too, as he’s been vague in some of his answers in the past. It was only on Wednesday that he publicly offered a broad apology to the NYPD for his 2020 tweet.

Mamdani offered a response on his support for Israel’s right to exist, but not necessarily as a Jewish state: “I’ve said again and again that I recognize Israel's right to exist,” he said. “I would not recognize any state's right to exist with a system of hierarchy on the basis of race or religion.”

“Of course I believe that they should lay down their arms," Mamdani said of Hamas, after moderators asked about an interview on the Gaza ceasefire on Wednesday in which Mamdani didn’t explicitly say that. 

But there may have been a cost to Cuomo in spending so much time hammering Mamdani on these points. As Mamdani put it a little over halfway through the debate: "It’s been an hour and 20 minutes, and (Cuomo) hasn’t said the word ‘affordability.’ That's why he lost the (Democratic primary.)”

Sliwa has a pretty good night

We’re not calling Curtis Sliwa a spoiler candidate. But his commitment to equal opportunity attacks against both Mamdani and Cuomo spoiled any hopes Cuomo might have had that the two could gang up on the race’s current front-runner. Sliwa occasionally got confused, but in some chaotic moments, he managed to come across as the likeable, if zany, candidate on the stage.

Sliwa had plenty of jabs and criticisms for Mamdani. Of Mamdani’s policy proposals, he said, “Zohran, your fantasies are never going to come about.” He saved some of his spiciest for Cuomo: “I knew Mario Cuomo. Andrew Cuomo, you are no Mario Cuomo.”

Positioned on stage between the two of them, the Guardian Angels founder sought to distinguish himself from his opponents. “Thank god I'm not a professional politician,” he said, calling Cuomo and Mamdani, respectively, “the architect and apprentice of bail reform.”