Top Takeaways from NYC Mayoral Debate

With Election Day in New York City just 12 days away, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa participated Wednesday night in the final debate of the mayoral election cycle.

The debate was lively, with each candidate frequently interrupting the other two and making personal attacks when they applied. Mamdani was attacked over his thin resume, Sliwa strove to prove his seriousness as a candidate and Cuomo was pressed on the sexual harassment allegations that drove him from office.

Who won the debate last night?

Ben Max, host of the Max Politics podcast, joined Good Day New York on Thursday morning with his analysis of the debate.

When asked about his general impression of the night, Max said it was "really good" and "by and far, it was Andrew Cuomo’s best debate performance, primary and general combined."

Max added: "Curtis Sliwa was solid. Mamdani got some of his licks in, but bottom line, general impression, big strokes, nothing happened that changes the dynamics of the race, but this is, again, more fuel for people just tuning in to start to really get a feel for the candidates – and we saw big differences among them."

The three men sparred over a number of topics, with Cuomo and Sliwa seemingly teaming up to attack Mamdani, the frontrunner. The candidates also focused on a number of issues that have been dominating the headlines in the city.

Cuomo and Sliwa, Mamdani said, "speak only in the past because that is all they know." He said Cuomo is "a desperate man, lashing out because he knows that the one thing he cares about, power, is slipping away from him." Cuomo, meanwhile, touted his experience.

"You have never had a job. You’ve never accomplished anything," he said, insisting Mamdani lacks the merit and qualifications to run the nation's biggest city or handle its emergencies.

Sliwa accused both men of "fighting like kids in a school yard," but piled on as well.

"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. He also made frequent references to Cuomo’s decision to resign as governor amid a barrage of sexual harassment allegations, which Cuomo denies.

NYC mayoral debate highlights

Housing

Housing, one of the main issues of this campaign, came up fairly quickly in the debate.

Mamdani refused to offer his stance on six "yes-or-no" ballot proposals that will appear on New Yorkers' ballots come November – four of the proposals revolve around speeding up the process of building more affordable housing throughout the city.

"I have not yet taken a position on those," he said, prompting shouts from the audience and his opponents on stage.

"What is your opinion, Zohran?" Sliwa asked.

Sliwa said at the debate that he's opposed to all six proposals, while Cuomo said he's in favor of all of them.

Trump factor

The candidates were again pressed on Trump and insisted that they would be most adept at handling the mercurial president. Cuomo spoke repeatedly about how he had held Trump at bay during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and said a Mamdani win would be a "dream" for the president.

"He has said he’ll take over New York if Mamdani wins, and he will! Because he has no respect for him. He thinks he’s a kid and he’s going to kick him on his tuchus," Cuomo said.

Mamdani, meanwhile, tried to depict Cuomo as Trump's "puppet" and too aligned with the president.

"He wants Andrew Cuomo to be the mayor not because it will be good for New Yorkers, but because it will be good for him," Mamdani said.

Sliwa warned both were taking the wrong approach by antagonizing the president.

"You can’t beat Trump," he said.

Rikers Island closure

One of the topics that captured a significant portion of time during the debate was the discussion surrounding the fact that Rikers Island is legally mandated to close by 2027.

Rikers is set to close because in 2019, the NY City Council voted to shut down the jail and ordered the construction of four new jails in four boroughs: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.

Instead of closing Rikers, however, both Cuomo and Sliwa said that they would seek to repair the issues within the jail if elected. Over the past decade in particular, the jail has seen a decline in living conditions and an increase in violence, for example. Mamdani, instead, called Rikers a "stain" on New York City.

"Yes, we have to close Rikers Island," he said during the debate.

NYC's minimum wage

Another issue top of mind for voters is whether the city will raise its minimum wage, a topic the three candidates discussed at length during the debate as well.

The minimum wage in the city is currently $16.50 per hour, and it's scheduled to be bumped up to $17 per hour once the new year rolls around.

Mamdani said that he would propose raising the local minimum wage as mayor to $30 per hour by 2030. He also reinforced the key message of his campaign, saying that the city is becoming too expensive for the average New Yorker to live in.

He warned the city "we know and love" could become "a museum of the working class."

Cuomo, on the other hand, said he's in favor of raising the minimum wage to $20 per hour. He added that this is a more doable threshold for business owners to keep up with.

Sliwa didn't offer a specific amount he'd seek to raise the minimum wage to, but instead criticized Mamdani's plan, saying to viewers that Mamdani "deals with fantasy, not reality."

MTA control, pricing

Cuomo was asked by the moderators whether New York City should take partial control of the city's transit away from the MTA.

Cuomo called the completion of the city's capital construction projects "way overdue," but said that funding for these projects would still come from the MTA budget.

"My only point is the MTA, which is a labyrinth bureaucracy set up by Rockefeller – which should've never been done in the first place – it's an overwhelming task for the greatest managers, and I hired both of them," he said. "But let the city manage the capital construction from the MTA budget."

Mamdani spoke of his free bus proposal, which he claimed during the debate "would cost $700 million a year" and "generate more than double in economic revenue for New Yorkers across the city."

In speaking of transit, Sliwa said he would target fare evaders.

Other notable moments

Perhaps the most heated moment of the debate was when Mamdani asked Cuomo what he had to say to the women who accused him of sexual harassment.

Charlotte Bennett, one of Cuomo's accusers, was in the audience during the debate, a fact that Mamdani pointed out while on stage.

"She cannot speak up for herself because you lodged a defamation case against her. I, however, can speak. What do you say to the 13 women that you sexually harassed?"

One of the issues that all three candidates were able to agree on was the city's cellphone ban in public schools. They all agreed simply with a "yes" when asked whether they support this policy, which went into effect this school year.

When is Election Day in NYC?

Election Day 2025 is Tuesday, Nov. 4, 12 days away.

Watch the full debate: