Candidates jockeyed for advantage during debate, but were unlikely to change voters’ minds before election day
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and current frontrunner for New York City mayor, faced off with Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor now running as an independent, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, at the second and final New York mayoral election debate on Wednesday night.
Here are some key takeaways from the evening.
The debate made clear that the most heated rivalry was between Cuomo and Mamdani. From the beginning, Cuomo accused Mamdani of lacking substance and relying on recycled ideas from Bill de Blasio’s administration, claiming the Democrat “has no new ideas”.
Mamdani countered by arguing that Cuomo focused more on pushing other candidates to drop out than actually proposing solutions, while also pointing out what he called Cuomo’s failures as governor, including delays in housing initiatives.
