In the first general election mayoral debate Thursday night, the three leading candidates sparred for two hours, each making their case for why they should hold the city’s highest seat — and why they would be strong enough to stand up to Trump and protect all New Yorkers.
On stage at NBC Studios were Democratic front-runner, State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani; Independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
Right out of the gate, former Gov. Cuomo zeroed in on Mamdani’s lack of experience.
“This is no job for on-the-job training,” Cuomo said. “He literally never had a job.” He added: “On his resume, it says he literally interned for his mom.”
Mamdani jabbed back, criticizing Cuomo for his administration’s undercounting of nursing home deaths during the pandemic. (Cuomo is currently facing a Justice Department inquiry over whether he lied to Congress regarding nursing home deaths.)
Also Read: NYC Mayoral Candidates Confront Trump-Era Anti-Immigration Policies at Mayoral Debate
“What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity,” said Mamdani. ”And what you don’t have in integrity, you could never make up for with experience.”
The debate covered a wide range of issues — from affordability and housing to public safety, education, congestion pricing and, strangely enough, parades — but shortly after the debate kicked off, the moderators turned their attention to the “one threat hanging over the city” — the possible deployment of the National Guard troops by President Donald Trump.
Sliwa answered first, attempting to establish himself as a seasoned, tough-on-crime candidate who will end cash bail.
“There’s no need for the National Guard in New York,” he said unwaveringly. Sliwa then went on to invoke the death of Debrina Kawam, a homeless woman set on fire on the subway in 2024. Sliwa stated he would send more cops into the subway, emphasizing she was killed by a “migrant.”
Mamdani, too, said that the National Guard was not needed in New York and called Trump out for politicizing the troop deployments.
“If it was safety that President Trump was so concerned about, he would send [troops] to the eight out of 10 states that have the highest levels of crime in this country, but he won’t, because they’re all run by Republicans.”
Cuomo agreed with Mamdani, saying that Trump is not “sending in the National Guard to do any real function. It’s control. It’s power. He’s trying to say these Democrats don’t know how to run these cities.”
Although Cuomo and Mamdani agree on New York’s status as a sanctuary city, Mamdani called out the former governor for his alleged cooperation with the Trump administration and emphasized how he would not allow Trump to attack New Yorkers.
“I would make it clear to the president that I would be willing to work with him to lower the cost of living for New Yorkers,” he said. “If he ever wants to come at New Yorkers, he’s going to have to come through me.”
He continued to challenge Cuomo’s connections to Trump, calling him “Mr. Trump’s puppet.”
Previously, the Cuomo campaign received criticism for courting President Trump, and in August, The New York Times reported that during a fundraiser with business leaders, Cuomo said he did not “personally want to fight Trump.” The Times also reported that Cuomo had several phone calls with the president discussing the race — a claim that Cuomo denied.
Cuomo, who appeared flustered at times, continued to deny having any conversations with Trump. The former governor insisted he could handle the president and said Trump would “back down” as he had worked with him before. He warned that electing Mamdani would result in a Trump takeover of the city.
“If the Assemblyman is elected mayor, Donald Trump will take over New York City,” Cuomo said. “And it will be Mayor Trump.”
Sliwa, sandwiched between the two other candidates on stage, received less speaking time as the moderators focused on the two frontrunners. He went on the offensive.
“The President is going to back down to you?” Sliwa said. “Andrew Cuomo, I know you think you’re the toughest guy alive, but let me tell you something, you lost your own primary. You have a difficulty understanding what the term no is.”
Not to miss a chance to attack Cuomo, Mamdani agreed.
On working with Trump, Sliwa emphasized the need to work with the administration, instead of being antagonistic toward it.
“You can be tough, but you can’t be tough if it’s going to cost the city desperately needed federal funds,” he said. “If you try to get tough with Trump, the only people who will suffer are the people of New York City.”
One thing all the candidates could agree on was protecting migrants in the city. When asked by the moderators, all of them raised their hands that they would work to stop ICE detentions at federal immigration courts. Cuomo, for his part, vowed to fight back against the raids.
“I dealt with ICE, I stood up to ICE,” he said. “I stood them down.”
For Mamdani, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018, this question was a little more personal.
“I’d be proud to be the first immigrant mayor of the city in generations, and it’s a 26 Federal Plaza that I’ve seen,” he said. “What used to be moments when New Yorkers would be getting their citizenship turn into moments of tragedy where judges are asking New Yorkers who are there for a routine immigration check-in whether they’re prepared to leave in the very same clothes that they arrived in that courthouse.”
However, Mamdani, who appeared calm and collected, smiling at the camera throughout the night, did not miss a chance to call out Cuomo for failing to condemn recent ICE raids across the city.
“Andrew Cuomo said he would stand up to ICE; he has not said a word about the abductions,” he said.
Throughout the debate, Sliwa notably mispronounced Mamdani’s name and was eventually corrected by Mamdani, apologizing when corrected. A similar moment occurred at the previous Democratic debate, where Cuomo also mispronounced Mamdani’s name. Tonight, Cuomo refrained from saying Mamdani’s name, instead referring to him as “the assemblymember.”
Instead of attacking Mamdani on local issues, Cuomo, who serves on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal team, continued to call out Mamdani on his criticism of Israel.
“The Assemblymember won’t denounce the global intifada, which means kill all Jews,” said Cuomo.
Mamdani’s views on Israel were “divisive” he said, and called him a “terrorist sympathizer.”
Mamdani fired back, calling out Cuomo’s lack of outreach in the Muslim community, challenging him to name a single mosque he had visited during the 10 years that he was governor.
“What I’m looking to do as the first Muslim mayor is to bring people together,” said Mamdani.
Sliwa chimed in, calling for tougher policing of pro-Palestinian protesters by banning the wearing of masks during protests.
“I would remove the face covering,” he said. “Why would you hide your face unless you were an agent provocateur?”
After a tense two hours of batting around policies on housing, education, immigration, and public safety — the debate ended on a lighter note, with the candidates being asked what they order from a bodega for breakfast.
At an Irish pub across the street, labor leaders gathered to watch the debate.
Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ SEIU, one of the largest unions in the city, sat among the crowd of dozens of union members. The union had previously endorsed Cuomo during the primary, before supporting Mamdani. After the debate, he felt that Mamdani demonstrated that he was the only candidate to stand up to Trump.
“Zohran Mamdani showed he is the candidate to unify our city,” he told Documented. “That is what we need in the face of uncertainty and threats. Unity. New York City is strongest when we come together. As Zohran said so well, Trump made false promises to lower our cost of living, but Zohran will actually do it. If Trump wants to dehumanize New Yorkers and defund our taxpayer-funded essential services, he’ll have a fight on his hands. Zohran represents the spirit of NYC. And we stand with him.”
The second and final mayoral debate takes place on October 22 at LaGuardia Community College in Queens at 7 pm and will air on NY1. A fitting venue, as both Mamdani and Cuomo stated that Fiorello La Guardia was their favorite mayor.
Early voting begins Saturday, October 25, and will run through Sunday, November 2. Election Day is on Tuesday, November 4. To find your nearest polling site, click here.
