Zohran Mamdani was attacked over his skinny resume, Republican Curtis Sliwa strove to show his seriousness as a candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was pressed on the sexual harassment allegations that drove him from workplace in a contentious ultimate debate in New York Metropolis’s mayoral race.
Whereas Mamdani, the frontrunner, started by accusing his rivals of being consumed by preventing — suggesting he would attempt to focus as a substitute on his imaginative and prescient for New Yorkers — the state assemblymember joined them in mud as he tried to create viral social media moments, included inviting one in all Cuomo’s accusers to seem within the viewers.
Cuomo, working as an unbiased after dropping the Democratic major to Mamdani, fared higher Wednesday than throughout their first debate. He used its deal with the day-to-day of working the town to showcase his political expertise.
Although he has urged Sliwa to drop his bid to keep away from splitting the anti-Mamdani vote, he didn’t deliver up his request in the course of the debate. As an alternative he labored to solid Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, as out of his league, highlighting his pro-Palestinian advocacy and President Donald Trump’s threats to take over the town if he wins.
Listed below are some key takeaways from the controversy:
Barbs throughout
Mamdani had stated he deliberate to maintain his deal with points, like affordability, which have fueled his momentum and earned him nationwide consideration, however he landed loads of digs in opposition to his rivals, whom he accused of spending extra time calling on one another to drop out “than truly proposing their very own insurance policies.”
Cuomo and Sliwa, he stated, “converse solely prior to now as a result of that’s all they know.” He stated Cuomo is “a determined man, lashing out as a result of he is aware of that the one factor he cares about, energy, is slipping away from him.”
Cuomo, in the meantime, touted his expertise.
“You have got by no means had a job. You’ve by no means achieved something,” he stated, insisting Mamdani lacks the benefit and {qualifications} to run the nation’s largest metropolis or deal with its emergencies.
Sliwa accused each males of “preventing like youngsters in a faculty yard,” however piled on as effectively.
“Zohran, your resume may match on a cocktail serviette. And, Andrew, your failures may fill a public college library in New York Metropolis,” he quipped. He additionally made frequent references to Cuomo’s determination to resign as governor amid a barrage of sexual harassment allegations, which Cuomo denies.
Native points and the Canal Avenue raid
Whereas the race has usually been dominated by questions concerning the Israel-Hamas struggle, Trump and different nationwide topics, the candidates Wednesday have been peppered for specifics about crime, the subways and the infamous Rikers Island jail complicated.
Mamdani got here below hearth after he declined to take a place on a set of initiatives that may seem on the November poll.
Mamdani additionally stated as mayor he would ask New York Metropolis’s police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to stay in her publish. Mamdani, who was deeply vital of the town’s police prior to now, has been making an attempt to reasonable his most contentious positions.
The candidates additionally railed in opposition to this week’s immigration enforcement sweep targeting vendors on Manhattan’s famed Canal Street that led to 14 arrests.
Cuomo stated the town doesn’t want Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers within the metropolis to deal with quality-of-life crimes like dealing in counterfeit baggage.
Mamdani equally pledged to oppose federal interventions within the metropolis, saying “ICE is a reckless entity that cares little for the legislation and even much less for the those who they’re purported to serve.”
The Trump issue
The candidates have been once more pressed on Trump and insisted that they might be most adept at dealing with the mercurial president.
Cuomo spoke repeatedly about how he had held Trump at bay in the course of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and stated a Mamdani win can be a “dream” for the president.
“He has stated he’ll take over New York if Mamdani wins, and he’ll! As a result of, he has no respect for him. He thinks he’s a child and he’s going to kick him on his tuchus,” Cuomo stated.
Mamdani, in the meantime, tried to depict Cuomo as Trump’s “puppet” and too aligned with the president.
“He desires Andrew Cuomo to be the mayor not as a result of it is going to be good for New Yorkers, however as a result of it is going to be good for him,” Mamdani stated.
Sliwa warned each have been taking the unsuitable method by antagonizing the president.
“You possibly can’t beat Trump,” he stated.
Mamdani pulls from Trump’s playbook
Cuomo, in the meantime, continued to be dogged by the allegations that pressured his resignation.
Mamdani stated one of many girls who had accused Cuomo of sexual harassment, his former aide Charlotte Bennett, was within the viewers Wednesday. Trump used a similar strategy in 2016 when he appeared at a debate with accusers of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s husband, former President Invoice Clinton, who has denied the accusations in opposition to him.
“What do you say to the 13 girls that you just sexually harassed?” he requested as he pressed Cuomo on the allegations and the thousands and thousands in taxpayer {dollars} that have been spent to defend him in court docket.
Cuomo denied wrongdoing and chided Mamdani.
“If you wish to be in authorities, then you need to be critical and mature,” he stated.
Bennett was the second lady to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment, alleging he subjected her to invasive questions on her private life and sexual relationships. Cuomo denies Bennett’s allegations.
A number of candidates famous initially of the controversy that New Yorkers would in all probability quite be watching the Knicks opening sport of the season, which tipped off on the identical time. Cuomo made it to the sport’s second half, the place he was photographed sitting subsequent to incumbent Mayor Eric Adams.
