Attacks Fly at NYC Mayoral Debate

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo entered Thursday evening's first New York mayoral debate trying to blunt Democratic front-runner Zohran Mamdani's momentum. Instead he spent much of the contentious face-off on defense, batting away criticisms over his long tenure in office from Mamdani and Republican Curtis Sliwa, the AP reports. Cuomo, now running as an independent, continued to try to cast Mamdani's agenda as too extreme, saying the 33-year-old lacks the experience to lead America's biggest city. Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, countered with attacks on the former governor's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and sexual harassment allegations that Cuomo denies. But after two hours that touched on how the next mayor would deal with President Trump, quality of life issues, and affordability, it was unclear whether anyone did enough to move the needle.

• Cuomo, stressing his own lengthy resume, said being mayor "is no job for on-the-job training." "This is not a job for a first timer," he said, while trying to to cast Mamdani as "Bill de Blasio light," a reference to the unpopular former mayor. Mamdani hit back, repeatedly raising the sexual harassment investigation and legal bills related to his defense. "What I don't have in experience, I make up for in integrity. What you don't have in integrity, you can never make up for with experience," he charged.
• Cuomo sought to cast himself as the only true Democrat onstage, despite the fact that he is not running on the Democratic Party line. Mamdani's brand of economic populism and laser focus on lowering costs in the astronomically expensive city has generated buzz and excitement. At the same time, the state assemblyman's calls to raise taxes on wealthy people and intense criticisms of the Israel's military actions in Gaza have unnerved some centrists and conservatives, as well as many Jewish New Yorkers.

• During an appearance on Fox News Channel this week, Mamdani sidestepped a question about whether Hamas should lay down arms as part of a fragile truce that has paused the two-year Israel-Hamas war. On Thursday he did not equivocate, saying, "Of course I believe that they should lay down their arms." The comment came as Cuomo again highlighted Mamdani's past reluctance to condemn the use of the phrase "Globalize the intifada," which is seen by many Jews as a call to violence. Since the primary Mamdani has said he does not use the phrase and would discourage people from saying it. But Sliwa said that wasn't enough. "Jews don't trust that you are going to be there for them when they are the victims of antisemitic attacks," he charged.
• Mamdani, meanwhile, accused Cuomo of failing to represent the city's Muslim community, claiming that it took losing to a Muslim candidate for Cuomo to step inside a mosque. "It took me to get you to even see Muslims as part of this city," Mamdani said.
• Sliwa, the underdog, found himself caught in the middle—literally and figuratively—with the Republican's lectern positioned between his two opponents as they lobbed attacks at one another. At one point Sliwa complained that he was not getting enough speaking time, saying, "I am being marginalized out of this." But he often attacked Cuomo aggressively, including after the former governor stressed his willingness to take on Trump. "The president is going to back down to you?" Sliwa said. "You think you're the toughest guy alive, but let me tell you something, you lost your own primary, rejected by your own Democratic Party."

A second and final debate is scheduled for next week.