Andrew Cuomo was the principle punching bag at Thursday’s first common election mayoral debate, with Democratic front-runner Zohran Mamdani and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa repeatedly ganging up on the previous governor, knocking him on all the pieces from his reliance on billionaire donors to what Mamdani is spinning as a collegial relationship with President Trump.
New York Metropolis mayoral candidate, Impartial and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, speaks throughout a debate with Republican Curtis Sliwa and Democratic Zohran Mamdani in New York on October 16, 2025. (Photograph by ANGELINA KATSANIS/POOL/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
Cuomo, who’s working as an unbiased within the Nov. 4 mayoral election, swatted again, largely at Mamdani, contending the 33-year-old democratic socialist doesn’t have the expertise to be mayor whereas additionally portray him as ideologically excessive on points like taxation, defunding the police and the Israel-Hamas battle.
“His divisiveness is chronic,” Cuomo mentioned at one level through the typically testy two-hour debate, held on the NBC studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
In making that argument, Cuomo cited Mamdani’s previous help for defunding the NYPD — a place he has walked again as a mayoral candidate — and what he described because the Democratic nominee’s overly harsh criticism of Israel, equivalent to his reluctance in a Wednesday night time TV look to name on Hamas to put down arms and unwillingness to acknowledge Israel’s proper to exist as a Jewish state.
The Hamas remark put Mamdani on a backfoot as he shifted his stance from the night time earlier than. “Of course I believe that they should lay down their arms,” mentioned Mamdani, a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights.
Shifting gears, Mamdani, on many events with backing from Sliwa, countered that Cuomo’s a stalwart of the established order whose model of management is out of step with what New Yorkers want at a time of a spiraling value of dwelling disaster and federal funding threats from Trump’s administration.
“If you want more of the same, vote for Andrew Cuomo,” Mamdani mentioned, accusing him of missing “integrity,” citing, amongst different issues, his resignation as governor in 2021 amid sexual {and professional} misconduct accusations he now denies.
Slliwa, who’s polling in third place behind Cuomo and Mamdani, blasted each his opponents. However eager to draw a few of Cuomo’s politically reasonable supporters, Sliwa singled out Cuomo as his predominant goal, tearing into him over public security reforms he enacted as governor and in addition questioning whether or not he’d be capable of work with Trump or stand as much as him.
New York Metropolis mayoral candidate, Republican Curtis Sliwa, speaks throughout a mayoral debate with Impartial and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Democratic Zohran Mamdani in New York on October 16, 2025. (Photograph by ANGELINA KATSANIS/POOL/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
“You think you’re the toughest guy around,” Sliwa informed Cuomo, looking for to ridicule his declare that he’s finest outfitted to cope with Trump due to his lengthy document in authorities.
“I agree with Curtis,” added Mamdani, who accused Cuomo of being “Trump’s puppet,” citing overlapping donors in addition to the president’s obvious desire for the ex-governor’s marketing campaign. Trump was reportedly engaged in efforts to push Mayor Adams to exit the race as a part of an effort to make it simpler for Cuomo to tackle Mamdani.
Thursday’s showdown made for an uncommon dynamic, because the front-runner in a mayoral race is usually the principle goal in a debate setting.
In keeping with polls, the Nov. 4 election stays Mamdani’s to lose. He edging out Cuomo by 13% and Sliwa by 30% in the latest survey of the race carried out earlier this month by Quinnipiac College.
Thursday’s debate, which at instances delved into deeply private points like Mamdani’s faith and Cuomo’s household historical past, got here simply over per week earlier than early voting begins Oct. 25.
This yr’s marketing campaign isn’t any typical mayoral race, as Cuomo, a lifelong Democrat, runs as an unbiased within the Nov. 4 contest regardless that he misplaced June’s Democratic mayoral major to Mamdani by a 12% margin. Adams, who was additionally working as an unbiased, deserted his bid for reelection final month amid document low approval rankings.
The race has additionally grow to be a check for the 2 ideological factions of the Democratic Social gathering, with Cuomo representing the extra reasonable, conventional guard, whereas Mamdani has emerged as an icon for the left wing since his upset major victory.
That theme got here up on a number of events throughout Thursday’s night time debate, as Cuomo tried to make the case Mamdani isn’t an actual Democrat.
“You’re not a Democrat, you’re a democratic socialist,” he fumed at Mamdani earlier than accusing him of not supporting Vice President Kamala Harris within the 2024 presidential election.
Mamdani affirmed he did vote for Harris and later declared: “Mr. Cuomo lies again and again and again.”
New York Metropolis mayoral candidate, Democratic Zohran Mamdani, speaks throughout a mayoral debate with Impartial and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in New York on October 16, 2025. (Photograph by ANGELINA KATSANIS/POOL/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
Whereas he largely targeted his ire on Cuomo, Sliwa did be part of the ex-gov in knocking Mamdani’s affordability agenda as unrealistic. The Democratic nominee’s agenda contains guarantees to freeze the lease for stabilized tenants, make public buses free and drastically broaden sponsored baby care, all of it bankrolled by tax hikes on millionaires and companies that might have to be permitted by the state.
“Your fantasies are never going to come about,” Sliwa informed Mamdani.
Probably the most tense moments of the talk was when Cuomo accused Mamdani of not being “representative of the Muslim community.”
Mamdani, who’d grow to be the primary Muslim mayor in New York historical past if elected, mentioned it was “shameful” for Cuomo to ship that line of assault.
On a lighter notice, the candidates discovered some settlement when the moderators requested for his or her favourite mayor of New York Metropolis. Each Mamdani and Cuomo named Fiorello LaGuardia, whereas Sliwa supplied up Rudy Giuliani.
After the talk, neither Cuomo nor Mamdani caught round to reply questions from reporters, although each camps issued written statements touting their respective successes.
Sliwa, who did cease to speak to reporters, mentioned that in his view neither Cuomo nor Mamdani introduced a great imaginative and prescient for the town’s future through the debate.
Initially Revealed: October 16, 2025 at 9:55 PM EDT
