The final debate of the New York City mayoral race concluded last week with Zohran K. Mamdani fighting to keep his lead as election day nears, Andrew M. Cuomo continuing to challenge him, and Curtis Sliwa standing his ground to stay in the race.
Ever since winning the Democratic primary, Democrat Mamdani has been on track to win the election, but Cuomo has kept himself in contention as an Independent candidate.
Sliwa, the Republican candidate, is trailing in the polls despite his commitment to remain in the running. Mamdani has been successful in winning over NYC’s young population. Cuomo’s main hope for winning lies in the expected increase of voter turnout from the older demographic compared to the primary, according to an article by The New York Times titled “N.Y.C. Mayoral Candidates Hunt for Votes With One Week to Go.”
In the debate, Cuomo attempted to sway voters away from Mamdani with a reminder that President Donald Trump has threatened to “take over” NYC if Mamdani wins.
Mamdani responded by accusing Cuomo of hypocrisy in his denunciation of Trump. “We heard from Donald Trump’s puppet himself, Andrew Cuomo,” Mamdani said. He went on to question Cuomo’s trustworthiness, considering the sexual harassment allegations against him, which led to his loss of his previous position as New York State governor. “What do you say to the 13 women who you sexually harassed?” Mamdani asked Cuomo. Mamdani also invited two of Cuomo’s accusers, the ex-governor’s former aides Charlotte Bennett and Karen Hinton, as guests to the debate.
Cuomo denied that the sexual harassment allegations against him were true. He turned the microscope on Mamdani to criticize the LGBTQIA+ ally of a close relationship with Ugandan First Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga, who spearheaded legislation to imprison homosexual individuals for life. The accusation was predicated on a picture of Mamdani, a dual citizen of Uganda and the U.S., standing with Kadaga.
Mamdani claimed that he had not known Kadaga’s stance when he posed with her. “Had I known that the First Deputy Minister was the architect of that legislation, I would not have taken that photo,” he said. The picture is the first time that Mamdani’s support of the LGBTQIA+ community has come into question. He has plans to improve and maintain sanctuary city policies, gender-affirming care, mental health support, healthcare, housing, the workforce, public defense, and legal aid through for LGBTQIA+ individuals with new Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs. According to the platform page of his campaign site, Zohran for NYC, the office has a budget of $87 million.
One of the last things the candidates discussed was Mamdani’s opposition of the genocide committed by Israel in Palestine. Sliwa was concerned that Mamdani, in criticizing Israel, would not protect NYC’s Jewish population from antisemitism. Mamdani expressed that he wanted to “keep every single New Yorker safe,” conceding that the Israel-Palestine conflict was complicated with “room for disagreement on many positions and many policies.”
The election will take place on Nov. 4 with polls open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.