On the evening of October 16, 2025, the stage at a packed Manhattan auditorium became the epicenter of New York City’s political future. In front of a live television audience and a panel of moderators from NBC 4 NY, Politico, and TeleMundo, the three remaining candidates for mayor—Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Curtis Sliwa—faced off in their first general election debate. With early voting set to begin on October 25 and the general election only weeks away on November 4, the stakes could hardly have been higher.
The debate, lasting nearly two hours, saw the candidates spar over issues ranging from public safety and affordability to the looming influence of President Donald Trump, whose shadow hung over the proceedings. According to CNN and The Center Square, this was the first time the trio had shared a debate stage, marking a pivotal moment in a race already defined by sharp ideological divides and personal animosities.
Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old Democratic Socialist State Assemblyman and Democratic nominee, entered the debate as the frontrunner. A Quinnipiac University poll released just days before showed Mamdani leading with 46% of likely voters, ahead of independent Andrew Cuomo at 33% and Republican Curtis Sliwa at 15%. Mamdani’s campaign has focused on affordability, promising to freeze rent-stabilized apartment increases, launch a free city bus program, and bring sweeping changes to city services. He also advocates for raising taxes on businesses and the city’s top earners, scrapping bus fares, providing universal child care, making city-run colleges tuition-free, and setting up government-run grocery stores.
Mamdani’s progressive platform, however, made him a lightning rod for criticism. Cuomo, the former three-term New York governor who resigned in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, repeatedly questioned Mamdani’s experience and readiness. “He has no experience to run a $115 billion budget. He has literally never had a job. On his resume it says he interned for his mother,” Cuomo quipped, according to The Center Square. “This is not a job for first-timers.”
Cuomo, running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani, hammered home the message that the mayor’s office was “no job for on-the-job training.” He warned voters not to repeat the mistakes of the past, referencing what he called the failures of inexperienced mayors. Cuomo also dubbed Mamdani “Bill de Blasio Lite,” a nod to the former Brooklyn mayor and a clear attempt to tie Mamdani to past progressive leadership.
In response, Mamdani remained composed, defending both his integrity and his vision for the city. “What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity. And what you don’t have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience,” Mamdani shot back, a line that quickly made the rounds on social media. He also criticized Cuomo’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, accusing him of “sending senior citizens to their deaths” by moving infected patients into nursing homes early in the crisis—a charge Cuomo denied. “If you want more of the same, vote for Andrew Cuomo,” Mamdani added. “I am proud to have a comprehensive plan to bring new ideas to this city.”
The debate’s sharpest exchanges came when the candidates were pressed on their positions regarding President Donald Trump. Trump’s presence loomed large, with each candidate outlining how they would handle the possibility of Trump deploying the National Guard to New York City to crack down on crime or enforce immigration laws. All three candidates said they would oppose such a move, but Cuomo issued a stark warning: “If the assemblyman is elected mayor, Donald Trump is going to take over New York. It will be Mayor Trump.”
Mamdani, for his part, insisted he would “stand up to” Trump, but also expressed a willingness to work with him on lowering costs and affordability for New Yorkers. “If he ever wants to come for New Yorkers in the way that he has been, he’s going to have to get through me as the next mayor of this city,” Mamdani declared. Sliwa, meanwhile, cautioned that taking too contentious a tone against Trump could hurt the city, warning, “If you try to get tough with Trump, New Yorkers will suffer.”
Sliwa, the Republican nominee and founder of the Guardian Angels, sought to position himself as the voice of “average New Yorkers.” He took off his signature red beret for the debate, but not his combative style. Sliwa derided both rivals as “out of touch,” blasting their taxing and spending plans and accusing them of being “unwilling” to give President Trump credit for achievements like brokering the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. He also criticized Mamdani’s proposals to replace police officers with social workers and mental health professionals for non-violent calls as “fantasy,” arguing, “What you have proposed with this new police outreach unit will endanger women and children in domestic violence situations. They will be killed. They will be maimed.”
Public safety was a recurring theme. Cuomo called for adding 5,000 new officers to the New York Police Department, while Sliwa argued the city needed 7,000 more. Both men seized on Mamdani’s past comments about the NYPD, with Cuomo referencing Mamdani’s description of the department as “racist” and a “threat to public safety.” Mamdani, for his part, sought to moderate perceptions of radicalism, emphasizing that his focus was on affordability and quality of life for ordinary New Yorkers.
The debate was not without lighter moments. When asked about their sports preferences, Mamdani declared his loyalty to the New York Knicks, Sliwa chose the Yankees over the Mets, and Cuomo diplomatically split his allegiance “half and half.” But the lighter fare did little to mask the seriousness of the issues at hand. Moderators quizzed the candidates about their own weekly grocery bills—Sliwa spends $175, while Cuomo and Mamdani each spend about $150—and their monthly rent payments, which ranged from Sliwa’s $3,900 to Mamdani’s $2,300 in Queens and Cuomo’s $7,800.
Immigration, housing, and the future of public investment also featured prominently. Cuomo and Sliwa warned that Mamdani’s tax proposals would drive New Yorkers to lower-tax states, with Cuomo quipping, “You would see New Yorkers on I-95 fleeing to Florida.” Sliwa agreed, saying, “You gotta cut taxes for people to stay here.” Mamdani, meanwhile, pushed back against claims that he supported the legalization of prostitution, clarifying, “I want to be very clear, not only have I never called for the legalization of prostitution, I’m not calling for that today either.”
As the debate concluded, campaign surrogates were quick to declare victory for their respective candidates. Bill Mulrow, Chair of the Cuomo for Mayor campaign, claimed, “Andrew Cuomo demonstrated that he is not only the best candidate for mayor, he was the only candidate on that stage capable of doing the job on Day One. Zohran Mamdani has offered no straight answers, no workable solutions, and no proposals other than to tax New Yorkers into becoming ex-New Yorkers.”
With early voting just days away and the race entering its final stretch, New Yorkers now face a clear choice among starkly different visions for the city’s future. The next debate promises even more fireworks as the candidates make their final pitch to a city at a crossroads.
