With New York City’s mayoral election just under three weeks away, all three leading candidates faced off in the first general debate of this election cycle on Thursday, Oct. 16. Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani (D), former governor Andrew Cuomo (I), and Curtis Sliwa (R) were asked to speak on a host of issues including the city’s affordability crisis, Donald Trump, policing, Israel’s genocide against Palestine, and even parades, interestingly enough. The two-hour debate aired live from NBCStudios at 30 Rockefeller Center in Manhattan on WNBC-TV and all its streaming platforms. A majority of the debate centered around Mamdani and Cuomo’s rivalry, who many suspect this race will ultimately come down to, with Sliwa struggling for airtime.
Lack of Affordability
Arguably, the biggest policy issue of this election is housing affordability, which some say has been the worst in a century. Current election frontrunner Mamdani reaffirmed his plans to freeze rent for the city’s rent stabilized apartments, of which there are nearly 1 million. When asked how he was able to make a decision on freezing rent without having seen next year’s data on the cost of building maintenance, he replied that he’s, “seen the data year after year of the fact that salaries are stagnating, costs are up, New Yorkers can’t actually afford their apartments.” He also promised to build 200,000, “truly affordable homes across the 5 boroughs in the next 10 years,” to increase the number of available housing units within a given area. Sliwa also chimed in to add that he feels the city is facing, “really serious issues of affordability.” He proposed that the city’s next mayor allocate vacant apartments within the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) for people to move into.
Cuomo opposed Mamdani’s rent freeze, stating, “freezing the rent only postpones the rent, because then you have to have an increase to cover the costs.” The former governor then criticized the Democratic Socialist for living in a rent stabilized apartment even though his family is wealthy. Cuomo further accused Mamdani’s proposal of not doing anything for NYCHA residents or homeowners. The assemblyman responded to these claims, saying, “[Cuomo] thinks you address this crisis by unleashing my landlord’s ability to raise my rent,” then telling voters, “if you think that the problem in this city is ‘my rent is too low,’ vote for [Cuomo]. If you know the problem in this city is that your rent is too high, vote for me.”
The Trump Administration
President Trump’s threats to reduce federal funding to New York, deploy the National Guard, and make NYC his focus for mass deportation policies came to a head on Thursday’s debate stage. The president has even gone on record to say if Mamdani is elected as mayor, all federal funding will be withheld from the city. The assemblyman said he would be willing to put political differences aside and cooperate with President Trump, “if it means delivering on lowering the cost of living for New Yorkers.” Mamdani went on to highlight Trump’s targeting of Democrat-led cities, saying that if Trump was sincerely interested in public safety, he would send the National Guard into the 8 out of 10 states with the highest crime rates, “but he won’t do that because they’re all run by Republicans.” He also made note of Cuomo’s ties to the current administration, “I’m not funded by the same donors that gave us Donald Trump’s second term, which isn’t something that Andrew Cuomo can say.”
In an effort to cover his tracks, Cuomo suggested that the reason he’s backed by Trump donors is because Mamdani is vocally pro-Palestine, which the former governor falsely equates to him being an anti-semite. “I fought with Trump,” Cuomo says, positioning himself as the only candidate experienced enough to defend the city against Trump’s fascist policies. Sliwa was swift to confront Cuomo on his statements, “Wait a second, the president is going to back down to you, Andrew Cuomo? I know you think you’re the toughest guy alive, but let me tell you something, you lost your own primary, right? You were rejected by your democrats. And you have a difficult time understanding what the term ‘no’ is. You’re not going to stand up to Donald Trump.”
Policing and Public Safety
Mamdani clarified his position on the New York Police Department (NYPD), after calling the organization racist, wicked, and calling for its defunding in a now deleted tweet amid the murder of George Floyd in 2020. He repeated his apology over the statements, stating that he has learned about the interconnectivity of justice, accountability, and public safety. He drew attention to the duality of his position, saying that being mayor, “means leading a city where you recognize the bravery of the men and women who join the NYPD,” and, “it means representing the Muslims who are illegally surveilled in my district and the Black and Brown New Yorkers who have been victims of police brutality.” He also discussed his plans for a Department of Community Safety, a designated unit to respond to mental health crises.
Cuomo took this opportunity to fear monger about Mamdani’s stance, “[Mamdani] believes in defunding the police, disarming the police, disbanding the police. That’s who he is.” The former governor continued, “The difference between me and the assemblyman is he doesn’t like the police. That’s why he won’t hire more police when everyone says we need more police.” It is important to note, however, that Mamdani has said he would keep a headcount of 35,030 NYPD officers for budget reasons, which would require him to hire about 1,300 more policemen, since presently there are just under 34,000 officers.
The Genocide in Gaza
Mamdani has prominently been a fierce critic of the Israeli state and its military onslaught in Palestine. He, the only Muslim and candidate of color, was pointedly asked if he specifically thinks Hamas should lay down their weapons. Mamdani replied, “Of course I believe they should lay down their weapons.” He said that he was proud to be one of the first elected officials to call for a ceasefire, “and calling for a ceasefire means all parties have to cease fire and put down their weapons.” The democratic socialist expressed his hope for the future a ceasefire will bring, but made sure to mention that conditions preceding Oct. 7 must be addressed, “Conditions like occupation, like the siege, and apartheid.”
Cuomo baselessly accused Mamdani of speaking in code and ultimately trying to claim that, “Israel does not have the right to exist.” To clarify, Mamdani has stated that he believes in Israel’s right to exist, but not exclusively as a Jewish state. “I’m not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else,” Mamdani said in a June 2025 interview on FOX 5 New York and reiterated on the debate stage. Mamdani was quick to fire back at Cuomo on Thursday evening, “I want to be very clear; the occupation is a reference to international law and the violation of it,” adding, “which Mr. Cuomo has no regard for since he signed up to be on Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal defense team during the course of this genocide.”
The State of Parades
One issue in particular seemed to cause the most commotion on social media—parades. The debate moderator asked the candidates if they would march in all city parades, to which they all seemed taken aback, but answered the question nonetheless. “Every parade has the right to exist,” Sliwa declares. He was adamantly pro-parade while Cuomo simply stated he would attend any parade that wasn’t discriminatory. Mamdani aptly replied, “There are many parades I wouldn’t attend because I’d be focusing on the work of leading the city.”
Closing Thoughts
Mamdani came out swinging on the debate stage. He was relentless in his pursuit of Cuomo, making the former governor seem out of touch, corrupt, and frankly, obsolete in the current political scene. Cuomo, on the other hand, spent the night on defense, failing to land any meaningful blows on the 34-year-old frontrunner and failing to establish himself as the “common sense” pick he so desperately desires to be. Mamdani successfully weeded through Cuomo’s efforts to trip him on issues that have previously proved to be difficult for the assemblyman, like Israel and public safety, and was able to resonate with viewers on his promises to lower the cost of living in the city. Sliwa, aside from a few notable jabs at Cuomo and meme-able comments, was not able to position himself as a serious competitor for mayor.The next debate is scheduled for Oct. 22, just three days prior to the start of early voting for the election, with Mamdani still maintaining a substantial lead in the polls. My thoughts, as well as what I feel is many New Yorkers’ thoughts on who is the most viable candidate, can be summed up by Mamdani’s viral, mic-drop moment, “What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity. And what you [Cuomo] don’t have in integrity, you could never make for in experience.”