{"id":310517,"date":"2025-10-17T10:45:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T10:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/310517\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T10:45:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T10:45:17","slug":"who-won-the-first-nyc-mayoral-debate-between-mamdani-cuomo-and-sliwa-post-panelists-weigh-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/310517\/","title":{"rendered":"Who won the first NYC mayoral debate between Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa? Post Panelists weigh in\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Socialist upstart candidate Zohran Mamdani entered the first general mayoral election debate as the front-runner and left the same way \u2013despite some strong performances from his rivals, a Post panel of political experts said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa \u201cdid what they needed to do\u201d Thursday by repeatedly hitting the Democratic candidate on tough issues like Israel, his past calls to defund the police and his lack of experience.<\/p>\n

But it may still not be enough to move the needle.<\/p>\n

Socialist newcomer Zohran Mamdani entered the first general mayoral debate as the frontrunner \u2014 and left the same way \u2014 despite solid showings from his rivals, a Post panel of political experts said. NBC<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the candidates did well \u2013 and that\u2019s the problem for New Yorkers who don\u2019t want a socialist mayor,\u201d Republican strategist Bill O\u2019Reilly told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill that be enough to change the nature of this race? We\u2019ll see over the next few days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marist University Institute for Public Opinion Director Lee Miringoff also poured cold water on the idea that any major change would materialize before the Nov. 4 election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not conclude from this debate any major shift in voter sentiment,\u201d Miringoff said after the two-hour verbal brawl hosted by NBC 4 New York, Telemundo and Politico.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no \u2018aha\u2019 moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani speaks during a mayoral debate at Rockefeller Center on Oct. 16, 2025 in New York City. Getty Images<\/p>\n

A Fox News poll released just before the debate started showed Mamdani breaking 50% for the first time in the contentious race so far.<\/p>\n

The democratic socialist garnered 52% of likely voters, with Cuomo and Sliwa trailing at 28% and 14%, respectively, the poll showed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of veteran Democratic strategist Bill Cunningham\u2019s main takeaways was that Mamdani held his ground and that Sliwa had a strong performance.<\/p>\n

But \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019ll have much impact unless the 10% that\u2019s sort of undecided starts to drift towards him, but that\u2019s not enough to elect the mayor,\u201d Cunningham said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Mamdani lost any of his supporters and I don\u2019t think Cuomo landed any punches that shook the race up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican strategist Rob Ryan gave props to Cuomo, the former three-term Dem governor, for showing off his experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was well rehearsed and did his best to be affable, which is exceedingly hard for him,\u201d he said, adding that Cuomo deserved an A, since he proved he was the most knowledgeable candidate on the issues.<\/p>\n

Independent candidate former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a mayoral debate in New York, on Oct. 16, 2025. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

But Post Panelists highlighted Mamdani\u2019s ability to remain message-disciplined and come back to his core message of \u201caffordability\u201d throughout the slugfest at 30 Rockefeller Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether or not you like what he has to say about Israel, Hamas, cops, gifted-and-talented schoolchildren, private property rights, higher taxes or legalized prostitution, Mamdani has maintained message discipline and control about the city\u2019s unaffordability,\u201d said Democratic operative Ken Frydman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what wins elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa speaks during a mayoral debate at Rockefeller Center on Oct. 16, 2025 in New York City. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Longtime political strategist Andrew Kirtzman also said that while Mamdani has vulnerabilities on issues that should make him an \u201ceasy target,\u201d his generationally good communication skills prevented him from taking any major hits during the debate.<\/p>\n

Democratic operative and lobbyist Yvette Buckner noted not much has changed since Mamdani trounced Cuomo in the Democratic primary in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight\u2019s debate was essentially a rerun of the primary. Mamdani stayed calm under fire, and Cuomo didn\u2019t land the kind of punch that was needed to change the race this late in the game,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ryan also he noted Sliwa\u2019s strong performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cA new and mature Curtis Sliwa \u2013 sans red beret. Came off as serious and fairly well versed on issues,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, he gets a Gold Star for not bringing up feral felines over the course of the debate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Socialist upstart candidate Zohran Mamdani entered the first general mayoral election debate as the front-runner and left the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":310518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,5297,5340,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,5341,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969,5301],"class_list":{"0":"post-310517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-andrew-cuomo","10":"tag-curtis-sliwa","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-nyc-mayoral-election-2025","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-us-news","25":"tag-usa","26":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115389106168686751","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}