{"id":326274,"date":"2025-10-23T10:48:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T10:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/326274\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T10:48:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T10:48:19","slug":"the-top-5-moments-from-the-final-nyc-mayoral-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/326274\/","title":{"rendered":"The top 5 moments from the final NYC mayoral debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second and final debate of the Big Apple\u2019s general mayoral race<\/a> was chockfull of jabs and one-liners as the candidates made their final cases to voters before the Nov. 4 election.<\/p>\n

The three hopefuls \u2014 Democrat Zohran Mamdani, Republican Curtis Sliwa and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent \u2014 squared off on Spectrum NY1, clashing over their resumes <\/a>and how they would approach working with President Trump, if elected.<\/p>\n

The trio also sparred over their various policy proposals on the top issues affecting New Yorkers, including public safety, housing and education.<\/p>\n

(L-R) Independent candidate and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa participate in the second New York City mayoral debate at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens, New York, on Oct. 22, 2025. POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Here are the top five moments from Wednesday night\u2019s debate at LaGuardia Community College:<\/p>\n

1) Cuomo and Sliwa team up to skewer Mamdani over non-answers: \u2018Don\u2019t be a politician\u2019 <\/p>\n

Despite their animosity toward each other, Sliwa and Cuomo at times teamed up to attack Mamdani, including over his non-response on proposals that will be put forth to voters on Election Day. <\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be a politician,\u201d Sliwa taunted after Mamdani refused to say what he thought of the housing-related proposals, noting only that said that he was \u201cappreciative that those measures will be on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, what a shocker,\u201d Cuomo sarcastically quipped, before mocking the front-runner with a talking hands gesture.<\/p>\n

Four of the six questions on the ballot are housing-related, including whether to give more power over the zoning process to the mayor, and away from the City Council \u2014 which supporters argue will fast-track affordable housing projects. Mamdani has been notably silent on the issue<\/a> throughout the campaign, refusing to stake a public position.<\/p>\n

Though often at odds, Sliwa and Cuomo joined forces at times to take aim at Mamdani, blasting him for staying quiet on ballot proposals heading to voters on Election Day. Spectrum News NY1<\/p>\n

2) Sliwa tells Mamdani: \u2018Your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin\u2019<\/p>\n

While polls still have Sliwa at a distant third, he wasn\u2019t going down without a fight.<\/p>\n

As Cuomo and Mamdani were busy bickering with each other, Sliwa took the opportunity to hammer both of his rivals \u2014 while also taking a swipe at the Dem nominee\u2019s level of experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard the both of them again, fighting like kids in the schoolyard,\u201d Sliwa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour resume could fit on a cocktail napkin,\u201d he told Mamdani, adding at Cuomo, \u201cand Andrew, your failures could fill a public school library in New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

3) What do you say to the 13 women you sexually harassed?<\/p>\n

Mamdani pulled a stunt to deliver a devastating blow against Cuomo over the sexual misconduct scandal that forced him out of office in 2021.<\/p>\n

Cuomo was left visibly rattled when Mamdani pointed out one of his guests at the debate, Charlotte Bennett, a former state staffer who was the first woman to go public with accusations against the then-gov.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have even gone so far as to legally go after these women. One of those women, Charlotte Bennett, is here in the audience this evening,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n

Independent candidate and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo during the second New York City mayoral debate. Spectrum News NY1<\/p>\n

\u201cShe cannot speak up for herself because you lodged a defamation case against her. I, however, can speak \u2013 what do you say to the 13 women that you sexually harassed?\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuomo stumbled over his response, saying that \u201cif you want to be in government, then you have to be serious and mature,\u201d before adding that Mamdani was simply referring to \u201callegations.\u201d<\/p>\n

4) Sliwa rips Cuomo: \u2018You fled from being impeached!\u2019<\/p>\n

Sliwa also found an opportunity to clobber Cuomo over his sexual misconduct scandal. <\/p>\n

Democratic candidate Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani participates\u00a0in a second New York City mayoral debate. Spectrum News NY1<\/p>\n

\u201cYou fled from being impeached by the Democrats in the state legislature!\u201d he said to applause as Cuomo and Mamdani were going back-and-forth over the former governor\u2019s housing record.<\/p>\n

State Attorney Letitia James\u2019 office released its report in 2021 finding that Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women and created a hostile work environment, prompting his resignation.<\/p>\n

The three-term Democratic governor has fiercely denied the allegations and insisted he is innocent of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

5) Trump takes center stage as Cuomo says prez will knock Mamdani on his \u2018tuchus\u2019<\/p>\n

While the election is about selecting the next mayor, President Trump has been a frequent subject throughout the campaign trail \u2014 even weighing in on the candidates publicly.<\/p>\n

Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa participates in the second New York City mayoral debate. Spectrum News NY1<\/p>\n

During some of the first moments in the debate, the mayoral hopefuls were each asked how they would handle working with the White House, if elected. <\/p>\n

Cuomo argued Mamdani wasn\u2019t up to the task, saying that Trump \u201cthinks he\u2019s a kid and he\u2019s going to knock him on his tuchus<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a balance, but you\u2019re going to have to be adversarial when you need to. But you want to cooperate to get good things done in this city, and you need federal help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani shot back that Cuomo was Trump\u2019s \u201cpuppet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe first just heard from the Republican candidate for mayor, and then we heard from Donald Trump\u2019s puppet himself, Andrew Cuomo,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can turn on TV any day of the week, and you will hear Donald Trump share that his pick for mayor is Andrew Cuomo, and he wants Andrew Cuomo to be the mayor, not because it will be good for New Yorkers, but because it will be good for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The election will be held on Nov. 4, with the nine-day period of early voting beginning this Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The second and final debate of the Big Apple\u2019s general mayoral race was chockfull of jabs and one-liners…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":326275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,5297,5340,99498,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,5341,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969,5301],"class_list":{"0":"post-326274","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-debates","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-nyc-mayoral-election-2025","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-us-news","26":"tag-usa","27":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115423091485624646","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326274","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=326274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}