Democrats vying for mayor of New York City clash in second and final debate

Seven Democratic candidates vying to become New York City’s next mayor clashed on Thursday night in the second and final debate before the June primary.

The two-hour debate quickly turned combative with the frontrunners, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and democratic socialist assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, sparring over their records and qualifications.

Cuomo, 67, who is attempting a political comeback after resigning from his role as governor in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, dismissed 33-year-old Mamdani as unprepared and too inexperienced for the role of New York City mayor.

“I think inexperience is dangerous,” Cuomo said, before running through a list of political institutions that he claimed Mamdani had never dealt with.

“He’s never built anything,” Cuomo continued. “He’s never dealt with a natural emergency. He’s never dealt with a hurricane, with a flood, etc. He’s never done any of the essentials. And now you have Donald Trump on top of all of that.”

Mamdani fired back: “To Mr Cuomo, I have never had to resign in disgrace, I have never cut Medicaid, I have never stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the MTA, I have never hounded the 13 women who credibly accused me of sexual harassment, I have never sued for their gynecological records, and I have never done those things because I am not you, Mr Cuomo.”

Mamdani also criticized Cuomo for repeatedly mispronouncing his name: “The name is Mamdani. You should learn how to say it.”

Cuomo continued his attacks, calling Mamdani “a man who has done nothing”.

Mamdani defended his record as an assemblymember, citing work and organizing he did to help New York City taxi drivers. Mamdani, who said it was “time for a new generation of leadership”, urged New Yorkers to judge him by the campaign he’s running, where he manages 36,000 volunteers.

He promised to bring “innovation and competence” to city hall and hire “the best and the brightest”.

In addition to Cuomo and Mamdani, five other candidates were on the stage: the city comptroller, Brad Lander; the council speaker, Adrienne Adams; the state senator Zellnor Myrie; the former comptroller Scott Stringer; and the former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson.

The debate opened with moderators asking the candidates about the Trump administration’s immigration raids in Los Angeles and the administration’s response to the protests against the immigration crackdown.

“If you were mayor of New York right now, how would you handle this situation, if something like that happened here?” the moderators asked.

“We are going to protect our immigrants,” Cuomo said. “This is a sanctuary city, and we are going to defend the laws of the sanctuary city.”

“Donald Trump only picks fights that he can win. He cannot win a fight with me as mayor of New York,” Cuomo added.

Mamdani pledged to block any New York City police department cooperation with federal immigration agents if elected, and vowed to provide and fund legal support for immigrants facing deportation cases.

Other candidates, such as Adrienne Adams, said they would sue the federal government.

Cuomo faced sustained criticism throughout the night. Lander, the city comptroller, repeatedly challenged Cuomo’s record.

Early in the debate, Lander pressed Cuomo on his use of the term “illegal immigrants”, prompting Cuomo to switch to “undocumented”. Throughout the debate, Lander accused Cuomo of failing to take accountability for things that had occurred while he was governor.

“I lead by building the best teams, not through sexual harassment, corruption and disgrace,” Lander said.

Cuomo was asked about the sexual harassment allegations against him that led to his 2021 resignation. Cuomo called them “political” and urged voters to “look at the facts”.

Lander responded by saying that if Cuomo were elected mayor, he would not tell college students to work in city government, and that he would have to tell them: “Don’t go work at city hall because the mayor is a sexual harasser.”

Cuomo hit back, saying that Lander was telling lies.

On housing, all of the candidates said that they would want to build more housing in New York City. Cuomo and Tilson were the only candidates on the stage who did not support a rent freeze for rent-stabilized units for this year.

On public safety, Myrie said the issue called for subway teams made up of both police and mental health experts, and said that he would institute 50,000 more summer youth jobs and after-school programs.

Tilson attacked Mamdani, arguing that he had “demonized” the police.

In response, Mamdani said that if elected he would “not defund the police” and said that he would “work with the police because I believe the police have a critical role to play in creating public safety”. He also called for mental health and social workers to help the police respond to emergency calls.

Moderators pressed Cuomo on why, during “10-plus years as governor”, he had not made a “public visit to a mosque” and asked him what he would say “to more than 760,000 Muslims here in the city about whether or not you would reach out to them, make them feel welcome, make them feel protected?”

In response, Cuomo said that he believed he had visited a mosque and added: “I would say, we are a city of immigrants, I welcome them, I love them.”

Mamdani was also asked to address concerns from Jewish New Yorkers supportive of Israel who “fear for their safety in this current political climate”.

Mamdani responded: “I hear them and that I have heard them over the course of this campaign and before that”, adding: “I will protect Jewish New Yorkers and deliver them that safety.”

Mamdani received criticism from Cuomo and Tilson over his criticisms of Israel.

Tensions also escalated when Mamdani, who is Muslim, accused Cuomo’s Super Pac of altering a photo on a leaked draft campaign flyer to make his beard look darker, longer and thicker. Mamdani first made the accusation earlier on Thursday on Instagram, calling it “blatant Islamophobia”.

Unlike the previous week’s debate, which was held without an audience, Thursday’s event had a live crowd that reacted audibly throughout with clapping, cheering, booing and laughter.

The final debate on Thursday came after several major recent endorsements. The New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threw her support behind Mamdani after last week’s debate, while the former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed Cuomo this week.

New polling released this week underscores just how tight the race has become.

The Democratic primary election will be held on 24 June, with early voting beginning 10 days earlier, on 14 June. The election will use ranked-choice voting, allowing New Yorkers to rank up to five candidates in order of preference.

The current New York mayor, Eric Adams, who ran as a Democrat in 2021, is seeking re-election as an independent candidate.

The general mayoral election is set for 4 November.