Final NYC mayoral debate has Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa all on the attack

Curtis Sliwa and Zohran Mamdani went to the media "spin room" to discuss tonight's performance after the debate. 

Cuomo skipped it, and instead went to the Knicks game, where he sat with Mayor Adams. 

Political contributor J.C. Polanco offered his thoughts on the overall debate performance of each candidate. 

Cuomo won the debate, Polanco said. Polanco praised Cuomo for giving a "masterclass on governance" and itemizing his experience by listing the projects he's previously worked on, and how he's prepared should he get elected. Cuomo was not going to allow Mamdani to walk out of the debate without feeling the heat, Polanco said. 

Sliwa commanded the floor with passion, Polanco said, adding Sliwa came prepared. 

While Polanco praised Mamdani as a masterful orator, he said the frontrunner was "knocked off his pedestal tonight for the first time all year." Polanco said Mamdani was "on cruise control." 

In the final lightning round of the evening, none of the candidates voiced a preference for any possible presidential candidates in 2028.

Asked if they could greet New Yorkers in any languages "other than your own," Cuomo replied in Italian and Spanish, Mamdani in Chinese, and Sliwa in Italian. 

On their choice for school chancellor, Sliwa said he'd pick City Councilmember Bob Holden while Cuomo and Mamdani said they'd not yet chosen anybody.

On the question of whether people should be arrested for soliciting sex, Sliwa said no, but, "the pimps, the madams and the absentee landlords" should. Mamdani said simply "no." Cuomo said that Mamdani's position "would be a disaster for the quality of life" of New Yorkers and he would keep solicitation as a criminal offense. 

Asked to name one thing "New York got right during the COVID crisis," Sliwa said Cuomo "didn't get anything right." 

Mamdani said it only took him 15 minutes to get his vaccine shot when they became available. 

Cuomo's response: "Thank you for the compliment."

Mamdani retorted, "It was a city-run vaccine site."

Cuomo was asked about his position that the city should take partial control of New York City Transit away from the MTA, which is mostly controlled by the state.

"Would the city then have to foot more of the bill, and if this is a good idea, why didn't you propose it as governor?" the moderator asked.

Cuomo said the problem the MTA is having is the capital construction projects, which he called "way overdue."

He said it wouldn't fall more on the city to pay.

"There is a budget set. My only point is the MTA, which is a labyrinth bureaucracy set up by Rockefeller, which should've never been done in the first place, it's an overwhelming task for the greatest managers, and I hired both of them," Cuomo said. "But let the city manage the capital construction from the MTA budget."

Mamdani was asked to make his case for his proposal for free buses in the city.

He first got in another shot at Cuomo, saying former NYC Transit President Andy Byford had "such a terrible experience working under Andrew Cuomo that he would rather work under Donald Trump right now."

Regarding his free bus proposal, Mamdani said, "It would cost $700 million a year to make the slowest buses in the country fast and free, and by doing so, we would generate more than double in economic revenue for New Yorkers across the city."

The moderators asked Sliwa if he had any core proposals for improving transit service.

Sliwa talked about enforcement for fare evaders and brought up the "Summer of Hell" in 2017.

When asked how he would make it better, Sliwa said, "Very simply. Everybody pays their fare. Enforcement. More cops in the subway system. And, by the way, we can get more people to voluntarily actually sponsor their subway system stations, clean it up and beautify them and add some life so the community has input into the subway that they have to go through the sleaze and slime all the time."

New Yorkers will be able to cast their ballots ahead of Election Day with nine days of early voting. 

Early voting starts this Saturday, Oct. 25 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 2. 

Here are the early voting hours: 

• Oct. 25-27: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Oct. 28-29: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Oct. 30: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Oct. 31: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Nov. 1-2: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

New York's voter registration deadline for this election is also coming up on Saturday, Oct. 25 -- the same day that early voting starts. CLICK HERE to check your registration status.   

There is no voting on Monday, Nov. 3, then Election Day will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. CLICK HERE to find your polling location.

With Rikers Island scheduled by law to close in 2027, the candidates were asked if they intend to follow through with that plan and how, considering the prison's population has only increased since the closure plans were put into effect.

Sliwa said he would keep Rikers Island open and refurbish the buildings that need it. He said the lots allocated for smaller prisons to replace Rikers Island should instead be used for affordable housing, saying he would fight the law mandating Rikers Island's closure in court.

Cuomo similarly said there was no possible way to close the prison by 2027 and that the city should "scrap the county jails" and instead build new facilities on Rikers Island. He also agreed the sites allocated for the county jails should be used for commercial and residential purposes.

Cuomo repeatedly accused Mamdani of wanting to release the 7,000 inmates at Rikers Island into the city in order to close the prison, to which Mamdani replied, "There is nobody on this stage who is saying that."

Mamdani said he would close the prison, but blamed the Adams administration for making it "virtually impossible" to do by the 2027 deadline. Still, he said he would do everything he could to meet that deadline, and accused Cuomo and Sliwa of being irresponsible because of the heavy fiscal penalties not following the law would incur due to broken contracts.

Asked if they'd change the bell-to-bell cellphone ban in schools, all three candidates agreed they were in favor of it. 

Cuomo's question to Mamdani on Uganda's prime minister was a direct hit and it rattled him, political contributor J.C. Polanco said.

Mamdani brings up the sexual misconduct allegations that drove Cuomo from office, and asked what Cuomo says to those women. Makes Cuomo go on defensive again. Cuomo again says that nothing came from the allegations. 

This is Mamdani's weakest performance thus far and shocking to see, Polanco said.

Polanco said Mamdani was on the defensive for the first time since June, with Cuomo lecturing him on governance. This is a real dynamic shift, Polanco said. 

Mamdani questioned Cuomo about the sexual misconduct allegations that ultimately contributed to his resignation as governor, noting one of his accusers, Charlotte Bennett, was in the audience, a revelation that prompted audible gasps.

"You sought to access her private gynecological records. She cannot speak up for herself because you lodged a defamation case against her. I, however, can speak," Mamdani said. "What do you say to the 13 women that you sexually harassed?"

Cuomo, as he has since they were first leveled against him, again denied the charges, saying, "The cases were dropped. You know that as a fact, so everything that you just stated was a misstatement, which we're accustomed to from you."

Cuomo brought up a picture Mamdani took with Uganda Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga.

"She's known as Rebecca 'Gay Killer' Kadaga," Cuomo said.

The former governor pointed out Mamdani is a citizen of Uganda and asked why he had not renounced his citizenship over the country's treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals.

"Had I known that the first deputy minister was the architect of that legislation, I would not have taken that photo," Mamdani said.

Mamdani then accused Cuomo of not having a platform or policies to protect LGBTQ+ New Yorkers.

Cuomo is making Mamdani go on the defensive through most of debate. For the first time, it looks like Cuomo is going all out and highlighting exactly why he thinks Mamdani's policies are dangerous for the city. Cuomo points out the lack of experience and absentee rate in Albany and making sure that the city understands DSA and Mamdani are one and the same. - Political contributor J.C. Polanco

The candidates were asked a series of lightning round questions.

Would they keep, kill, or modify congestion pricing? Sliwa said he'd kill it, the others would keep it. 

Safe injection sites for drug users? Mamdani and Cuomo said they'd keep them, Sliwa said he'd close them down.

Sliwa makes it personal by sharing by sharing what happened to his son Anthony by gangs and how weak New York state criminal laws are weak. Sliwa gets the win on the question of crime in this debate. Impassioned speech. -  Political contributor J.C. Polanco

Sliwa attacked Cuomo and Mamdani for their support of the Raise the Age law, which raised the age when someone could be prosecuted as an adult to 18, saying, "It's personal for me."

"My oldest son, Anthony, last October was the victim of a vicious gang assault that could have killed him," a noticeably emotional Sliwa said. "And what happened to these juveniles? Cut free, because they went to family court, not criminal court." 

"So how can both of you look at me?" Sliwa said, addressing Cuomo and Mamdani directly. "I almost lost my oldest son to gang violence, and the perpetrators went to family court and got a little pat on the wrist and were sent home to do it again and again. No. We need to start charging juveniles who commit violent crimes in criminal court, and I'll appoint criminal court judges who follow the law and don't just release them because of no-cash bail."

"We just had a former governor say in his own words that the city has been getting screwed by the state. Who was leading the state? It was you. You were leading the state for ten years, screwing this city," Mamdani said to Cuomo.

Mamdani accused Cuomo of cutting homelessness funding and funding for the MTA.

"It's the past four years," Cuomo argued, putting the blame on Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mamdani as a legislator.

The moderator then reprimanded the pair for talking over one another and offered Sliwa a chance to speak.

"I've heard the both of them again fighting like kids in the schoolyard. Zohran, your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin, and Andrew, your failures could fill a public school library in New York City," Sliwa said.

There was a heated exchange between Mamdani and Cuomo after Mamdani accused Cuomo of leading "an incompetent government" during his time as governor of New York.

Cuomo accused Mamdani of not understanding what responsibilities the governor holds and what responsibilities the mayor holds.

"I did things. You have never had a job. You've never accomplished anything. There's no reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for 8.5 million lives. You don't know how to run a government, you don't know how to handle an emergency, and you've literally never proposed a bill on anything that you're not talking about in your campaign," Cuomo said.

Cuomo claimed Mamdani had the worst attendance record in the Assembly and gave himself a $30,000 raise.

"Shame on you. Shame on you," Cuomo said.

"It is always a pleasure to hear Andrew Cuomo create his own facts at every debate stage," Mamdani responded.

All three candidates said they would ask Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to stay on if they were elected. 

Mamdani addressed concerns that some Jewish New Yorkers fear his candidacy, saying, "I will be the mayor who doesn't just protect Jewish New Yorkers, but also celebrates and cherishes them."

Responding to Cuomo's accusation that he "stokes the flames of hatred against Jewish people," Mamdani said Jewish New Yorkers "deserve a leader who takes [antisemitism] seriously, who roots it out of these five boroughs, not one who weaponizes it as a means by which to score political points on a debate stage."

Sliwa, who said he was speaking on behalf of his sons who were raised Jewish, said of Mamdani's past statements, "You got a lot of explaining to do. A lot of apologizing to do."

Mamdani again noted, "I have never, not once, spoken in support of global jihad. That is not something that I have said. And that continues to be ascribed to me. And frankly, I think much of it has to do with that I am the first Muslim candidate to be on the precipice of winning this election." 

Political contributor J.C. Polanco says Zohran Mamdani can't answer tough question and sounds robotic. He's in a tough environment where they're not letting him get into rehearsed answers. Moderators are demanding he answers the questions without the parables. 

Moderators asked Mamdani to weigh in on three housing-related charter amendment questions that will be on the ballot, noting that Cuomo has come out in favor of them and Sliwa has opposed them.

"I'm appreciative that those measures will be on the ballot and that New Yorkers will be able to cast their votes for them. I know that we desperately need to build more housing in this city, and I also know that the jobs we create in the building of that housing should be good jobs as well," Mamdani said.

Sliwa and Cuomo both criticized Mamdani's response, demanding a yes or no answer. 

The moderator asked Mamdani again if he supported the questions.

"I have not yet taken a position on those ballot questions," Mamdani said.

"Oh, what a shocker," Cuomo said.

Sliwa clapped a hand to his forehead and shook his head.

Mamdani hit back at Cuomo's accusations that he would not have the power to enact many of his policies, such as freezing rent on rent stabilized apartments, saying, "If you want a candidate for mayor who tells you everything he cannot do, then Andrew Cuomo should be your choice."

Mamdani said he would be a mayor who "uses every tool at their disposal," and noted the mayor appoints the members of the Rent Guidelines Board.

Sliwa took aim at Cuomo's departure from office.

"Andrew, you didn't leave. You fled from being impeached by the Democrats in the state legislature," Sliwa said. "Leave? You fled."

The moderators asked the candidates to describe how, if elected mayor, they would respond to the Trump administration if President Trump continues to increase the federal government's role in the affairs of New York City while also threatening to decrease funding.

Sliwa accused Cuomo and Mamdani of "bumping chests" with the president to "prove who's more macho."

"You can't beat Trump. He holds most of the cards," Sliwa said.

He said if you try to fight the president, the people of New York City will lose. He said he would instead try to negotiate with President Trump.

"You have to be able to show respect, and I think if you show respect, you'll get respect and you'll protect the New Yorkers who are so desperately in need of federal funds," Sliwa said.

Cuomo cited his experience working with Mr. Trump during the COVID pandemic as governor of New York during the first Trump administration.

"You're going to have to confront President Trump. He is hyper aggressive and he is gonna overstep his bounds, and you are going to have to confront him and you can beat him," he said.

He said you will also, however, want to be in a place where you can cooperate with him to get federal help.

"President Trump has to respect you," Cuomo said. "He has said he'll take over New York if Mamdani wins, and he will because he has no respect for him. He thinks he's a kid and he's gonna knock him on his tuchus."

Mamdani called Cuomo "Donald Trump's puppet," saying Mr. Trump wants Cuomo to be the mayor.

"Donald Trump ran on three promises. He ran on creating the single largest deportation force in American history, he ran on going after his political enemies, and he ran on lowering the cost of living," Mamdani said. "If he wants to talk to me about the third piece of that agenda, I will always be ready and willing, but if he wants to talk about how to pursue the first and second piece of that agenda at the expense of New Yorkers, I will fight him every single step of the way."

In a rebuttal, Cuomo said he believes Trump wants Mamdani to win the election "because he would use him politically all across the country and he would take over New York City."

"It will be President Trump and Mayor Trump, and he will come in and take over the city. I have no doubt," Cuomo said.

Asked about Tuesday's raid by federal immigration agents targeting vendors selling counterfeit goods on Canal St., Andrew Cuomo referenced a previous incident from Mr. Trump's first term, while he was governor of New York, when ICE agents arrived in upstate New York, saying, "I called the president and I went down to the White House and I said, 'That doesn't work in New York.'"

He said it was dangerous for the federal government to send ICE in without coordinating with local police first and, with regard to the Canal St. incident, that they are not needed for illegal vendors. Cuomo said he would have told Mr. Trump to stop the Canal St. raid or he would have the NYPD step in.

Zohran Mamdani called ICE a "reckless entity that cares little for the law and even less about the people that they're supposed to serve." Zohran called to end "the chapter of collaboration between City Hall and the federal government, which we've seen under Mayor Adams." 

Mamdani instead called to pass street vending reform bills that are currently before the City Council.

Curtis Sliwa spoke of how he has "patrolled that area many times," and criticized no-cash bail policies that he said force local police to release the vendors after they've been arrested. Sliwa agreed federal agents should not have raided Canal St. and that it was a matter that should have been left to the NYPD.

"But we can't tolerate citizens attacking our federal law enforcement forces in the street, because then that will just lead to anarchy," Sliwa added.

"This is a stain on our city. To see this many children in our public school system be homeless, and to know that this is the ninth consecutive year of that it's more than 100,000 of those children. What we need to do is ensure that next year is not the same," Mamdani said. 

He said the solution is to build more affordable housing, and said his administration would build 200,000 new affordable homes throughout the city while freezing rent for two million stabilized tenants. 

"Zohran is a great actor. He missed his calling," Cuomo said. 

He said freezing the rent is not a new idea and does nothing for 75% of the number of housing units. 

He said "freeze the rent" is a great three word slogan for TikTok. 

Mamdani said Cuomo, as governor, spent more money on a singing water fountain at LaGuardia Airport than he did on the average cost of an affordable housing unit. 

"Good evening. Thank you to the moderators, and thank you to New Yorkers for tuning in. I know you'd rather be watching the Knicks.

"While there are three candidates on this stage, you will hear only two messages. My opponents, who spend more time trying to convince the other to drop out than actually proposing their own policies, will speak only of the past because that's all that they know. I am the sole candidate running with a vision for the future of this city.

"Andrew Cuomo will spend much of tonight attacking me. He is a desperate man lashing out because he knows that the one thing that he's always cared about, power, is now slipping away from him. He will amplify right-wing talking points, he will share conspiracy theories, and he will do these things to make you feel that this should keep you up at night.

"But I've been spending the last year listening to New Yorkers, and I know what actually keeps you up. It's whether or not you can afford to live a safe and dignified life in this city. I have plans for our future. My opponents only have fear."

Cuomo thanked the moderators and cheered on the Knicks. 

"We are at a pivotal moment, and the voters are going to have to decide in this election what candidate has the plan to save the city and what candidate can get it done, not just talk about it. My main opponent has no new ideas, he has no new plan, it's Bill de Blasio rehash, and we know how that turned out. He's never run anything, never managed anything, never had a real job," Cuomo said. 

He said he would add 5,000 new police. 

"And I will end this hate mongering and division that is tearing this city apart," Cuomo said. "You know I can make change. You know I can make government work. I've done it before. I'll be ready on Day 1." 

Curtis Sliwa opened tonight's debate remarking, "It's us versus them."

"It's us versus the insiders and the billionaires. It's us versus Cuomo. It's us versus Zohran."

Sliwa said his was a campaign about "you the people."

"We're not going to be silenced anymore," he said. "We're going to fight. Tonight, I want you to look at the content of my policies. To know that I've served this city for more than 50 years, this city that I love. And I'm going to share with you my vision to make New York City safer again. To make New York City more affordable again, and where everybody once again can live the American dream.

The candidates can deliver an opening statement of 45 seconds.

Candidates will have one minute to respond to questions, followed by 30 second rebuttals at the moderators' discretion. 

POLITICO reporter Nick Reisman says while Mamdani has momentum both in the polls and on the heels of his previous debate performance, there are concerns he may be looking to address.

"I think Zohran Mamdani put in a strong debate performance last week, but it did highlight two glaring weaknesses for him, which we have seen throughout this mayoral campaign -- that is on Israel, and it is also on public safety. Those are two issues that are important and potentially activating for a number of voters," Reisman said. "It's something that Cuomo was pretty effective at hammering Mamdani on, so if he's able to kind of zero in on those concerns, I think Cuomo could potentially do quite well in the debate. Unfortunately for him, it certainly seems like affordability is still going to be kind of a dominant theme, and that's something Mamdani does quite well on."

"New Yorkers need to hear the truth. No more BS from con artists. They have to hear the truth," Andrew Cuomo said when arrived for the debate. 

CBS News New York's Ali Bauman is at the venue watching the debate. She saw how the candidates greeted one another when they arrived. 

Curtis Sliwa entered first. 

Andrew Cuomo entered next and patted Sliwa on the back and shook his hand.

Zohran Mamdani entered last and shook Sliwa's hand. 

Cuomo and Mamdani did not shake hands. 

It depends who you ask, since all three candidates declared victory. 

"Really what happened is you had Zohran Mamdani going into this as the clear frontrunner in nearly every poll that we have seen since his upset Democratic primary win back in June. And quite frankly, he left this debate as the clear frontrunner. Mamdani did not have really any major mistakes that he made," said POLITICO reporter Nick Reisman. "Andrew Cuomo tried to trip him up on a few key issues that have been really kind of difficult for Mamdani during this campaign, like Israel and public safety, and Mamdani, for the most part, was able to parry a lot of those attacks, and he got through on his message about affordability and the cost of living."

"Cuomo's experience and command of the issues are clear and continue to show how he has been at the forefront of real crises. He wins on substance, but spends the night on defense, getting nonstop attacks from all sides," J.C. Polanco, assistant professor at University of Mount Saint Vincent, said.

"Mamdani has a better stage presence and is a more effective orator, but appears to have abandoned all of the statements on seizing the means of production, decriminalization work, and not closing jails. Or at least that's what it appears. It's tough to debate someone who disowns their own long-standing positions. Uncanny ability to control the camera, rehearsed the zingers, and released them timely," Polanco continued.

"Sliwa is tough. He is striking his opponents with a deep understanding of the issues underground and among those on the streets," he added.

Curtis Sliwa told CBS News New York's Ali Bauman he's "feeling great" ahead of the debate. 

"I won the last debate, and now I go two for two tonight against Zohran and Andrew," Sliwa said. 

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic frontrunner, arrived for the debate via an MTA bus. A signature proposal of Mamdani's is making bus fares free. 

CBS News New York's Marcia Kramer said Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa all need a breakout moment. 

Andrew Cuomo needs a breakout moment to catch up with Zohran Mamdani, Kramer said. 

Mamdani needs to make sure he doesn't do anything to blow his lead or let Cuomo get under his skin, Kramer said. 

As for Sliwa, he put out another message on social media Wednesday evening asking his supporters to come out in support of him to stay in the race. 

The latest poll from AARP and Gotham Polling found Mamdani holding onto his lead at 43.2%. Cuomo came in second place at 28.9%, and Sliwa came in third place at 19.4%.  

The same poll found Mamdani and Cuomo would be neck-and-neck if Sliwa dropped out - with Cuomo just four points behind, which is within the poll's margin of error. In that scenario, Mamdani was ahead 44.6% to Cuomo's 40.7%.  

"I'm not dropping out," Sliwa responded. "One person, one vote. That's how we determine elections. I never heard a caveat that said one person, one vote, and of course others need to drop out along the way."

"You will never see me in the studios of WABC ever again," Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa said during an on-air interview with Sid Rosenberg earlier Wednesday.

John Catsimatidis, the station's owner, and Rosenberg have called on Sliwa to drop out of the race to clear a possible path to victory for Andrew Cuomo, and prevent frontrunner Zohran Mamdani from winning.

Sliwa started working as a host at the station in 1994. He left his job at WABC radio in February to run his campaign full-time and comply with Campaign Finance Board regulations, according to a spokesperson. 

Sliwa's comments today refer to not coming back as a guest on one of the shows, the spokesperson said. 

"I feel personally offended by friends and colleagues at WABC," Sliwa said, adding that the station has become "Always Broadcast Cuomo."  

Democrat Zohran Mamdani, independent candidate Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa are still in the race to replace incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who has suspended his reelection campaign. 

Mamdani is bringing new voters into New York City politics with a campaign centered heavily around affordability.

The Queens assemblyman won the Democratic nomination in a stunning primary victory. He will appear on the ballot in two places -- as the Democratic Party candidate and the Working Families Party candidate. 

Cuomo, meanwhile, has a long resume of public service, which he says makes him the best person to run New York City. 

The former governor left office office amid sexual misconduct allegations and questions about his handling of the COVID pandemic. He is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani and will appear on the ballot under his "Fight and Deliver Party."

Sliwa considers himself a "law and order" candidate and is a staunch animal rights advocate. He will appear on the ballot as both the Republican Party candidate and on an independent line for his "Protect Animals Party."

Tonight's 90-minute debate is being hosted by Spectrum News NY1 starting at 7 p.m. 

CBS News New York will have this live blog throughout, with real-time reporting on key moments, questions and clashes during the debate, followed by highlights and political analysis from our team of experts. 

This is the second of two debates heading into the general election.