NYC mayor's race ad wars off and running, with affordability, experience as major themes
The New York City mayor's race ad wars have begun, amid polls continuing to show the issue most important to voters is affordability.
A Suffolk University CityView Poll of 500 voters last week found that's what they care most about, followed by crime, the economy and housing.
Candidates Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa were asked about it on Wednesday.
Mamdani revisits rent freezes
After appearing on ABC's "The View," Mamdani made his way to the Bronx to talk about the idea of freezing rent for rent-stabilized units and the New York City Housing Authority.
"We are going to ensure affordability extends to homeowners, landlords, but no longer asks tenants to shoulder the burden the next four years," the Queens assemblyman said.
Affordability is the very issue Mamdani focuses on in his first TV ad, saying, "We're going to make this city one working people can love."
Cuomo stays on public safety bandwagon
Cuomo was in Rochdale, Queens on Wednesday being endorsed by Black faith leaders.
"We have to build more affordable housing, and we have to build it fast because the rent is too darn high," Cuomo said. "We have to create more jobs in this city."
Later, he was in a union hall to make a similar promise to electrical workers.
"Let you work and let you build affordable housing, and we'll get those rents down," Cuomo said.
As for his ad, the former governor went in another direction, using the ad platform to highlight his government experience.
"I'll hire 5,000 more cops to partner with community groups," Cuomo says.
- Read more: As Zohran Mamdani and Elizabeth Warren hold listening session, Andrew Cuomo touts plan for NYPD
"You've got to cut the fees, the fines"
Republican Curtis Sliwa met with business leaders from the Partnership for New York City. After, CBS News New York asked him how he'll lower costs.
"Right away, you've got to cut the fees, the fines. You've got speed cameras everywhere, and then, naturally, you start working on the tax structure, which is driving even millennials and Gen Z-ers out because they can't afford to live here," Sliwa said.
Mamdani, Cuomo reflect on pasts
Mamdani and Cuomo both confronted their pasts Wednesday.
When asked on "The View" about backtracking his previous calls from 2020 to defund the police, Mamdani said he has been talking with officers individually.
"It's through those conversations with rank-and-file officers that I've learned more about the difficulties of this job," he said.
Meanwhile, Cuomo apologized to Jewish New Yorkers for not taking Orthodox traditions into greater consideration when he enacted COVID lockdowns as governor in 2020.
"They interpreted it as possibly connected to their religion, which was just not true," he said.
"So is it an 'I'm sorry that you felt that way' or would you have not–?" CBS News New York's Ali Bauman asked.
"I'm sorry you felt that way," Cuomo said.
There are 34 days left until Election Day and some are wondering when, or if, Mayor Eric Adams will announce an endorsement after ending his reelection bid.
