The New York City Mayoral General Election Debate is nearly upon us, with just three candidates qualifying to take part in the conversation.
NBC 4 New York/WNBC, Telemundo 47/WNJU and POLITICO New York are partnering to host the debate after being selected by the Campaign Finance Board to host the debate.
The debate will take place Thursday night from Rockefeller Center in the heart of Manhattan.
Here’s what to know about the three candidates who are scheduled to participate, in alphabetical order:
Andrew Cuomo, independent candidate for New York City mayor.
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Cuomo is running as an independent in the general election after failing to win the Democratic nomination in June.
The former New York governor maintains strong support throughout the city but has consistently placed second in most polls ahead of the November contest.
Cuomo resigned from office in August 2021, amid sexual harassment allegations, which he staunchly denies. Hochul, a fellow Democrat who had been Cuomo’s lieutenant governor, inherited the job and was reelected the following year.
In January of 2024, a Department of Justice investigation concluded that Cuomo subjected at least 13 women to a “sexually hostile work environment” while in office.
Cuomo was widely seen as a reassuring figure in the early months of the pandemic, but his reputation suffered after revelations that his administration released an incomplete accounting of the number of deaths at nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
Cuomo’s mayoral campaign focuses on increasing affordable housing, expanding affordable healthcare, implementing universal 3-K, transportation affordability and improving incomes, among other points.
Zohran Mamdani, Democratic nominee for New York City mayor.
Zohran Mamdani
Zohran Mamdani cemented himself as the front-runner in the race for mayor after winning the Democratic nomination in June, defeating a large field which included the former governor.
Mamdani is a 33-year-old state lawmaker who is running for mayor. A self-described Democratic socialist, Zohran was born in Uganda, but raised in New York City.
Mamdani is running his campaign on a platform focusing on lowering the costs of New Yorkers while making their lives easier.
When it comes to the topic of housing, Mamdani hopes to freeze the rent, build affordable housing, crack down on bad landlords and support homeowners.
He also looks to make the city safer by creating a Department of Community Safety “to prevent violence before it happens by prioritizing solutions which have been consistently shown to improve safety. Police have a critical role to play. But right now, we’re relying on them to deal with the failures of our social safety net—which prevents them from doing their actual jobs.”
Mamdani’s proposal would invest in citywide mental health programs and crisis response, expand gun violence prevention programs and increase funding to prevent hate violence.
His campaign has also touted a plan to tackle rising costs, including food prices, by creating a network of city-owned grocery stores.
Mamdani is also proposing making public transportation more reliable, safe and accessible. One of his most widely known (and at-times criticized) plans is to make MTA city buses free for all riders, which he said in turn would make them faster.
Among other proposals, Mamdani also wants to expand education, including for early childhood.
Curtis Sliwa, Republican nominee for New York City mayor.
Curtis Sliwa
Curtis Sliwa, the colorful founder of the Guardian Angels crime patrol group, is running for mayor once again after being defeated four years ago by the current mayor, Eric Adams.
The 71-year-old Republican nominee has refused public and supposed back room offers to drop out of the race by groups who he said hoped to give Cuomo a clearer shot at taking on Mamdani in the general.
After losing the 2021 contest to Adams by almost 40 percentage points, the Republican had hoped his campaign platform focused on public safety and animal rights, aided by a more crowded field of Democrats and Democrats running as independents, could help him find more support this time around.
Sliwa’s Guardian Angels — a band of beret-wearing citizens — patrolled graffitied subway cars and the rough-and-tumble streets starting in the late 1970s, when crime was rampant. The city, by every measurable metric, has gotten much safer. So far this year, the city has had its fewest shooting incidents and shooting victims in decades.
For many years, he co-hosted a local radio show with left-leaning civil rights lawyer Ron Kuby. More recently, he’s become an animal-rights activist, and the large number of cats how owned featured prominently in his first campaign for mayor.
How to watch the debate
The debate will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday on the platforms of NBC 4 New York and Telemundo 47.
It will air live on WNBC-TV and across WNBC’s and WNJU-TV’s streaming and digital platforms, including the NBC 4 New York and Telemundo Noreste streaming channels that can be found on Roku, Peacock, Samsung TV and many more.
Each broadcast will be translated into Spanish for WNJU audiences and will also include a sign-language interpreter and closed captioning access for the hearing impaired for both WNBC and WNJU audiences.