Frontrunner Zohran Mamdani seemed to duck taking a stand during Wednesday night’s final NYC mayoral election debate on several key ballot questions that will impact the future of New York City.
The Oct. 22 showdown featured constant, chaotic, and often personal clashes between the three major candidates. But Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and Queens Assembly member, sidestepped when pressed to provide direct answers to questions about major issues, including several important ballot questions on affordable housing, just days ahead of the start of early voting.
Most of the heated exchanges throughout the 90-minute affair were sparked by a pugnacious independent former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as he repeatedly attempted to score last-minute points against Democratic nominee Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist Queens Assembly member.
At the same time, Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa — after a week of very public pressure to bow out of the race — lobbed broadsides at both Cuomo and Mamdani. He portrayed himself as the “adult in the room” and Cuomo and Mamdani as being one in the same, arguing that Cuomo was the “master” of passing many progressive policies as governor and Mamdani was the “apprentice” for wanting to continue them.
A non-answer from Mamdani that evoked jeers
Democratic candidate Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani participates in a second New York City mayoral debate at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens, New York, October 22, 2025. Hiroko Masuike/Pool via REUTERS
Yet Mamdani, who remains ahead by double-digits in numerous polls, drew jeers from his opponents and those in attendance at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City when he was pressed to provide clear answers on his positions on three November ballot proposals on affordable housing — and indicated he was still undecided.
In many ways, long-time political observers noted, Mamdani appeared to fall into a “prevent defense,” a frontrunner trap of failing to take a position that might alienate a small part of the base he may have already won, when it came to the ballot questions. The referendums proved politically divisive at City Hall, as they were advanced to the ballot through Mayor Eric Adams’ Charter Revision Commission over the objections of the City Council.
The proposals — advanced by a panel convened by current Mayor Eric Adams — have drawn intense backlash from City Council leadership, who argue it would hand too much of the council’s say over land use decisions to the mayor’s office. However, when pressed for an answer on where he stands, Mamdani seemed to take a cautious approach.
“I’m appreciative that those measures will be on the ballot and that New Yorkers will be able to cast their votes for them,” Mamdani said, when asked by the moderators for his stance on the measures.
That answer immediately prompted jeers and shouts from both Cuomo and Sliwa.
“What’s your opinion, Zohran?” Sliwa said.
“Answer the question for once,” said Cuomo, who has often criticized Mamdani for shifting some of his positions toward the center during the general election.
Mamdani, who has drawn criticism that his campaign has not focused enough on education, maintained that he would still push for eliminating mayoral control of public schools. He argued that he wants to implement a system that still holds the mayor accountable for the performance of public schools while giving students, parents, and teachers a greater say.
“This is a system where we are failing to deliver excellence to students, to teachers, to parents, and it is time to have a mayor who understands not only the crisis in front of us, but the fact that we have to change our ways if we want to change our results,” Mamdani said.
Cuomo pounced on Mamdani’s answer, insisting that he would keep mayoral control in place, while dinging Mamdani’s proposal to implement a city-run grocery store pilot program.
“It is wholly inconsistent to say I think it’s a top priority, but I want to give up mayoral control, but I want to be a mayor who runs grocery stores,” Cuomo said of Mamdani. “Forget the grocery stores. Run the Department of Education.”
Cuomo and Mamdani duke it out
Independent candidate former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo participates in a second New York City mayoral debate at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens, New York, October 22, 2025. Hiroko Masuike/Pool via REUTERS
Throughout the debate, Cuomo took nearly every opportunity to hammer Mamdani with familiar lines of attack. The former governor ripped the frontrunner’s ambitious affordability platform, shifts on certain policy positions, persistent criticism of Israel, and experience level.
Mamdani hit back by ripping Cuomo over his decade-long tenure as governor and the sexual harassment scandal that spurred him to resign in 2021.
Cuomo, who has been tying Mamdani to his political nemesis, former Mayor Bill de Blasio, blasted the frontrunner’s proposal to freeze rents for the city’s nearly one million stabilized tenants as something that did not work when the ex-mayor tried it and will not work now. He charged that the policy essentially pauses rent hikes that will be implemented later on, while reducing the number of available rental units.
“We did freeze the rent with de Blasio, we lost units because the landlords took them off the market because you weren’t covering their costs,” Cuomo said. “It’s all BS because the mayor doesn’t have the power to do it anyway, the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) does, and he doesn’t control the Rent Guidelines Board.”
The mayor appoints all nine members of the RGB to fixed terms of between two and four years.
Mamdani, whose campaign has focused on using the mayor’s office to lower New Yorkers’ overall cost of living, sought to turn Cuomo’s attack against him.
“If you want a candidate for mayor who tells you everything that he cannot do, then Andrew Cuomo should be your choice,” Mamdani said. “If you want a candidate for mayor who will use every tool at their disposal, including the nine appointees at the Rent Guidelines Board, all of whom are appointed by the mayor, then I am the candidate for you.”
Sliwa spent much of the debate throwing jabs in both directions, often referring to Cuomo and Mamdani as “two kids in a schoolyard.”
Meanwhile, Cuomo still could not escape questions about and attacks related to the roughly a dozen sexual harassment allegations that led to his resignation, which he strongly denies.
In a particularly salient moment, where candidates could ask questions of one another, Mamdani asked Cuomo to respond to the women he is accused of sexually harassing. He also pointed out that one of those women, former Cuomo aide Charlotte Bennett, was in the debate audience as a guest of his.
Cuomo responded by mocking Mamdani as not being “serious” or “mature.” He then insisted that because he was dropped from some of the civil suits against him that nothing came of the allegations, which were corroborated by a report from state Attorney General Letitia James.
“Everything you just stated was a mistatement,” Cuomo said to Mamdani.
Sliwa gets personal with Mamdani on antisemitism
Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa participates in a second New York City mayoral debate at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens, New York, Wednesday, October 22, 2025. Hiroko Masuike/Pool via REUTERS
At one point, Sliwa — who has two Jewish sons — gave impassioned remarks calling out Mamdani’s frequent criticism of the Israeli government and fierce advocacy for Palestinians. In particular, Mamdani has caught flak for initially refusing to denounce the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which he now discourages the use of, and saying Israel should be a state with “equal rights,” rather than a Jewish state.
Speaking on behalf of his Jewish sons, Sliwa said they believe Mamdani is an “arsonist, who fanned the flames of antisemitism.”
“My sons are afraid, their family, their friends, many of the Jewish community are concerned if you become mayor,” he continued, addressing Mamdani. “Because they don’t think when antisemitism rears its ugly head…that you will have the ability to come in and put out those flames of hate.”
Mamdani responded, “I think there is room for disagreement on many positions and many policies.”
“All the same, Curtis, I do still want to be the mayor that will keep your sons safe,” Mamdani added.
Cuomo also took further issue with Mamdani’s past statements and questioned his sincerity in protecting Jewish New Yorkers — pointing to a letter in which more than 600 rabbis across the country publicly voiced their opposition to Mamdani and the overall “political normalization” of antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
Mamdani has often emphasized his commitment to greatly boost funding for combating antisemitism through his proposed Department for Community Safety and the many conversations he has had with those in the Jewish community to understand their concerns.
The debate was co-hosted by NY1, WNYC, and THE CITY at LaGuardia Community College.