{"id":11821,"date":"2025-10-22T11:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T11:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/11821\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T11:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T11:13:09","slug":"andrew-cuomo-will-try-one-last-time-to-rattle-zohran-mamdani-in-final-nyc-mayoral-debate-but-sliwa-still-stands-in-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/11821\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Cuomo will try one last time to rattle Zohran Mamdani in final NYC mayoral debate \u2014 but Sliwa still stands in the way"},"content":{"rendered":"

A desperate Andrew Cuomo will seek to come out swinging<\/a> in the final mayoral debate Wednesday as he hopes to rattle the smirking socialist Zohran Mamdani<\/a> \u2014 who maintains a double-digit lead in the polls with under two weeks left to the election.<\/p>\n

But the ex-governor is expected to run into a familiar roadblock in Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa \u2014 who\u2019s likely to unleash on Cuomo again, potentially helping to deflect any knock-out punches from landing on the front-runner, pundits told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as Sliwa is there disrupting Cuomo\u2019s attacks on Mamdani and forcing him onto the defensive, it\u2019s going to be difficult, though not impossible, for Cuomo to achieve what he needs,\u201d said longtime communications specialist Andrew Kirtzman.<\/p>\n

Andrew Cuomo needs a boost for his campaign to stand a chance in the general election. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

\u201cCuomo is in a very tough spot,\u201d Kirtzman said. \u201cHe\u2019s got Sliwa standing between him and his target.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trio will square off at 7 p.m. from LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City for the second and last debate of the election cycle \u2014 with Cuomo and Sliwa facing a near insurmountable task of winning over enough voters to topple the Democratic nominee.<\/p>\n

The two candidates would have to work together in one of the most improbable team-ups in recent political history to stand any chance of making a dent in Mamdani\u2019s sizable support, according to experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeally, Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa need to get Mamdani off his game a bit,\u201d said Democratic operative Ross Wallenstein. \u201cRile him up. Get him angry. Have him show his true colors on an issue. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut really, the only thing Cuomo and Sliwa could do is one of them should drop out,\u201d Wallenstein said. \u201cOn stage, one of them should selflessly urge their supporters to vote for the other one in order to save New York City from a Mamdani administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

But pundits agreed that scenario, while made-for-TV, was as improbably as a fairytale, with Sliwa more likely to use his time to unload on his longtime foe Cuomo.<\/p>\n

The thrice-elected Democratic governor has been pushing hard to get the firebrand Guardian Angels founder to exit the race \u2014 but Sliwa has remained defiant, even when his longtime friend and boss John Catsimatidis publicly called on him <\/a>to unite behind Cuomo in a bid to meet Mamdani this week.<\/p>\n

Sliwa is expected to unleash a barrage of attacks on Cuomo during the final debate. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, Curtis will again muck up the works,\u201d Democratic strategist Ken Frydman said.<\/p>\n

The mad rush to get Sliwa to end his campaign with the November 4 election fast approaching came on the heels of a new survey from AARP and Gotham Polling that had Cuomo within the margin of error<\/a> if solely facing off against Mamdani.<\/p>\n

For his part, Mamdani will walk on stage with little to prove to come out on top \u2014 as long as he stays upright for 90 minutes, according to insiders, who believe the debate will do little to change voters\u2019 minds.<\/p>\n

Kirtzman said Cuomo would have to land a few punches on Mamdani to spur \u201csome kind of game-changing gaffe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Mamdani hasn\u2019t made a gaffe all campaign,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Political operative Alyssa Cass, a partner at Slingshot Strategies, set the bar even lower for the Democratic Socialists of America hopeful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Mamdani can avoid literally self-immolating on stage, he will be mayor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Cuomo, the opportunity is different: it isn\u2019t a debate but an opportunity to shape and refine the last three sentences of his obituary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani will walk on the dais on Wednesday with a sizable lead. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

When and where is the debate taking place?<\/p>\n

The debate hosted by Spectrum NY1 will be held at the LaGuardia\u00a0Performing Arts Center at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City.<\/p>\n

It will start at 7 p.m. and run 90 minutes. <\/p>\n

The moderators will NY1\u2019s Errol Louis, WNYC\u2019s Brian Lehrer and THE CITY\u2019s Katie Honan.<\/p>\n

How to watch the debate:<\/p>\n

The debate will be hosted by Spectrum\u2019s NY1. It will air live on the channel and be streamed on its website. <\/p>\n

Who is participating?<\/p>\n

Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani<\/p>\n

Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa<\/p>\n

Independent candidate Andrew Cuomo<\/p>\n

Will there be an audience?<\/p>\n

Yes. There will be a small studio audience with members of the New York City press corps also in attendance.<\/p>\n

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What do the polls say?<\/p>\n

The latest poll<\/a> on Monday had Mamdani in first with 43% of the vote, followed by Cuomo with 29% and Sliwa in third with 19% of support.<\/p>\n

That survey also found Mamdani with a slight lead over Cuomo, 44.6% to 40.7%, if Sliwa were to drop out of the race. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A desperate Andrew Cuomo will seek to come out swinging in the final mayoral debate Wednesday as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[80,57,9,56,63,65,1093,563,64,58,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-11821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-andrew-cuomo","9":"tag-metro","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-ny","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-nyc-headlines","14":"tag-nyc-mayoral-election","15":"tag-nyc-mayoral-election-2025","16":"tag-nyc-news","17":"tag-us-news","18":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}