{"id":6933,"date":"2025-10-17T21:03:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T21:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/6933\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T21:03:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T21:03:06","slug":"mamdani-dodges-funding-questions-in-fiery-new-york-mayoral-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/6933\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani dodges funding questions in fiery New York mayoral debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 The race for New York City mayor is intensifying after a contentious debate on Thursday night, during which Democratic frontrunner Zohran Mamdani <\/a>struggled to explain how he would fund his sweeping \u2014 and costly \u2014 policy agenda.<\/p>\n

Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman and self-described democratic socialist, faced pointed questions from moderators and sharp criticism from his rivals over his proposed $10 billion in new city programs, which include free universal childcare, rent freezes, and fare-free public buses.<\/p>\n

Pressed multiple times to clarify how he would fund what critics have called \u201c$10 billion in freebies,\u201d Mamdani offered few specifics beyond his familiar campaign line: raising taxes on New Yorkers earning more than $1 million a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will fund the revenue that would otherwise have been brought in from fares,\u201d Mamdani said when asked how he would make public buses free. \u201cRaise taxes on the top 1% of New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debate moderators were quick to note that Governor Kathy Hochul \u2014 who has endorsed Mamdani but faces her own re-election next year \u2014 has repeatedly said she does not support raising state income taxes.<\/p>\n

When pressed again on the overall price tag of his agenda, Mamdani deflected the question. \u201cA lot of people called my campaign a non-starter when we first began,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I don\u2019t have in experience, I make up for in integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

His top challenger, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, accused Mamdani of making promises he can\u2019t afford to keep \u2014 calling the rent freeze plan \u201chalf-baked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFreeze the rent only postpones the rent,\u201d Cuomo said. \u201cIt does nothing for the majority of renters who aren\u2019t in rent-stabilized units.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuomo, running as an independent, also found himself on the defensive, pressed on his resignation as governor in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations and controversy over his administration\u2019s handling of nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a political report,\u201d Cuomo said. \u201cThere was no basis to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The debate also turned heated over the war between Israel and Hamas \u2014 an issue that has dogged Mamdani throughout the campaign. Moderators confronted him about past comments viewed as sympathetic toward Hamas, citing an interview where he declined to say whether the militant group should disarm.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, I believe they should lay down their arms,\u201d Mamdani said Thursday, attempting to clarify his position.<\/p>\n

With less than three weeks until Election Day, Mamdani continues to lead in most public polls, but Cuomo is gaining traction among moderate Democrats. The two are set to meet again next week for their final debate before voters cast their ballots on October 29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 The race for New York City mayor is intensifying after a contentious debate on Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1914,2969,2067,1445,4056,9,24,55,54,56,6205,2780],"class_list":["post-6933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-cuomo","tag-funding","tag-israel-hamas","tag-mamdani","tag-mayoral-debate","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-rent-freeze","tag-taxes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6933","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=6933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}