Top Democrats came face-to-face for what could be the last time before voters have their say, as they competed in the second and final debate before New York City’s mayoral primary.
Seven leading candidates — Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani, Brad Lander, Whitney Tilson, Scott Stringer, Zellnor Myrie and Adrienne Adams — sparred over key issues, and at times devolved into personal attacks in the debate, sponsored by Spectrum News NY1.
Cuomo’s campaign has been all about projecting strength and staying on message, but his efforts to dominate Thursday night’s debate with attacks on his rivals came at the cost of strong pushback. In particular, Mamdani and Lander landed some punches after their last in-person opportunity to take off the gloves.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the final debate ahead the primary on June 24.
1. Cuomo went on offense, and it came at a cost
The former New York governor tried to turn the tables on Mamdani, the 33-year-old Democratic socialist who has been nipping at his heels in recent polls.
Cuomo said Mamdani “has never done anything,” criticizing him for having only passed three bills in the State Assembly — a line he also used in the first Democratic primary debate. Cuomo said it would be reckless to elect someone with such little experience.
But Mamdani clapped back: “I have never had to resign in disgrace…I have never hounded the 13 women who credibly accused me of sexual harassment. I have never sued for their gynecological records. And I have never done those things because I am not you, Mr. Cuomo. And furthermore, the name is Mamdani, M-a-m-d-a-n-i, you should learn how to say it, because we’ve got to get it right.”
When Cuomo likened Lander’s tenure as the fiscal watchdog under Eric Adams to being the bookkeeper at Tammany Hall, Lander repeatedly pivoted to a blistering portrayal of Cuomo as a serial sexual harasser: “Leadership is not inviting 25-year-old young women into their office as he admitted he did and then asking them about their intimate life and whether they date older men.”
2. Of all candidates, Brad Lander used the debate to his advantage the most
Lander is at a critical moment in the race, with little time to overtake Mamdani by carving out a lane as a more-seasoned, less-socialist Democrat. He seemed energized by having scored the most endorsements from the New York Times opinion panel on debate day.
Lander ceded few chances to target Cuomo, on the many sex harassment allegations he has faced, his pandemic nursing home record and mid-debate when Cuomo referred to undocumented people as “illegal.”
Though Lander did allow Cuomo to deflect mostly unchecked, in statements saying “absolutely nothing has come out of” the harassment cases and that all the allegations had been disproven in court. While it is true that Cuomo never faced criminal charges, there are still several ongoing civil cases related to the allegations and Cuomo’s various controversies have cost New York taxpayers more than $60 million.
3. Several Democrats who have consistently criticized Cuomo throughout the campaign passed on opportunities to attack him
When given the chance to cross-examine a rival, Scott Stringer and Zellnor Myrie directed relatively soft questions to NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams that enabled her to tout her housing record in the City Council.
Some of the alliances we’ve seen recently between the Democratic candidates were not obvious Thursday night. Mamdani helped Adams raise money to ensure she’d get matching funds, under the theory helping your rivals can be mutually beneficial in ranked choice voting. But, when given a chance to ask any candidate a question during the cross-examination section, Adams asked Mamdani why he thinks he is better qualified to be mayor than she is.
In the spin room after the debate, Adams clarified her intentions. “The objective is to beat Andrew Cuomo. Let’s keep that clear. He is not fit to be mayor. My question to the Assemblymember was basically just to get my experience out there on the table so everybody can hear it,” she said.
4. Cuomo ceded no ground
In debate number two, Cuomo was apparently still unwilling to express any regrets or remorse for past decisions or mistakes that resulted in his resignation as governor.
No new ground was broken on the debate stage since the NBC New York debate last week in which Cuomo said his greatest regret was that Democrats lost to Trump last year.
When asked about
- The sexual harassment allegations against him
- The “toxic workplace” validated in reports by the state attorney general and the Department of Justice
- Evidence a Congressional Subcommittee claims to have uncovered, that he helped write a NYDOH report that undercounted nursing home deaths in July 2020
Cuomo stuck to the same vague and sometimes untrue talking points in which he says “it was all political” or “Absolutely nothing has come of it.”
At one point Lander said to him “You’ve never taken responsibility for one single thing you’ve done in your entire life. You should try it sometime.”
5. Cuomo and Mamdani traded allegations of divisiveness
During the debate, Cuomo criticized Mamdani for his positions on BDS (boycott, divest, sanctions) and for “giving forums to antisemites.” The moderators pressed Cuomo on allegations from the Muslim community that he has never visited a mosque, a story originally broken by NBC New York.
Cuomo said “I believe I have,” but he’d have to check the record to be sure. When asked about whether he’d reach out to Muslims in New York to make them feel protected, Cuomo said “I love them, I’m not Mr. Mamdani. I’m not antisemitic, I’m not divisive.”
Mamdani accused Cuomo of an Islamophobic smear.
“It is ridiculous to hear Mr. Cuomo talk about himself as a man of unity when just yesterday we found out that his Super PAC was sending mail that artificially darkened and lengthened my beard to stoke the very fears of that division in this city,” said Mamdani.
Spokesman Liz Benjamin for Fix The City said that the “mailer was proposed by a vendor” and that “upon review it was immediately rejected for production.”
Former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson appeared as if he was working in tandem with Cuomo. He took repeated shots at Mamdani for his criticism of Israel.
Instead of asking Mamdani a question, Cuomo took the safer route by asking a question to Tilson about Mamdani — knowing it would not come with a retaliatory attack. Later in the debate, Tilson said he’d rank Cuomo his number two (Cuomo has never talked about ranking anyone else on his ballot.)
When asked in the spin room afterwards if he was interested in a job with a Cuomo administration, Tilson said he has “no aspirations for a full-time job” — but he would consider a part-time or board position.
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