Eight rival mayoral candidates seized their first opportunity to criticize Andrew Cuomo face-to-face during Wednesday’s Democratic primary debate — and the ex-governor gamely hit back throughout the often unruly two-hour event.
Though full of lively exchanges, the debate at WNBC’s Rockefeller Center studio may not have given the non-Cuomo candidates the kind of the viral moments they needed in order to stand out in the crowded field and to reduce Cuomo’s formidable — though possibly shrinking — lead.
But the format did give all nine contenders the chance to lay out their plans for housing and education, respond to President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation agenda, and acknowledge — or avoid acknowledging — their regrets in politics. It also featured especially potent exchanges between Cuomo and the current second-place candidate, socialist state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who missed no opportunity to accuse Cuomo of being more beholden to “billionaires and corporations … than working-class New Yorkers.”
Wednesday’s debate will be followed by a second on June 12, featuring only the seven leading contenders. The primary is June 24, with early voting beginning June 14.
Other big takeaways from Wednesday’s debate included:
Cuomo didn’t stay above the fray
Cuomo bucked any expectation that his consistent polling lead would compel him to hold back from criticizing his rivals. The 67-year-old, who has made few unscripted campaign appearances and had not appeared on a debate stage since 2018, seemed sharp.
He dismissed 33-year-old Mamdani as “very good on Twitter and with videos” but short on experience, and noted Mamdani’s prior support for defunding the NYPD. And Cuomo went equally hard after third-place-polling Brad Lander, accusing the city comptroller of improperly approving contracts “associated with his wife.” (Lander’s wife Meg Barnette runs the organization Nonprofit New York, which serves as an umbrella group for the nonprofit sector which the comptroller oversees; city watchdogs gave Lander an all-clear when he sought guidance. He dismissed Cuomo’s claim as a social media conspiracy theory.)
Cuomo was put on the defensive often. Pressed about Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes, he repeated that New York had a death rate below other states, though he evaded questions about whether he had improperly manipulated a report his gubernatorial administration produced on the subject.
“There was no doubt that my administration produced the report and it did not undercount the deaths,” Cuomo said.
As for the sexual harassment allegations that derailed his governorship, Cuomo noted that no local prosecutors brought charges after looking into the state attorney general’s report that found he had harassed at least 11 women.
“I said at the time that if I offended anyone it was unintentional, but I apologized and I say that today,” he said.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, former City Comptroller Scott Stringer and former Assemblyman Michael Blake lobbed their own attacks at Cuomo over his pandemic record and the corporate donations pouring into the super PAC supporting him, Fix the City, which has raised over $11 million.
“You are writing a new book about how to take the mayoralty,” Stringer said, “and I find it offensive.”
Fellow candidates state Sens. Zellnor Myrie and Jessica Ramos and investor Whitney Tilson focused more on promoting themselves as they struggle to emerge as viable contenders.
Trump warriors
All of the candidates eagerly positioned themselves as best suited to take on Trump, as they were asked about deportations, his attacks on Columbia University and the administration’s efforts to deport pro-Palestine student activist Mahmoud Khalil.
Lander touted his office’s discovery of the Trump administration’s $80 million seizure from a city bank account; Myrie said his plan to build 1 million homes would make the city more independent by shoring up its tax base; Ramos said she would emulate Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s tactics in response to Trump’s tariffs; Stringer said he would organize business leaders to keep the city secure.
Mamdani, asked whether he worried Trump might target him specifically given his socialist politics, said the president would target “whomever is the next mayor,” and called himself “Trump’s worst nightmare as a progressive Muslim immigrant who actually fights for the things that I believe in.”
Cuomo dismissed a question about whether the Trump administration’s criminal investigation into his congressional testimony would leave him compromised — saying that he knows “how to deal with Donald Trump because I’ve dealt with him before.”
“I am the last person on this stage that Mr. Trump wants to see as mayor,” Cuomo said, “and that’s why I should be the first choice for the people of the city to have as mayor.”
Enviable rents and love for Hakeem Jeffries
When asked to name the most effective Democrat in the country:
Stringer, Cuomo and Adams said House minority leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn.Mamdani and Lander named Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.Myrie named state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.Ramos said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.Tilson said U.S. Sen. Cory Booker.Blake named himself.
Asked how much they pay each month in rent or mortgage costs:
Adams, a homeowner, said “my home is paid.”Lander said his Brooklyn mortgage is $3,300.Ramos said her rent costs $2,500.Cuomo’s rent for his Midtown East apartment is $7,800.Mamdani’s rent is $2,300.Myrie pays $1,300.Tilson pays $5,000 in maintenance in the home he owns.Stringer’s rent is $6,400.Blake’s rent is $1,800.
When asked whom they planned to put second on their ranked-choice ballots, no candidates were willing to offer a name — although Mamdani and Myrie both hinted they would endorse others in the future.
