Day: June 12, 2025

In a fiery and combative final Democratic mayoral debate Thursday night, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani were the main sparring partners. However, Cuomo took more attacks from rivals who zeroed in on his past governance, labor issues, and legal scandals in an effort to narrow his lead.

The former governor did have one ally on the stage: Whitney Tilson. The former hedge fund manager was the only candidate to say who he would rank second on the ballot, giving the moderate Cuomo the nod. He said after the debate that he has no interest in a job in a possible Cuomo administration, only that he wants to stop the progressive Mamdani from winning the race. 

Mandami also came after Cuomo for repeatedly mispronouncing his name, saying, “You should learn how to say it ‘M‑A‑M‑D‑A‑N‑I.’”

The Queens Assembly member also cited a mailer sent out by a Cuomo-backed Super PAC that darkened and lengthened his beard, which Zohran’s campaign deemed Islamophobic. 

Cuomo responded by mocking Mamdani’s experience: “He’s never done anything” and asserting, “Experience matters,” referencing Mamdani’s fewer years in office and smaller staff compared to handling a city bureaucracy. 

The strikes at Cuomo intensified as Lander and Myrie revisited the former governor’s 2021 resignation following multiple sexual harassment allegations, which the former governor denies.

“Everybody here knows that you sexually harassed women, that you created a toxic work environment,” said Lander. “I don’t want to have to tell [a young woman], ‘Don’t go work at City Hall because the mayor is a sexual harasser.’”

Cuomo pushed back, calling the allegations “political” and insisting reports had “cleared” him, to scattered boos.

He accused his critics of lying: “Those are just bold‑faced lies.”

Myrie then chimed in, “This is disqualifying, the man resigned in disgrace.”

After the debate, Attorney General Letitia James said the report into the allegations was “thorough” and not political. 

Focus on immigration

Cuomo opened the immigration portion of the debate by invoking his past confrontations with the Trump administration, saying, “He [Trump] sent troops into cities all across the country. He never sent them into New York because I said to him, ‘You better never send troops into New York… it would be a hostile act.’”

He pledged to protect the city’s sanctuary status, declaring, “We are going to defend the laws of the sanctuary city. We have an NYPD that is the largest police force in the United States of America.”

But Mamdani pushed back, accusing the NYPD of aiding ICE even under sanctuary policies.

“We also have the NYPD assisting ICE in some of those very missions right here in New York City,” he said. He promised to sever those ties if elected mayor. “When I am the mayor, the NYPD will serve the public safety of New Yorkers. They will not assist Trump’s ICE agents.”

Lander stressed that standing up to Trump wasn’t just about rhetoric.

“I stand up to bullies that don’t back down from a fight… we’re going to protect the 40% of New Yorkers who are immigrants,” he said, recounting his visits to immigration court to escort families past ICE agents.

Lander also leveled labor criticism, saying Cuomo “made immigrant subway cleaners … clean the subway cars but cheated them out of the prevailing wages and health care.”

Cuomo denied any involvement and referred to the cleaners as “illegals,” prompting jeers from the crowd. 

 “The MTA goes through a rigorous contracting process. They should never have hired illegal immigrants, if it is true… I had nothing to do with it,” he said. When pressed, he said sarcastically, “So every contract at the MTA, you want me to be held responsible?”

Tilson took aim at Mamdani with a more veiled swipe, criticizing “a social media phenom with cute videos,” and warning voters not to support “pie-in-the-sky promises that there’s no realistic plan to pay for.”

Mamdani countered by saying, “I’ll pay for it by taxing the rich … the same ones who are funding Andrew Cuomo’s campaign.”

Halfway through the evening, candidates were allowed to ask each other a question, with Myrie and Stringer both setting Adrienne Adams up with softball questions that allowed her to lay out her record as Speaker of the City Council. 

After the debate, Adams said she hoped the move meant the candidates were planning to cross-endorse her. When asked by reporters, Myrie said to “stay tuned.”