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NEW YORK, N.Y. – The three males operating to be the following mayor of New York Metropolis, the biggest metropolis in the US, clashed on a number of events on the talk stage Thursday night time on points starting from the warfare in Gaza to public security to housing prices.
Public security was mentioned all through the talk, with Mamdani’s previous disparaging feedback about police and his calls to defund the New York Metropolis Police Division taking middle stage.
“He believes in defunding the police, disarming the police, disbanding the police,” Cuomo stated. “That is who he’s.”
Mamdani tried to distance himself from his previous tweets, mentioning that they had been from 2020.
HERE’S EVERYTHING YOU MISSED FROM ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S FIRST FOX NEWS INTERVIEW
From left, Mayoral candidates Impartial candidate former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani take part in a mayoral debate, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in New York. (Angelina Katsanis, Pool/ AP Photograph)
All three candidates mentioned their plans to deal with the housing disaster in New York Metropolis with Mamdani’s plan to “freeze the hire” drawing sharp criticism from Cuomo and Sliwa.
“Freeze the hire solely postpones the hire,” Cuomo stated about Mamdani’s plan, making the case that lots of Mamdani’s opponents have made that hire freezes would do extra hurt than good to housing inventory.
Mamdani tried to distance himself from his previous help of laws to decriminalize prostitution and confronted criticism from each his opponents on that topic.
Mamdani’s previous statements on Israel had been one other flashpoint in the course of the debate. At one level, Mamdani stated, “after all” he helps calling on Hamas to disarm, regardless of dodging questions on that topic the day past in an interview with Fox Information Channel.
“I’ve denounced Hamas time and time once more and it’ll by no means be sufficient,” Mamdani stated.
Republican Curtis Sliwa advised Mamdani, “Jews do not belief that you’re going to be there for them when they’re victims of anti-Semitic assaults.”

Impartial candidate, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa take part in a mayoral debate, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photograph/Angelina Katsanis, Pool)
Expertise was additionally introduced up a number of instances within the debate, centered on Mamdani and Cuomo making the case that they had been the candidate with the precise resume to steer the town going ahead.
“This isn’t a job for a primary timer,” Cuomo stated of Mamdani, including, “he is actually by no means had a job.”
“Thank God I’m not an expert politician as a result of they’ve helped create this crime disaster within the metropolis that we face,” Sliwa stated, criticizing each of his opponents’ data.
Mamdani shot again with a line immediately at Cuomo on the expertise challenge.
“What I don’t have in expertise, I make up for in integrity,” Mamdani stated to Cuomo. “What you don’t have in integrity, you would by no means make up for in expertise.”
With below three weeks till Election Day, Mamdani holds a double-digit lead within the race for the nation’s most populous metropolis, however Cuomo is narrowing the hole, in keeping with the most recent public polling.
The tightening contest underscores how Cuomo’s impartial bid continues to attract help from disaffected Democrats following embattled Mayor Eric Adams’ withdrawal from the race.
‘ABSOLUTELY A COMMUNIST’: MAMDANI DODGES LABEL, BUT HIS RECORD AND EXPERT SAY OTHERWISE

Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani supporters collect outdoors 30 Rock in New York Metropolis on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/Fox Information Digital)
Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist state lawmaker from the New York Metropolis borough of Queens who shocked the political world in June along with his convincing win over Cuomo and 9 different candidates to seize the Democratic Occasion’s mayoral nomination, stands at 46% help amongst possible voters in the latest survey within the race, from Quinnipiac College.
Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid a number of scandals and who’s operating as an impartial candidate within the common election after dropping the first, had 33% help within the survey, which was carried out Oct. 3–7.
Sliwa, who for a second straight election is the Republican mayoral nominee within the Democratic-dominated metropolis, stood at 15% within the ballot.
Quinnipiac’s survey was the one main ballot within the area solely after Adams, a Democrat who was operating for re-election as an impartial, dropped out of the race.
In Quinnipiac College’s earlier ballot, carried out in early September, Mamdani held a 22-point 45%-23% lead over Cuomo, with Sliwa at 15% and Adams at 12%.
Regardless of Mamdani’s lead within the race for Gracie Mansion, the democratic socialist has struggled to safe endorsements from nationwide celebration leaders, together with Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
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Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo supporters collect outdoors 30 Rock in New York Metropolis on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/Fox Information Digital)
Mamdani did not too long ago safe an endorsement from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who joined Mamdani on the marketing campaign path this week, however has since refused to return the favor.
“It is a determination that ought to be made after this common election,” Mamdai stated when requested if the candidates are supporting Hochul for re-election.