The FINAL NYC Mayoral Debate kicks off with fireworks as Zohran Mamdani goes head-to-head with Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa in a heated opening round! From Trump’s policies to the Gaza crisis, immigration, and housing — no topic is off-limits. Mamdani TORCHES Cuomo over corruption and slams Sliwa for his controversial remarks, setting the stage for a fiery showdown that has New York buzzing.
Watch Part 1 of the explosive debate that’s redefining NYC politics ahead of Election Day.
#NYCMayoralDebate #ZohranMamdani #AndrewCuomo #MayoralDebateNYC #NYCMayorPolls #MamdaniDebate #NYCMayoralElectionDebate #FinalNYCMayoralDebate #NYCMayorDebateHighlights #NewYorkMayoralDebate #NYCMayorDebateTonight #NYCDebate #NYCMayorDebate #MayoralDebate #WhoWonNYCMayorDebate
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Zohran Mamdani Claims Victory Over Andrew Cuomo; Faces Eric Adams and Republicans Ahead :: https://www.oneindia.com/international/zohran-mamdani-victory-over-cuomo-next-obstacle-adams-011-7783515.html?ref=DMDesc
Zohran Mamdani Claims Victory Over Andrew Cuomo; Faces Eric Adams and Republican Challenges Ahead :: https://www.oneindia.com/international/zohran-mamdani-victory-over-cuomo-challenges-ahead-011-7783483.html?ref=DMDesc
Andrew Cuomo Sued By Former Aide For Sexual Harassment :: https://www.oneindia.com/international/andrew-cuomo-sued-by-former-aide-for-sexual-harassment-gen-3690137.html?ref=DMDesc
~PR.152~CA.146~
Watch Part 1 of the explosive debate that’s redefining NYC politics ahead of Election Day.
#NYCMayoralDebate #ZohranMamdani #AndrewCuomo #MayoralDebateNYC #NYCMayorPolls #MamdaniDebate #NYCMayoralElectionDebate #FinalNYCMayoralDebate #NYCMayorDebateHighlights #NewYorkMayoralDebate #NYCMayorDebateTonight #NYCDebate #NYCMayorDebate #MayoralDebate #WhoWonNYCMayorDebate
Also Read
Zohran Mamdani Claims Victory Over Andrew Cuomo; Faces Eric Adams and Republicans Ahead :: https://www.oneindia.com/international/zohran-mamdani-victory-over-cuomo-next-obstacle-adams-011-7783515.html?ref=DMDesc
Zohran Mamdani Claims Victory Over Andrew Cuomo; Faces Eric Adams and Republican Challenges Ahead :: https://www.oneindia.com/international/zohran-mamdani-victory-over-cuomo-challenges-ahead-011-7783483.html?ref=DMDesc
Andrew Cuomo Sued By Former Aide For Sexual Harassment :: https://www.oneindia.com/international/andrew-cuomo-sued-by-former-aide-for-sexual-harassment-gen-3690137.html?ref=DMDesc
~PR.152~CA.146~
Category
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NewsTranscript
00:00The candidates joining us tonight have met a fundraising threshold established by the
00:08Campaign Finance Board. The seat is currently held by Eric Adams, who has decided not to run
00:14for re-election. In alphabetical order, Andrew Cuomo is a former governor of New York running
00:20on an independent line. Zoran Mamdani is the Democratic nominee, representing parts of Queens
00:27in the State Assembly since 2021. And Curtis Lewa is the Republican nominee and the founder
00:33of the Guardian Angels. Now for the rules. The rules you see on your
00:38screen right now have been agreed to by all of the candidates. Each candidate will deliver
00:42an opening statement of up to 45 seconds, and then answers to our questions will generally
00:47be limited to 60 seconds with a chance for rebuttals. Candidates will have an opportunity
00:52to ask one opponent one question in our cross-examination round. So let's begin.
00:59This will be the last time all three candidates will be together on stage. The next mayor will
01:04be sworn into office 71 days from now on January 1st, 2026. He will inherit a city with an affordability
01:11crisis, a tense relationship with the federal government, and millions of New Yorkers who
01:16very likely did not support him. Let's begin our debate with your opening statements to viewers.
01:22You have 45 seconds. The order was determined by a random drawing on live television this morning,
01:27and we'll begin with Curtis Lewa. Good evening.
01:29Thank you. It's us versus them. It's us versus the insiders and the billionaires. It's us versus
01:38Cuomo. It's us versus Zorhan. This is a campaign not about power. This is a campaign about you,
01:46the people. And I know many of you hardworking New Yorkers, you tell me you've been pushed aside,
01:51you've been silenced. These are the people that have all the money, all the connections,
01:56they've made their backroom deals, but we have something more important. We have you,
02:02the people. And we're not going to be silenced anymore. We're going to fight. Tonight, I want you
02:08to look at the content of my policies, to know that I've served this city for more than 50 years,
02:14the city that I love. And I'm going to share with you my vision to make New York City safer again,
02:20to make New York City more affordable again, and where everybody once again can live the American dream.
02:28Thank you. Next is Andrew Cuomo. Good evening. Thank you. Good evening. New York's first
02:35thank you to the moderators. Thank you all for being here. And go next, go next, go next. I hope
02:40we get an update on the score. New York is the greatest city on the globe, but we are at a pivotal
02:47moment. And the voters are going to have to decide in this election what candidate has the plan to save
02:53the city and what candidate can get it done, not just talk about it. My main opponent has no new ideas.
03:02He has no new planets. Bill de Blasio rehash, and we know how that turned out. He's never run anything,
03:07managed anything. He's never had a real job. I will hire 5,000 new police, build 500,000 new units.
03:14I will cut taxes. I will grow jobs. And I will end, end this hate mongering and division that is
03:23tearing this city apart, because that's not who we are as a New Yorker, as New Yorkers. You know,
03:30I can make change. You know, I can make government work. I've done it before. I'll be right here on day
03:35one. Okay, thank you. Next is our mom, Donnie. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you to the moderators.
03:41And thank you to New Yorkers for tuning in. I know you'd rather be watching the Knicks. While there are
03:46three candidates on this stage, you will hear only two messages. My opponents, who spend more time
03:51trying to convince the other to drop out than actually proposing their own policies, will speak
03:56only of the past, because that's all that they know. I am the sole candidate running with a vision for
04:02the future of this city. Andrew Cuomo will spend much of tonight attacking me. He is a desperate man,
04:08lashing out because he knows that the one thing he's always cared about, power, is now slipping
04:13away from him. He will amplify right-wing talking points. He will share conspiracy theories. And he
04:18will do these things to make you feel that this should keep you up at night. But I've been spending
04:22the last year listening to New Yorkers, and I know what actually keeps you up. It's whether or not you
04:27can afford to live a safe and dignified life in this city. I have plans for our future. My opponents only
04:33have fear. Thank you very much, candidates. Let's start tonight with some breaking news that happened
04:38yesterday afternoon when federal agents descended on Canal Street, arresting street vendors who have
04:43been selling counterfeit designer merchandise for as long as any of us can remember. This is the first
04:48time we've seen major federal law enforcement activity in the city outside of arrests at immigration
04:53court in lower Manhattan. And some critics are now ringing an alarm bell, calling it a dangerous and
04:58unprecedented use of federal agents in New York City. Others say that the vendors were a major
05:04quality of life problem in the neighborhood that the NYPD had ignored. So the candidate — I'll ask each
05:10of you to respond to this. How should the mayor and the NYPD have handled both the presence of the street
05:15vendors and then the federal action? We'll start with you, Mr. Cuomo. I've had a lot of dealings with
05:21President Trump. And there's only one way to deal with him. He puts his finger in your chest and you have to
05:26put your finger right back in his chest. I've actually had this situation with ICE interfering
05:34in New York before. It was upstate New York where ICE just showed up and started to take action. And I
05:40called the president and I went down to the White House and I said, that doesn't work in New York.
05:44You don't send ICE in without coordinating with our police. It's not smart, it's duplicative,
05:52and it's dangerous. We don't need ICE to do quality of life crimes. We don't need them to deal — worry
06:00about illegal vendors. That's a basic policing function for NYPD, consumer affairs, etc. I would
06:10have called the president and I would have said, look, you're way out of bounds, they're way out of
06:15bounds. Call them back or I'm going to have the NYPD step in and stop them because this is not their
06:22jurisdiction. You're in the city of New York. Okay. Mr. Mamdani. ICE is a reckless entity that cares
06:30little for the law and even less for the people that they're supposed to serve. What we need to be
06:34doing here in our city is to end the chapter of collaboration between City Hall and the federal
06:40government, which we've seen under Mayor Adams. What we need to do is actually pass the street
06:45vending reform bills that have been in the city council, some of which that this mayor has actually
06:50overridden. That's an example of how we can both protect street vendors, ensure quality of life,
06:56and leave no stone unturned in delivering for the people of the city, as opposed to working with
07:01a president who is looking to declare war on those same people. Mr. Sliwa. Unlike both of my
07:06adversaries, I patrol that area many times, Church and Canal, and as you said, Errol, that activity
07:12has been going on for a long time. Selling the knockoff, sometimes stolen contraband by a series
07:19of people. The local fifth precinct, they make arrests when they have obviously cause to do so,
07:26and they complain that they have to release them because of no cash bail, of which both of my
07:31adversaries are in favor of, and I'm not. The feds should not have stepped into this situation.
07:37There is not communication between the local authorities and the feds. This is a matter that
07:42should have been left up to the NYPD. But we can't tolerate citizens attacking our federal law
07:49enforcement forces in the street, because then that will just lead to anarchy.
07:54Mr. Let me ask a related question. President Trump has been commenting on this race,
08:00and all of you on a regular basis. He's been less than glowing when talking about each of you,
08:04especially you, Mr. Mamdani. I'd like you each to describe whatever combination of defiance,
08:11diplomacy, and cooperation you will use as mayor if President Trump continues to increase the
08:17federal government's role in the affairs of our city while also threatening to decrease funding.
08:22Start with you this time, Mr. Sliwa.
08:24Well, both my adversaries have decided to bump chests with President Trump to prove who's more
08:30macho. You can't beat Trump. He holds most of the cards. He's already cut federal funding for Medicaid,
08:37for the SNAP program, and it's threatened to cut funds for NYCHA. So if you're all of a sudden going
08:42to get adversarial, you're going to lose. And who gets hurt? The people of New York City. With Trump,
08:48it's always the art of the deal. You have to go. You have to try to negotiate, whether it's with his
08:54minions or himself. He'll want you to give in order to get a little bit. But if you immediately act
09:00like you're going to take him on, like, you know, it's going to be a one-on-one fight, we're going to
09:05lose. All the people in New York City are going to lose. You have to be able to show respect. And I think
09:11if you show respect, you'll get respect, and you'll protect the New Yorkers who are so desperately in
09:17need of federal funds. What's the good of it? They'll bump chests with Donald Trump. They won't
09:23get the money, and then they'll blame Donald Trump. I will negotiate with Donald Trump and try to get
09:29the best deal possible for our poor and indigent citizens. Okay, Mr. Cuomo. Yeah, uh, the difference
09:37on this question is I've actually lived it, and I've done it, uh, with President Trump over many
09:42years through the most difficult situation that this country has gone through, uh, COVID plus.
09:49Uh, you're wrong. Uh, you're going to have to confront President Trump. He is hyper aggressive,
09:56and he is going to overstep his bounds. Uh, and you are going to have to confront him,
10:01and you can beat him. I confronted him, and I have beaten him. He was going to quarantine New York
10:06during COVID. Uh, and I stopped him. He was going to cut aid to federal programs, and I stopped him.
10:13Uh, but you also want to be in a place where you can cooperate on good things, because we need
10:19federal help if we're going to save our city and rebuild our city. President Trump has to respect
10:25you. He sent the National Guard into 20 cities. City he didn't send it into? New York. Because I
10:32talked to him, and I said, we don't need you here. He has said he'll take over New York if Mondami wins,
10:40and he will, because he has no respect for him. He thinks he's a kid, and he's going to knock him
10:44on his tuchus. Uh, so it is a balance, but you're going to have to be adversarial when you need to,
10:52but you want to cooperate to get good things done in this city, and you need federal help.
10:57We first just heard from the Republican candidate for mayor, and then we heard from Donald Trump's
11:06puppet himself, Andrew Cuomo. You could turn on TV any day of the week, and you will hear Donald Trump
11:12share that his pick for mayor is Andrew Cuomo. And he wants Andrew Cuomo to be the mayor not because
11:18it will be good for New Yorkers, but because it will be good for him. Look, Donald Trump ran on three
11:23promises. He ran on creating the single largest deportation force in American history. He ran
11:27on going after his political enemies, and he ran on lowering the cost of living. If he wants to talk
11:32to me about the third piece of that agenda, I will always be ready and willing. But if he wants to talk
11:37about how to pursue the first and second piece of that agenda at the expense of New Yorkers,
11:42I will fight him every single step of the way. Okay. Short rebuttal for Mr. Cuomo.
11:51That's not what Donald Trump said. Donald Trump does an analysis of the race. Donald Trump, I believe,
11:57wants Mandami. That is his dream, because he will use him politically all across the country,
12:03and he will take over New York City. Make no mistake. It will be President Trump and Mayor Trump,
12:10and he will come in and take over the city. I have no doubt. All he said was, his analysis is after
12:16the polls, it's a tough choice between a Democrat and a communist. And he considers Mandami a communist.
12:24He happens to be a socialist. But between a communist and a Democrat, it's a tough choice for him.
12:30Okay. All right. Thank you, candidates. Brian wants to talk to you about some important issues on the
12:36minds of New Yorkers. Hi, candidates. Thank you for coming tonight. Yeah. And the cost of living
12:42is our next topic. You've all cited it as a major factor. And of course, so many New Yorkers are
12:48experiencing this, especially when it comes to rising housing costs. And many New Yorkers were
12:54shocked this week as a new report from the group Advocates for Children revealed that about 154,000 New
13:01York City public school students have been homeless at some point during the last year. 65,000 lived in
13:10homeless shelters. Even more were in doubled-up situations with no home of their own. It's never
13:15been over 150,000 before, they tell us. And it amounts to one in seven New York City kids. As mayor, how would
13:25each of you tackle this problem to help this vulnerable population? And in this round, we're going to go
13:32Mr. Mamdani, Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Sliwa. So, Mr. Mamdani, you go first. This is a stain on our city to see this
13:39many children in our public school system be homeless and to know that this is the ninth consecutive year
13:44that it's more than 100,000 of those children. What we need to do is ensure that next year is not the same. And we are going
13:51to do that by building the housing necessary such that New Yorkers are not priced out of this city
13:55or forced to live in shelters. And that's why my campaign is going to deliver 200,000 new affordable
14:01homes across the five boroughs, all while freezing the rent for more than 2 million rent-stabilized
14:06tenants. Now, in the public school system, we also have a program called Every Child and Family is Known.
14:12It links a child who is living in a homeless shelter with an employee of the public school system.
14:17It also links that employee with the child's family. It's been shown to increase attendance
14:21records, self-esteem, a level of belonging in that school system. I am going to increase
14:26that pilot program to more than 200 schools, and we're going to do it because we have to deliver
14:30for these children. Mr. Cuomo. Yeah. Zoran is a great actor. He missed his calling.
14:39Freeze the rent. Sounds great. Yeah. It affects about 25 percent of the number of housing units in the city
14:45of New York. It's not a new idea. Bill de Blasio did it. It turned out to be a debacle.
14:51And it does nothing for 75 percent of the units. And for the 25, it just postpones the increase
14:57and actually causes us to lose units because landlords took them off the market.
15:02I'll jump in and ask you to address the homeless children question, and we will get to rent freeze.
15:06Yeah. Well, the answer to homeless children is you need more affordable housing.
15:13And I'm saying freeze the rent was done under de Blasio. It doesn't work. It's a canard
15:18and just a great three-word slogan for TikTok. The way to increase availability of affordable housing
15:27is to build affordable housing. I was the HUD secretary. I did it all across the country.
15:32We have one percent vacancy rate. We're not building enough affordable housing. And you
15:39need a competent, productive government to do that. And that's what I've done across the country,
15:44across the state, make government work. You get the supply up, the rents will come down.
15:49Okay. Thank you, Mr. Sliwa.
15:53Okay. Mr. Mondani, you were named, so you get 30 seconds.
15:57We are in the ninth consecutive year of more than 100,000 children in the New York City public
16:01school system being homeless. That means it began when Andrew Cuomo was the governor.
16:06And what did he do? What did he do about it? He did not do anything. He spent more money on a
16:12singing water fountain at LaGuardia airport than he did on the average cost of an affordable housing
16:16unit. That is the record that we have in display. And what we need is a change in the city, not more
16:21of the same. The homeless issue, number of homeless since I left, has more than doubled during his
16:33administration and the state's administration. Since I left, homeless rate has more than doubled.
16:39When I left, the vacancy rate on housing was 4.5 percent. It's now one percent. This man never even
16:48proposed a bill on housing or education. Never even proposed a bill.
16:54You can't keep going back and forth between the two of you. Mr. Sliwa, it's your turn.
16:59Uh, Andrew, you didn't leave. You fled from being impeached by the Democrats in the state legislature.
17:06Leave. You fled. But let's get back on topic, because I'm the only candidate up here has been
17:14into many of the over 300 Department of Homeless Services shelters. And the family shelters are
17:20unsafe for the families there. We have to make them safer. We have to bring teachers into the shelter.
17:26Many times, the mothers or the guardian have to get on bus after bus and take them to a school that's
17:33two or two and a half hours away. This is a horror situation that's taking place. And we have to
17:39prioritize this because this number of homeless children is going to grow. It takes five years
17:44to build affordable housing. We need to address it in the shelters itself to be able to handle it
17:50so that the teachers can come in, whether they're public school teachers, charter school teachers. And
17:56I know there are a number of parochial school teachers who love children who would volunteer
18:00their efforts to do that. We're going to give it to Katie Honan now to ask about another aspect of
18:06affordable housing. We're going to switch to the millions of New Yorkers who are renters,
18:10specifically those in rent regulated apartments. There are more than a million New Yorkers living
18:14in these units, most of them rent stabilized. Mr. Mamdani, you've proposed a rent freeze for these
18:20tenants. Mr. Cuomo, you don't support that. And you've proposed a new means test for having
18:26a rent stabilized apartment. Mr. Mamdani, our question, how can you know in advance what the balance
18:32between landlord needs and tenant needs will be in future years? We've seen a lot of inflation in
18:37recent years. Haven't small landlords felt that pinch as well? And then we have other questions
18:42for the other candidates. You know, we've seen time and again, mayors use their power with the rent
18:48guidelines board to hike the rent on those same more than 2 million New Yorkers. This same rent
18:54guidelines board did a study that found that landlords of those units had seen their profits
18:58increase by more than 12%. Their response? Hike the rent on rent stabilized tenants who have a
19:04median household income of $60,000. I believe that tenants across our city deserve relief. And I also
19:11believe that city government can work to alleviate the pressures for landlords of those units without
19:16having to put that burden on those same tenants. It's possible to keep New Yorkers in this city and
19:22to help landlords with rising insurance costs, water bills, Con Edison, and a broken property tax system.
19:27Thank you. Mr. Sliwa, what's your proposal for helping New Yorkers with the historically high
19:32rent burdens in either stabilized or market rate units? Well, the first thing, we have 6,000 empty
19:40apartments in NYCHA. That is a sin. That's what the mayor can control right away. We need to move those
19:45families with children in. For those who live in rent stabilized apartments and have their rent
19:52subsidized. We need to make sure that the big realtors, that they have to pay a vacancy tax because
20:03they're holding off on those apartments. They're not putting them out into the marketplace because
20:07they want to flip the building. Not for the mid-sized landlords or the small landlords. They need the help.
20:13And there are a number of people in the outer boroughs. They own a home. They live on the property. They're not
20:18absentee landlords. Two, three, four apartments. And they're deciding not to put them in the marketplace
20:24when somebody either leaves or dies because they have to deal with tenant landlord court,
20:29which is an absolute nightmare for small landlords. We got to make sure it's a fair playing field so
20:36that the tenants are protected, but the landlords are protected so they're not stuck with squatters
20:42for four or five or six years, which destroys their equity and forces them to leave. Thank you.
20:49Mr. Cuomo, you signed a law in 2019 repealing a means test to live in a rent stabilized apartment.
20:57What's your position now and what changed in that? The 2019 law was added tenant protections that had
21:05never been added before and protections against tenant evictions. But to answer your question,
21:14the, you cannot, Zoran said, the tenant doesn't have to pay more rent, but we're going to cover the
21:22landlord's costs. No, you can't do both. And that's not what happened. We did freeze the rent with the
21:29Basio. We lost units because the landlords took them off the market because you weren't
21:34covering their costs. The reason the rent guidelines board went up after the freeze was because you
21:40had to make up for all the backlog of costs. And this, I'm going to freeze the rent,
21:48people think it applies to all of them. No, just the 25% of units that are rent stabilized.
21:53And by the way, it's all BS because the mayor doesn't have the power to do it anyway. The rent
21:59guidelines board does, and he doesn't control the rent guidelines board. So nothing is going to
22:06happen. It's all this. It's just more political blather. Mr. Ramadani, you want to vote for the
22:13members? Now, if you want a candidate for mayor who tells you everything that he cannot do,
22:19then Andrew Cuomo should be your choice. If you want a candidate for mayor who will use every tool
22:26at their disposal, including the nine appointees at the rent guidelines board, all of whom are
22:32appointed by the mayor, then I am the candidate for you.
22:39We have to go to Errol, sir. You weren't named, so I'm sorry. We're going to go to Errol and talk
22:43about development. My name was... Can I get the rebuttal? Quickly. Okay, quickly. The mayor doesn't
22:51appoint the rent guidelines board. He's wrong. They are appointed to a term, and they're on holdovers.
22:58And when the term is over, you can appoint. But it takes a number of years to get control.
23:03Okay, understood. Candidates, candidates, right now, we are just blocks away from the site of the
23:08Long Island City rezoning plan, which has been under consideration for a decade at this point.
23:13And in its latest version, would create 15,000 new apartments. That plan,
23:17like the recently passed City of Yes, five borough rezoning, reflects a reality that hundreds of
23:24thousands of units, as many as 1 million new units, will be needed in New York City over the next 10
23:30years. What is your plan to get new units built quickly? And the order of this will be Mr. Cuomo,
23:36then Mr. Sliwa, then Mr. Momdani. Yeah. Sliwa said before it takes five years to build
23:42affordable housing. No, it doesn't. No, it shouldn't. That's an incompetent government.
23:48You can actually get competent government and well-managed government. I built LaGuardia
23:53airport, even though he doesn't like it, in four years. Okay? So don't tell me it takes five years
23:59to build a housing unit. You have to redo HPD. You have to change the entire organization,
24:05organizational structure. You have the zoning. But you have to start hundreds, if not thousands,
24:13of sites simultaneously. Private sector developers. Partner with not-for-profits. Partner with CDCs.
24:21Use city-owned sites. Use air rights. Make a deal with the unions. But this has to be the number one
24:29priority. The way I did 2nd Avenue subway or the Mario Cuomo bridge or the Kosciuszko bridge,
24:35this project is thousands of housing developments being accelerated, expedited, facilitated
24:44at one time. And we need 500,000 units. That's the way you're going to make New York City affordable
24:51and still allow the talent to come here. Okay. Mr. Sliwa. I'm the only candidate here on the stage
24:58who is opposed to the city of yes. Both my adversaries are for it. Make sure on election day,
25:04when you turn over your ballot and you have the initiatives, you vote no. And you know how often
25:11times I've been accused, how are you going to work with the Democratic-controlled city council?
25:15I, Adrian Adams, and the predominant Democrats, including many of them very liberal and progressive,
25:21believe no to yes. I have a simple plan. It takes a year. We have 25 Empire State buildings that would be
25:31empty and just have office space. It'll never be used because business doesn't operate the way it used
25:36to. Retrofit them to affordable apartments. Most are in Manhattan. The infrastructure is there. You set
25:43up a partnership with developers. It'll put men and women to work and you'll get your affordable
25:49apartments a lot quicker and not be a burden to the outer boroughs and the residential communities
25:55because you're in the back pockets, Andrew, of the developers who wine-dined and pocket-lined you.
26:01Let me ask you a follow-up on that, Mr. Sliwa. Do you think each elected city council member should
26:06have basically veto power over whether or not housing gets built in their district?
26:11Absolutely. Local control. Community boards should have their say. What happened to zoning? We throw it out.
26:17Eric Adams. This city of yes is on steroids and he went wild taking care of his developer friends
26:25as he knew he would be one and done. I told you he was corrupt. I told you there would be chaos
26:31and I warned you in 2021. You should have elected me mayor then. Okay. Mr. Mondani. We need to build
26:38more housing all across New York City. Today, New York City builds about four houses for a thousand
26:43people. Jersey City is at seven. Tokyo is at about 10. We need to do this by streamlining the processes
26:49of private sector construction across the city by ensuring we're building more around hubs of mass
26:54transit. And we also need to ensure that the public sector is building truly affordable housing. And what
27:00I mean by truly affordable is housing that is built with the median household income in mind, which is
27:06seventy thousand dollars for a family of four. And that's why my administration will do exactly that,
27:11scaling up programs we already had in HPD, like senior affordable rental apartments,
27:16SARA, like ELA, extremely low level affordability. These are the kinds of programs that will deliver
27:22a city that New Yorkers can actually afford. There was reference to the three housing related
27:27charter amendment questions. I know Mr. Cuomo is on the record as saying he favors them. We just heard
27:32Mr. Sliwa say that he's against them. Where do you stand on those? I'm appreciative that those
27:37measures will be on the ballot and that New Yorkers will be able to cast their votes for them.
27:40I know that we desperately need to build more housing in this city. And I also know that
27:44the jobs we create in the building of that housing should be good jobs as well.
27:48The political answer. What is your opinion, Zoran? Yes or no. Come on. Yes or no.
27:54What is your opinion? Yes or no, Zoran? Don't be a politician here. I got it.
28:01They're pointing out what I was about to answer the question. I think on the stage you can see
28:08two people appealing for the Republican Party's votes and myself.
28:12Hold on, hold on. Answer the question for once. My question to you was,
28:18do you support the three ballot amendment questions? I have not yet taken a position on
28:22those ballot amendments. Oh, what a shocker. All right. What a shocker.
28:27We're going to move on. Don't worry. Once he takes it,
28:29it'll change it anyway. We're going to move it up. We're going to move on.
28:32The candidates, the rhetoric on the campaign trail has become more heated in recent weeks.
28:37We have reached a point where two of the candidates on stage here tonight have armed security.
28:42I would like to spend a few minutes to see if we can dial down the rhetoric.
28:44Mr. Mamdani, some Jewish New Yorkers continue to say that your comments on Israel and the war in
28:50Gaza leave them feeling unsafe and concerned about their future in our city. Recently, several prominent
28:56New York rabbis took the unusual step of denouncing your candidacy, including the rabbi of the Park
29:01Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan and Rabbi Michael Miller, the longtime leader of the Jewish Community
29:05Relations Council, who is a friend to many of us. Do you have any regrets about how you've dealt with
29:10these issues and will your longstanding views on the subject get in the way of your ability
29:16to be an effective mayor? I look forward to being a mayor for every single person that calls this
29:22city home, not just those who voted for me in the Democratic primary, not just those that vote for
29:27me in this general election, but all eight and a half million New Yorkers. And that includes Jewish
29:31New Yorkers who may have concerns or opposition to the positions that I've shared about Israel and
29:36Palestine. You know, just a few weeks ago, I was on the M57, the slowest bus in New York City.
29:42And as I was seated there, there was a speech therapist who was sitting next to me. She told
29:46me that she was Jewish. She said that her daughter was a huge fan, but that she was not yet decided
29:51on who she was going to vote for. And she shared to me about her fears in this city, about rising
29:56anti-Semitism. And I told her what I will tell New Yorkers today, which is that I will be the mayor who
30:01doesn't just protect Jewish New Yorkers, but also celebrates and cherishes them, who doesn't just
30:06increase funding to hate crime prevention programs by 800 percent, who doesn't just ensure that the
30:11NYPD are outside of synagogues and temples on the High Holy Days, but also actually delivers on the
30:16implementation of the Hidden Voices curriculum in our school system, so that children in this city
30:21learn about the beauty and the breath of the Jewish experience right here in the five boroughs.
30:25Okay. Um, I've got a, I've got a, uh, different. Yeah, can I just comment on that, please? Uh,
30:32you know, the, not everything is a TikTok video. You're the savior of the Jewish people. You won't
30:38denounce, globalize the Intifada, which means kill Jews. There's unprecedented fear in New York.
30:45It was not several rabbis, Errol. It was 650 rabbis who signed the letter, not several.
30:52Let me, let me ask you a related question, Mr. Cuomo. Many New Yorkers have serious grievances
30:59with Israel in the way the Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu has conducted the war in Gaza
31:04and expanded settlements in the West Bank. What would you say to and how would you handle New
31:09Yorkers who are in the streets, if you were mayor, protesting the actions of the Netanyahu government?
31:14Fine. That's your right. Protest, demonstrate, disagree. God bless America. God bless New York
31:22City. And there is no doubt that there's two sides on what's going on and the passions are very high.
31:27That doesn't, that doesn't justify anti-Semitic behavior in New York. It doesn't justify having
31:35a Jewish population that feels unprotected in New York. It doesn't, it doesn't justify leaders who
31:43stoke the flames of hatred against Jewish people, which is what Zoran does, in my opinion.
31:49I'll give him a chance to answer and then we'll go to Mr. Slewa.
31:52You know, I've heard from Jewish New Yorkers about their fears about anti-Semitism in this city.
32:00And what they deserve is a leader who takes it seriously, who roots it out of these five boroughs,
32:05not one who weaponizes it as a means by which to score political points on a debate stage.
32:10Mr. Slewa.
32:16Excuse me. Excuse me, Mr. Cuomo. It's my turn, all right? It's like two kids in a schoolyard.
32:24Yeah, I heard you on the radio this morning. John, this is personal for me.
32:28I know you are under threat. The mother of my two youngest sons who were raised Jewish,
32:32Melinda Katz, is prosecuting this person who came up and tried to do you harm.
32:37But let me speak on behalf of my two sons. When they've heard some of the statements you've made,
32:43like in support of global jihad, and I hear some people out there saying the Jews, their time is due,
32:49which means the same thing. They're frightened. They're scared. They view you as the arsonist
32:56who fan the flames of anti-Semitism. They cannot suddenly accept the fact that you're coming in
33:02like a firefighter and you're going to put out these flames. You've got a lot of explaining to do,
33:08a lot of apologizing to do. My sons are afraid. Their family, their friends, many in the Jewish
33:15community are concerned if you become mayor because they don't think when anti-Semitism rears its ugly
33:21head, which it's now doing more than ever before, that you will have the ability to come in and put
33:27out those flames of hate.
33:28Okay.
33:29Yes, we can.
33:33I think there is room for disagreement on many positions and many policies, but I also want to
33:39correct the record. I have never, not once, spoken in support of global jihad. That is not something that
33:46I have said and that continues to be ascribed to me. And frankly, I think much of it has to do with
33:51the fact that I am the first Muslim candidate to be on the precipice of winning this election.
33:57Now, I, all the same, Curtis, I do still want to be the mayor that will keep your sons safe,
34:06that will keep every single New Yorker safe. And it is my job to not only deliver on that commitment,
34:11but also to ensure that New Yorkers feel it every single day that they live in this city.
34:15Okay, candidates, Brian's going to take us into the next section.
34:18Thank you, Errol. And the next section is some individual political questions,
34:23one for each of you. Let me start with you, Mr. Cuomo, then Katie will ask a question of Mr. Sliwa
34:30and Errol to Mr. Mondani. Mr. Cuomo, the last time most New Yorkers saw you before this campaign
34:37was when you resigned your seat as governor under scandal in 2021. The most recent Quinnipiac
34:44University poll in this race shows that 54% of likely voters say you're unethical. Meanwhile,
34:51you also have strained relations with Governor Hochul, State Attorney General Letitia James,
34:56and others. What would you say right now to New Yorkers who have questions about your moral compass
35:02and concerns that you cannot effectively work with other elected officials?
35:06Yeah. Well, first, you somewhat misstated the facts, but I resigned because there was
35:14allegations made. I didn't want to waste the time and distract state government. I knew it was
35:20going to take a long time to sort out. I left, which I thought was respectful to state government.
35:28We sorted it out legally. Nothing came from any of the allegations. I was dropped from the cases.
35:35You know that. We've had this discussion four times, but you like to talk about the past rather
35:41than yesterday. I chose Governor Kathy Hochul. I would have no problem working with her.
35:48The legislature, I got 11 budgets passed on time, most in modern political history. They haven't gotten
35:57one done on time since I was there. So don't tell me who knows to work, who knows how to work with the
36:04legislature. And a mayor being able to deal with that legislature is key. Because, don't kid yourself,
36:10I've watched every governor and mayor since Ed Koch. There is a tension between the city and the state.
36:17The city's arguing for its budgets. The state is saying no. And the city has been getting screwed by the
36:24state. And that has to change. And the city has to be doing better. Thank you. Katie?
36:30Mrs. Rua, to many New Yorkers, you have often presented yourself as more of a well-known New York
36:35character than a serious policy expert. Your critics have said your candidacy is making it more likely
36:41that Zoran Mamdani can win the election. What do you say to them and to others who feel that while your
36:46name recognition has seen a boost, your candidacy is not helpful to New Yorkers, including those who
36:52share your views?
36:53Mr. Number one, I have 13 campaign offices open. I'm throughout the outer boroughs. You see the
37:02excitement and energy of the working class people that I represent. I am the Republican populist
37:09candidate representing the working class. And I'm also, Katie, the candidate on the independent line,
37:15first ever put together by my wife, Nancy, who loves animals like so many. Save the animals. No kill
37:21shelters. Animal abusers go to jail. So people know that I'm not just running to protect people, which
37:28has been my life as leader of the guardian angels. I'm there to protect our pets and animals. Because
37:34remember, Mahatma Gandhi said, a society that does not take care of its animals does not take care of its
37:40people. Homeless, emotionally disturbed veterans. I'm out there every day tending to their needs with
37:46the guardian angels, doing things that the city and state should have been doing a long time ago,
37:52but neglected them and instead spent seven billion dollars on migrants that we don't even know.
37:59That is a disgrace. We should be there for our own people who are suffering and wallowing in desperation
38:08and despair. Okay. Mr. Mahatma Gandhi, you have criticized the politics of the past where leaders
38:15either avoid taking a stand on a key issue or try to be all things to all people. But at times during
38:21this campaign, you've carefully avoided answering tough questions. We saw an instance just a few minutes
38:26ago when I asked about how you plan to vote on those ballot initiatives next month. We've asked
38:32whether you support a major rezoning push for part of Queens, some of which is in your district. You've
38:37been unclear about how you think the city schools should be run, its governance structure. How is that
38:42different from politics as usual? When it comes to our schools, I believe that every single child deserves
38:51to have an excellent public education. And we have not seen that under the stewardship of those schools
38:57with this mayoral administration. We have not seen it because we are not fully funding those schools.
39:01We are not on track to comply with the class size mandates of those schools. We are not even on track
39:07to ensure greater literacy levels across those schools, despite the strides that have been taken
39:11with NYC REITs. When it comes to rezoning, I've been very clear that I will always celebrate the addition
39:17of additional housing units across the city. I also believe that Gantry State Park and Queensbridge
39:22Park should be one contiguous park. Those are things that one can believe at the same time. And
39:29my critiques of the politics of the past is right here on the stage. You can see in Andrew Cuomo,
39:35someone who had 10 years to deliver on so much of what he's spoken about. He says that taking five
39:41years to build affordable housing is the sign of an incompetent government. By his own words,
39:45that means he must have led an incompetent government. That is what we are seeing,
39:50because that is the record that is actually on offer.
39:59I understand my friend doesn't really understand government.
40:02The governor doesn't build housing in New York City.
40:05Not if it's you.
40:06No, legally there are jurisdictions. The governor doesn't pick up trash. He doesn't run the fire
40:13department. That's what the mayor does. The mayor builds housing. The state allocates funding for
40:19localities. And I allocated more funding for housing than any governor in the history of the state of New
40:26York. All right. I did things. You have never had a job. You've never accomplished anything. There's no
40:35reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for eight and a half million lives. You don't know how
40:42to run a government. You don't know how to handle an emergency. And you've literally never proposed a
40:48bill on anything that you're not talking about in your campaign. You had the worst attendance record
40:54in the assembly. And you gave yourselves the highest raise in the United States of America. You went from
41:03$110,000 to $140,000. And then you never showed up for work and you missed 80% of the votes. Shame on you. Shame on you.
41:14Now it is always a pleasure to hear Andrew Cuomo create his own facts at every debate stage.
41:20We just had a former governor say in his own words that the city has been getting screwed by the state.
41:27Who was leading the state? It was you. Governor Hochul. You were leading the state for 10 years.
41:33Governor Hochul. Screwing this city. You cut homelessness funding. You cut funding for the MTA.
41:38You as a legislator. You did all of these things, my friend. That's you. That's the past four years.
41:43That's the past four years. Okay. Guys, I didn't want to have to do this, but you understand how this
41:49works. You can't talk over each other. Nothing works if you do that. I believe we've heard your response. I
41:55wanted to give you a quick word and then we're going to move on.
41:57Yeah. I heard the both of them again fighting like kids in the schoolyard. Zoran,
42:02your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin. And Andrew, your failures could fill
42:10a public school library in New York City. Okay. Go ahead, Jenny.
42:15We're going to move now to public safety. And there was some breaking news from the New York
42:20Times that you, Mr. Mamdani, would ask police commissioner Jessica Tisch to stay on as police
42:25commissioner if you are indeed mayor. I wanted to confirm that that was true. And for Mr. Cuomo
42:30and Mr. Sliwa, would you ask the current police commissioner to stay on if you were elected?
42:34So, Mr. Mamdani, we'll start with you. Yes, I can confirm that reporting. My administration will be
42:39relentless in its pursuit of safety and affordability for every New Yorker. And the delivery of that will
42:45require us to put together a team of the best and the brightest. Eric Adams stacked the upper echelons
42:51of the NYPD with corruption and incompetence. Commissioner Tisch took on a broken status quo,
42:56started to deliver accountability, rooting out corruption and reducing crime across the five
43:01boroughs. I've said time and again that my litmus tests for that position will be excellence and the
43:06alignment will be of that position. And I am confident that under a Mamdani administration,
43:11we would continue to deliver on that same mission and do so while creating the Department of Community
43:16Safety to ensure that mental health experts were the ones responding to the mental health crisis.
43:21Because safety and justice is at the cornerstone of our pursuit of public safety. And in doing so,
43:27we will also be able to deliver our agenda for affordability. Thank you. And very briefly,
43:32quickly, Mr. Sliwa and Mr. Cuomo, would you ask Commissioner Tisch to stay on if you are elected mayor?
43:38Yes, I would for stability. But then again, I don't think she would serve with either Cuomo or Zoron
43:46because she has railed against no cash bail. Cuomo, the architect of no cash bail,
43:52Zoron, the apprentice of no cash bail. That's why criminals are running in the street.
43:56And Mr. Cuomo, would you ask her to stay on?
43:58Uh, I would ask her to stay on. Uh, I don't believe Zoron when he says he would ask her to stay on.
44:04The DSA's position, his position has been to defund this band of police. She wouldn't take that.
44:10His current position, uh, today's position was freeze the budget. That would cause a reduction
44:16in police. She has called for more police. I've called for more police. Mayor Adams has called for
44:22more police. Uh, so, uh, their philosophies are totally incongruous. In Congress, uh, DSA calls for
44:30eliminating misdemeanors. He wants to decriminalize prostitution. I don't think she would support any
44:35of that. Subscribe to One India and never miss an update. Download the One India app now.
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