A socialist, an accused molester and a vigilante all hoping to be New York's next mayor clashed in a debate with "high levels of testosterone" Thursday as the unpredictable campaign enters the homestretch.
Democratic candidate and frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, independent former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa pitched to voters in the first of two televised debates ahead of the November 4 election.
Early voting begins on October 25.
Mamdani attacked Cuomo for his alleged sexual misconduct and controversial governing record "sending seniors to their death in nursing homes" during the Covid pandemic.
"Thank God I'm not a professional politician because they have created the crime crisis in this city," Sliwa said, gesturing at his two rivals.
"There's high levels of testosterone in this room," he said later.
Mamdani pulled off a stunning upset in the Democratic Party primary, defeating political scion Cuomo who had been the favorite for weeks, becoming the party's official nominee.
Mamdani has promised free bus services, rent freezes and city-run supermarkets, which Cuomo has panned as fanciful and unaffordable government overreach.
The race to govern the city's 8.5 million people was again upended when sitting Mayor Eric Adams, who has been engulfed in corruption allegations, quit the race without endorsing another candidate.
Cuomo, 67, was the state governor from 2011 until 2021, when he resigned over sexual assault allegations.
Mamdani, 33, is a state lawmaker for the city borough of Queens and has run an insurgent grass-roots campaign that has motivated young New Yorkers at a high rate.
Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds from Mamdani's administration if he is elected, calling him a "communist."
But Mamdani said "I would make it clear to the president that I am willing to not only speak to him, but to work with him, if it means delivering on lowering the cost of living for New York."
Cuomo warned "Trump will take over New York City, and it will be Mayor Trump" if Mamdani won -- mirroring the takeover of much of the administration of the capital Washington.
Trump said Wednesday he had "terminated" the $16 billion Hudson Gateway tunnel linking New York to New Jersey, a years-long megaproject.
Asked in the debate for his dream news headline, Mamdani said it would be "Mamdani continues to take on Trump."
Quinnipiac University polling suggests most voters will not have their minds changed by the TV debate with just 18 percent of Mamdani and Cuomo's supporters "not likely" to alter their pick, compared to 24 percent of Sliwa's backers.
In the latest polling Sliwa, a 71-year-old who founded the Guardian Angels vigilante group in 1979, is trailing a distant third with 15 percent in the most recent poll, behind Cuomo's 33 percent and Mamdani's 46 percent.
Sliwa insisted he would not bow to inducements he alleged were arranged by Cuomo -- who denies the claim -- to quit the race, like lucrative jobs with fat salaries and a driver.
"I said, 'Hey, this is not only unethical, it's bribery, and it could be criminal," Sliwa told AFP ahead of the showdown.
One of the most acrimonious exchanges in the debate, held without an audience, centered on the safety of New York's significant Jewish community.
Cuomo accused Mamdani of not condemning Hamas and endorsing an epithet he claimed meant death to all Jews globally, while Sliwa accused both of being soft on hate crimes because of their endorsement of cash bail.
"Why would (Mamdani) not condemn Hamas? He still won't denounce 'globalize the intifada,' which means kill all Jews," Cuomo said, drawing an instant rejection from Mamdani.
Sliwa pointed to his leadership of a vigilante group saying he had "been there for all people at all times for 46 years as leader of the Guardian Angels here and around the world."
With AFP
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