5 takeaways from the final NYC Democratic mayoral debate

Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani traded attacks during the final debate of the Democratic primary for mayor, making their final pitches to voters before early voting begins on Saturday.

City Comptroller Brad Lander also had what is almost certainly the best day of his campaign, winning an endorsement from a panel of experts convened by the New York Times before taking the stage, where he took jabs at Cuomo and promoted himself as a seasoned government operator and consensus builder.

But the testy exchanges between Cuomo and Mamdani hinted at a two-man contest in the final stretch toward the June 24 primary. Cuomo, the former governor, is the frontrunner in the race, according to most polls. Mamdani, an Assemblymember from Queens, is in second place.

Other candidates included City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, former city Comptroller Scott Stringer and ex-hedge fund owner Whitney Tilson. Mayor Eric Adams did not participate. He is running as an independent in the November general election.

The two-hour debate at John Jay College was co-hosted by WNYC and Gothamist, NY1 and The City. WNYC’s Brian Lehrer served as a moderator along with NY1’s Errol Louis and The City’s Katie Honan.

Here are five takeaways:

The rivalry between Cuomo and Mamdani.

The tension between Cuomo and Mamdani was palpable, and at times drew gasps and laughter from the live audience. Cuomo ramped up his criticism of the assemblymember representing Astoria, saying he is inexperienced and unprepared to handle running the largest city in America.

Mamdani, 33, would be the youngest mayor in recent history, while Cuomo, 67, would be the oldest first-term mayor in the modern era.

“This is a man who has done nothing. He’s accomplished nothing,” said Cuomo, who checked off a list of executive duties – from working with all levels of government to building major public works like the new LaGuardia Airport and Second Avenue Subway extension, as well as managing natural disasters.

“And now you have Donald Trump on top of all of that,” Cuomo added. “To put a person in this seat at this time with no experience is reckless and dangerous.”

Mamdani responded with a list of his own: Cuomo’s record in office, which includes cuts to Medicaid, the MTA and a sexual misconduct scandal that involved accusations from roughly a dozen women.

“I have never had to resign in disgrace,” Mamdani said.

Referencing one of the aggressive tactics Cuomo’s legal team has employed against his accusers, Mamdani added: “I have never sued for their gynecological records and I have never done those things because I am not you, Mr. Cuomo.”

He then took Cuomo to task for repeatedly mispronouncing his name.

"Furthermore, the name is Mamdani,” he said. “You should learn how to say it.”

Cuomo’s awkward moments.

While the first mayoral debate featured no notable missteps by Cuomo, the second featured a few moments that opened him to criticism.

In an exchange with Lander over undocumented workers used to clean the subways during the pandemic, Cuomo used the term “illegal immigrants.” Lander pounced, asking, “What did you call them?” Cuomo later referred to them as “undocumented.”

Later on, Cuomo stumbled when pressed on whether he had visited a mosque as governor. “I believe I have, I know I participated in many forums with imams,” Cuomo said. “Off the top of my head, I can’t tell you where I went.”

A bolder Brad.

The current city comptroller noted – more than once – that he was the top pick of a panel of The Times experts.

Lander seemed energized by the boost.

"I'm not the flashiest candidate in this race,” Lander told the audience. “I don't have a famous father. I'm not the best at TikTok. My daughter's here, all her videos do better than mine.”

But Lander followed the self-effacing dad routine with a series of attacks on Cuomo that seemed to rattle the former governor.

He elicited Cuomo’s remark about “illegal immigrants,” and called out the former governor for rarely admitting fault.

Lander landed another blow in an exchange with Cuomo over the sexual harassment allegations.

“ Andrew, you admitted at the time that you called a 25-year-old staffer into your office and asked her questions about whether she'd had older partners and whether she was available and intimated that you were looking for a partner,” Lander said. “Everybody here knows that you sexually harassed women, that you created a toxic work environment."

Cuomo called Lander’s attacks “boldfaced lies.”

The debate suggested potential alliances.

A “cross-examination” round allowed candidates to ask a question of one of their rivals. Rather than attack Cuomo, Stringer and Myrie elected to allow Adams to tout her work in passing the city’s recent zoning overhaul known as “City of Yes,” meant to spark development of new housing.

Cuomo, in turn, highlighted Tilson’s background in finance and asked the hedge funder whether he thought Mamdani’s proposals, including free buses and city-owned grocery stores, were financially feasible.

Tilson responded by saying that Mamdani’s plans would result in an “exodus of businesses and jobs and crush our city.”

Tilson later said he would rank Cuomo second on his ballot.

Mamdani and Adams also played nice for the most part. Adams, who is making the case that she has the most experience working alongside the mayor in City Hall, asked Mamdani if he felt he was more qualified to lead the city than her. He replied by saying he appreciated her work but that each of the candidates on the stage believed they were the most qualified, otherwise “we’d have no business running for mayor.”

Mamdani played an instrumental role in helping Adams qualify for matching campaign donations when he asked his supporters to donate to her campaign.

De Blasio enters the chat.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio has stayed relatively mum during the mayor’s race. But he didn’t hold back on X.

He described Adams’ opening remarks as “strong, believable, accessible” and Mamdani’s as “sharp, energetic” and “about as good a start as a candidate can have in a debate.”

The former mayor also applauded Lander as “a real voice of reason and decency tonight.”

But many of his posts centered on his nemesis as mayor, Cuomo.

“Maybe a suburbanite like you is afraid to go into the subway, @andrewcuomo,” he wrote in one post. “We have problems in NYC, that’s true. But we are not all gripped by fear, like in the Gotham City of your mind.”

Cuomo has described de Blasio as one of the city’s worst mayors. Earlier this week, he received the backing of another mayor, Michael Bloomberg.