Mamdani leads final NYC mayor debate as early voting nears

Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa faced off in the final New York City mayoral debate on Wednesday night as voters prepare to begin early voting on Saturday, October 25, with Mamdani entering the session as the clear frontrunner in polls. The two-hour debate at LaGuardia Community College focused on public safety, housing and the cost of living, but also revisited sharp attacks over experience and allegations of antisemitism that have shadowed the campaign.

Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and a state assemblyman, has led most surveys by double digits and reiterated his affordability agenda on stage, centering proposals for universal free child care from six weeks to five years, free buses, city-owned grocery stores and a rent freeze to be funded in part by higher taxes on millionaires and corporate levies. He emphasized those plans as measures to ease day-to-day costs for working New Yorkers and wrote after the debate, "I will be a Mayor for every single New Yorker who calls this city home."

Cuomo, running as an independent and seeking a comeback after resigning as governor in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, pressed Mamdani on executive experience and warned...