Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic front-runner for mayor of New York City, sought to play it safe in the final debate of the race, avoiding contentious issues and pledging to keep the police commissioner.
Andrew M. Cuomo, who is running as an independent, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, repeatedly attacked Mr. Mamdani and accused him of being inexperienced and evasive.
The candidates had tense arguments over how to build housing, combat antisemitism, stand up to President Trump and navigate immigration raids.
Here are five takeaways from the debate. Early voting starts on Saturday ahead of the Nov. 4 election.
A more energized Cuomo came ready to fight.
Mr. Cuomo appeared to have more energy than in the last debate and landed more blows against Mr. Mamdani.
Mr. Cuomo, who was criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike over his languid debate performance last week, assailed Mr. Mamdani at every turn. He focused on Mr. Mamdani’s limited experience and youth, and blasted him for refusing to take positions on some issues.
“My main opponent has no new ideas,” Mr. Cuomo said. “He has no new plan. It’s Bill de Blasio rehash, and we know how that turned out. He’s never run anything, managed anything; he’s never had a real job.”
Mr. Cuomo sought to highlight his central argument that he had the experience to do the job.
“If you want to be in government, then you have to be serious and mature,” he said.
Still, Mr. Cuomo struggled to shed concerns over his tenure as governor, including his failure to address the city’s homelessness crisis and his resignation in 2021 after a series of sexual harassment allegations that he denies.
When Mr. Mamdani had the opportunity to ask Mr. Cuomo a question, he asked about the allegations, noting that one of the women who accused him, Charlotte Bennett, was in the debate audience.
“You sought to access her private gynecological records,” Mr. Mamdani said. “She cannot speak up for herself because you lodged a defamation case against her. I, however, can speak. What do you say to the 13 women that you sexually harassed?”
Mamdani mostly played it safe.
Mr. Mamdani sought to avoid making a mistake, steering clear of some thorny questions and smiling into the camera.
Mr. Mamdani took quite a bit of heat for not weighing in on several housing measures that will be on the ballot.
“I have not yet taken a position on those,” Mr. Mamdani said when pressed on the matter, an answer that drew immediate and vocal taunting from both of his opponents.
Many Democrats, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, support the housing measures, arguing that they will boost housing production. Democratic leaders in the City Council oppose it, saying that it would undermine the Council.
The moderators pressed Mr. Mamdani on his plans for public schools He kept it vanilla.
“I believe that every single child deserves to have an excellent public education, and we have not seen that under the stewardship of those schools with this mayoral administration,” Mr. Mamdani sad.
Jessica Tisch might have won the debate.
All three candidates said they would keep Ms. Tisch as police commissioner, and praised her efforts to improve public safety.
Mr. Mamdani confirmed a report in The New York Times that he planned to keep her in the job. He said he was determined to hire the “best and the brightest” for his administration.
“Commissioner Tisch took on a broken status quo,” Mr. Mamdani said, adding that she “started to deliver accountability, rooting out corruption and reducing crime across the five boroughs.”
His decision is a critical overture to business leaders and moderate voters who might be worried about Mr. Mamdani’s past criticism of the police. Ms. Tisch is highly regarded and was named to the job by Mayor Eric Adams last November.
Ms. Tisch’s allies have signaled for months that she would want to stay in the job regardless of the election’s outcome.
Mr. Cuomo said that he did not believe that Mr. Mamdani would ultimately keep her, arguing that they have vastly different ideologies.
“Their philosophies are totally incongruous,” Mr. Cuomo said of Mr. Mamdani and Ms. Tisch.
Cuomo and Sliwa gang up on Mamdani.
Mr. Mamdani was standing in the middle on the debate stage, and he often was attacked from both sides.
Though Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Sliwa have been fiercely criticizing each another, they were able to overcome their bitter differences to focus their fire on Mr. Mamdani, including over his short period in government and combating antisemitism.
After Mr. Cuomo renewed his criticism of Mr. Mamdani’s past comments on Israel, Mr. Sliwa said that his two young sons, who are Jewish, felt unsafe, and that Mr. Mamdani was not addressing the concerns of some Jewish New Yorkers.
“They don’t think when antisemitism rears its ugly head, which it’s now doing more than ever before, that you will have the ability to come in and put out those flames of hate,” Mr. Sliwa said. He also accused Mr. Mamdani of supporting “global jihad.”
Their joint approach, if unplanned, put Mr. Mamdani on defense. He told Mr. Sliwa that he had never supported “global jihad,” and that he was facing unfair attacks because of his Muslim faith.
Both Mr. Sliwa and Mr. Cuomo repeatedly accused Mr. Mamdani of flip-flopping on some issues. After they jeered Mr. Mamdani for avoiding a position on the ballot questions, Mr. Cuomo threw his hands up.
“What a shocker,” Mr. Cuomo said of Mr. Mamdani. “Don’t worry. Once he takes it, he’ll change it anyway.”
And when Mr. Sliwa criticized Mr. Mamdani’s plan to raise the minimum wage, Mr. Cuomo gave him a verbal high five.
“I have to agree with Curtis,” Mr. Cuomo said.
Sliwa was sharper on policy but less entertaining.
Mr. Sliwa practically stole the show at the last debate with piercing attacks and offbeat zingers.
He remained far more focused on the issues at this debate, trying to make a case that he has the chops to be a serious contender and deserved to stay in the race.
The format of the debate made a difference. In the first debate, Mr. Sliwa often clamored to be heard and had to interrupt with a quip in order to seize attention.
At the final debate, the moderators gave Mr. Sliwa more time to expound on his policy views and generally kept the atmosphere more orderly.
But the in-depth discussions seemed to rob Mr. Sliwa of the pithy interjections that had won him new fans, social media acclaim and viral video clips. Though he still delivered a few memorable attacks, his performance was less must-watch TV.
When Mr. Sliwa got to ask a question, he asked Mr. Mamdani about his free bus plan.
“Zohran, you talk about free, free, free, but we know somebody’s got to pay for it,” he said.
Then Mr. Sliwa turned to Mr. Cuomo and asked about the sexual harassment allegations. Mr. Cuomo dismissed him: “I’m not sure what the man said.”
All three criticized the ICE raids on Canal Street.
The concern that President Trump might interfere in New York City has long hovered over the race. A federal law enforcement raid centered on Canal Street in Manhattan on Tuesday put the issue front and center.
Asked how he would have addressed the raids, Mr. Cuomo said the only effective response would have been to match Mr. Trump’s aggression. Citing his experience as governor, Mr. Cuomo insisted that the president “puts his finger in your chest and you have to put your finger right back in his chest.”
Mr. Mamdani promised to “end the chapter of collaboration between City Hall and the federal government” that he claimed the city had been subjected to under Mayor Adams, adding that he would fight Mr. Trump’s immigration actions “every single step of the way.”
At the same time, Mr. Mamdani repeated that he would be amenable to working with the president to address the city’s affordability crisis.
Mr. Sliwa gave a more surprising answer: that a more deft and conciliatory approach was required. When it came to Mr. Trump, he promised to engage in negotiation. “My adversaries have decided to bump chests with President Trump to prove who is more macho,” Mr. Sliwa said. “You can’t beat Trump. He holds most of the cards.”
Still, Mr. Sliwa said that immigration authorities should not have intervened on Canal Street.
“The feds should not have stepped into this situation,” Mr. Sliwa said, adding: “This is a matter that should have been left up to the N.Y.P.D.”
The candidates traded barbs over singing water fountains, cocktail napkins and being knocked on your tuchus.
There were some quick-witted one liners from all three candidates.
Mr. Mamdani attacked Mr. Cuomo’s record on homelessness, arguing that he spent more on a “singing water fountain” at the renovation of LaGuardia Airport in Queens than on affordable housing.
Mr. Sliwa hit Mr. Cuomo on his major real estate donors, accusing him of being “wined, dined and pocket-lined.”
Mr. Sliwa later turned to Mr. Mamdani and argued that the assemblyman’s “résumé could fit on a cocktail napkin.” Mr. Sliwa immediately followed with an attack on Mr. Cuomo, saying that “your failures could fill a public school library.”
Mr. Cuomo dinged Mr. Mamdani’s youth and said that Mr. Trump would demolish Mr. Mamdani: “He thinks he’s a kid and he’s going to knock him on his tuchus.”
Taylor Robinson contributed reporting.
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall bureau chief for The Times, covering Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.
Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.
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