Democratic New York City mayoral nominee and frontrunner Zohran Mamdani is tired of going back-and-forth with Andrew Cuomo, when he could just debate the man he views as pulling Cuomo’s strings: President Donald Trump.
As the New York City mayoral race heats up, Trump is reportedly working behind the scenes to keep Mamdani from winning, saying Thursday, “I don’t like to see a communist become mayor, I will tell you that.” (Mamdani is a Democratic Socialist.)
Trump has said he believes the race—which currently has four candidates; Mamdani is in the lead—should be one-on-one, and has reportedly been trying to use potential White House jobs to entice current Mayor Eric Adams and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa to drop out.
So when Cuomo challenged Mamdani to five debates, one in each borough, Mamdani fired back—not at Cuomo, but at his perceived benefactor.
“Let’s cut out the middleman,” Mamdani told CBS. “Why should I debate Donald Trump’s puppet when I could debate Donald Trump himself?”
Mamdani continued, saying, “If Donald Trump is serious about this, he should come to New York City; we can have as many debates as he wants about why he’s cutting SNAP benefits for hungry New Yorkers just to fund tax cuts for his billionaire donors.”
Mamdani rocketed to national prominence when he won the June Democratic Primary on a grassroots campaign of affordability. This time last year, the race had been preemptively called for Cuomo before the former governor had even declared his candidacy—but Mamdani’s canvassing efforts, social media mastery, and resonant goals of free buses, city-funded grocery stores, and a rent freeze for rent-stabilized apartments won the day.
So it’s no surprise that he’d take issue with how Trump’s budget bill impacts New Yorkers, 300,000 of whom could lose food stamp benefits after the cuts.
Meanwhile, Cuomo has said that he doesn’t want Trump “involved in anything to do with [his] race,” though the two “Queens boys” have known each other for decades.
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