by WorldTribune Staff, October 23, 2025 Real World News
Self-described socialist Zohran Mamdani’s lack of political moxie was exposed big time in Wednesday’s New York City mayoral debate, analysts say.
The question is, were Mamdani’s stumbles in the final debate enough to sway voters toward Democrat-turned-independent Andrew Cuomo or Republican Curtis Sliwa?
In an earlier debate, Sliwa mocked Cuomo and Mamdani as the “architect and the apprentice.” On Oct. 22, he turned in what some said was his strongest performance.
In polling before the debate, Mamdani held a double-digit lead over Cuomo with Sliwa a distant third. Early voting starts on Saturday.
“A debate like this could have — or should have — happened earlier,” political analyst Caroline McCaughey wrote for The New York Sun. “Mamdani, who is usually polished in his answers, flubbed key questions about how he’d vote on affordable housing construction ballot measures and why he wants to eliminate mayoral control of schools. By flubbed, he failed to answer or served up word salad.”
Mamdani is promising free buses, free childcare, a rent freeze on stabilized apartments, and city-owned grocery stores. When the moderators Wednesday night asked whether he supported three ballot measures to fast track affordable housing construction, Mamdani revealed his “youth and inexperience,” to borrow a phrase from President Reagan.
“I’m appreciative that those measures are on the ballot,” Mamdani said. McCaughey described it as “filling his 60-second answer with platitudes and grand promises of more construction.”
Cuomo had already said he would support the measures, while Sliwa said he would not.
“What is your opinion Zohran?” Sliwa pressed.
“Yes or no? Tell the truth. Answer the question for once,” Cuomo said.
The moderator then pressed Mamdani to answer. After insulting Republicans, Mamdani replied, “I have not yet taken a position on those ballot amendment questions.”
“What a shocker. What a shocker! Don’t worry, once he takes it he’ll change it anyway,” Cuomo said.
It was Sliwa, though, who landed the best line on this front: “Zohran, your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin, and Andrew, your failures could fill a public school library.”
Sliwa’s “strongest moments of the night,” McCaughey wrote, “were when he invoked his family. First, he spoke about one of his sons getting assaulted by teenage gang members and watching as the perpetrators were released because of the ‘raise the age’ law that Cuomo signed and Mamdani supports. Then he went after Mamdani for his failure to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada.’ ”
“Let me speak on behalf of my two sons,” Sliwa said, noting that they are Jewish. “They’re frightened. They’re scared. They view you as the arsonist who fanned the flames of antisemitism. They cannot suddenly accept the fact that you’re coming in as the firefighter and you’re going to put out these flames. You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”
When Mamdani was asked about the apparent contradiction between his promise to get rid of mayoral control of schools and his promise to hold himself as mayor accountable for their performance, the Democrat candidate, McCaughey noted “again offered a meaningless but polished-sounding collection of phrases.”
“I will not shirk that accountability,” he said. “We have to change our ways if we want to change our results.”
Mamdani also said the public schools are underfunded, even though New York City spends nearly $40,000 per pupil per year.
Sliwa offered suggestions about cutting the education bureaucracy.
As for Cuomo, he “did not have a stellar debate performance, but it was better than last week’s,” McCaughey noted. “He landed some blows at the frontrunner and appeared much more comfortable doing so. Cuomo touted his accomplishments as governor and derided Mamdani for never having a job before getting elected, for having the worst attendance record in the assembly, and for voting to give himself a raise.”
McCaughey concluded: “Could this debate have moved the needle if it were held earlier or this were a two-person race? Mamdani’s base of support is committed to him, and he has the highest favorability rating among the candidates, according to polls.
“When the Sun spoke with Trump’s pollster, John McLaughlin, in September, he said the only way Mamdani could be beat is if his unfavorability rating increases. Neither Sliwa nor Cuomo have been able to do that. Wednesday night’s debate exposed serious chasms in Mamdani’s policy knowledge and proposals — but it’s likely too little, too late.”
Mamdani struggles in final NYC debate; Sliwa punches harder added by Editor Two on
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