THE BLUE AND WHITE

Zohran Mamdani was pushed to provide specifics about his plans if he’s elected mayor of New York City in the campaign’s first fall debate, hammered by his two older rivals, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, who painted him as unprepared and accused him of selling the city’s resident a utopian ideal that wasn’t possible to materialize.

Credit: ABC News

There were many highlights of the debate that have gone viral on TikTok, Instagram, X and other social medias. Mamdani accusing Cuomo of “sending seniors to their deaths in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic”. Cuomo once again struggling to answer questions about new ideas and the backlash he’s received for his alleged sexual harassment of multiple women.

The debate remained centered on issues concerning the state of NYC, President Trunp, and Israel and Gaza. President Trump, whose controversial and tumultuous first year in office has left a bad taste in the mouths of many New Yorkers; specifically who have felt like his use of the national guard is a threat to their own peace. Mamdani accused Cuomo of being a “coward” towards Trump, citing how Cuomo failed to mention Trumpt in a statement he issued condemning the Department of Justice’s indictment of State Attorney Letitia Jones. Cuomo took a defensive side relating to the topic of the president, as he denied a New York Times report saying that the two had recently spoken about the mayoral race. Sliwa said he hadn’t spoken with Trump in years, saying he had last spoken with Trumpt years ago about the Veterans Day parade. When asked if he had ever spoken with Trump, Mamdani answered with a curt “no.” Mamdani was asked what he would say to Trump in a hypothetical first call if elected mayor. He said he would be willing to speak and work with the president as long as it was focused on issues of affordability.

Credit: CalMatters

Since becoming a Democratic sensation and as the party’s politics have broadly shifted against the Israeli government during the war in Gaza, Mamdani has proactively repeated the opposition to Israel he expressed consistently from college through his time as an assemblyman. He wouldn’t say, however, whether he believes Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state, saying only that he does not support any country that exists with racial or religious hierarchies. Nevertheless, many ask as to why a war almost 10,000 kilometres away seems to be taking such a big focus on the general election of one of America’s biggest cities.

But apart from the serious elements of the debate such as cost of living, and the rise in crime in NYC, there were some funny moments; like Curtis Sliwa’s remark 15 minutes into the debate, saying “First of all, there’s high levels of testosterone in this room.” Hundreds of content creators across TikTok in specific have took to mocking the 71 year old candidate, not only for his idiosyncratic debate performance, but for his manner of speaking and usage of interesting personal anecdotes. “ZOHRAN MAMDANI: Universal childcare is a net benefit for the working class of New York City. ANDREW CUOMO: Mamdani’s inexperience will lead us to ruin. CURTIS SLIWA: During a trip to the sewers in 1989, I was stabbed with a sai by Raphael the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle,” X user Mike Beauvais wrote during the two-hour affair. Sliwa, who is mounting his second run for mayor after an unsuccessful bid in 2021 as the GOP nominee, interrupted the other candidates and ran roughshod over time limits. He told stories of his life as the vigilante founder of the Guardian Angels, taking jabs at Andrew Cuomo and front-runner Zohran Mamdani all while citing lyrics from seminal rappers.

While there were many laughs from the debate, many across NYC and the country showed deepening levels of concern for NYC – a city whose last mayor was criminally indicted by the FBI on counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States; wire fraud; two counts of soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals; and one count of soliciting and accepting a bribe. With the general election day approaching on Tuesday, November 4th, 2025 current poles forecast Mamdani winning by a landslide. But as we know, and experienced, a lot can happen in 15 days.