NYC mayoral front-runners spar over past controversies in heated debate

New York City mayoral front-runners Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo wasted little time attacking each other over personal scandals they were allegedly involved in during Wednesday night’s debate between the duo and GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa.

Mamdani and Sliwa took the opportunity during Wednesday’s debate to delve into past sexual harassment allegations against former New York governor Cuomo ahead of the impeachment inquiry before Cuomo’s resignation in 2021. Cuomo was also hit by Mamdani over allegations that he failed to engage with Muslim voters while in public office and began doing so under pressure from the mayoral campaign, and that he mishandled the COVID-19 virus in New York after Cuomo issued guidance forcing nursing homes and long-term care facilities to accept COVID-19 positive patients.

Cuomo, meanwhile, hasn’t held back from targeting Mamdani for alleged controversies that have complicated his campaign. Cuomo criticized the self-proclaimed socialist for his inexperience, ties to radical politics and past radical comments about law enforcement, Israel and the situation in Gaza.

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During the debate, Cuomo said of Mamdani, “My main opponent has no new ideas. He has no new plan. … He’s never run anything, he’s never run anything. He’s never had a real job.” Cuomo also branded Mamdani as someone who has proven to be a “divisive force in New York” and pointed to past incidents in which Mamdani drew ire from critics.

One such incident was a photo Mamdani took with a hard-line Ugandan MP who pushed policies to imprison people for being gay. The photo was taken while Mamdani was taking a break from her campaign tour to visit her home country of Uganda for a wedding. Cuomo also brought up the debate over whether Mamdani supports Jewish New Yorkers; Because his critics claimed that he was anti-Israel, pointing to his statements such as “globalizing the intifada”.

Cuomo also accused Mamdani of disrespecting Italian Americans after a video surfaced of him giving his middle finger to a statue of Christopher Columbus; He also pointed to the criticism the self-proclaimed socialist candidate received from 9/11 first responders after posting a photo with a Muslim cleric who served as a character witness for the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

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Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (left) shakes hands with Democratic Party New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani (right) on the debate stage. Cuomo is running as an Independent after briefing Mamdani in the primaries. (Photographer: Angelina Katsanis/AP)

Cuomo continued: “You’ve become a divisive force in New York, and I believe that’s a toxic energy for New York. This is about the Jewish community. When you give the finger to the Columbus statue, it’s happening with the Italian-American community. When you say prostitution is decriminalized, it’s happening with Sunni Muslims, which is Haram. Hindus.” “Then you take a photo with Ugandan Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga. … She is known as Rebecca ‘Gay Killer’. … You are a citizen of Uganda. You took the photo. You said you didn’t know who she was. It turned out that way. How can you not renounce your citizenship or call for BDS against Uganda for imprisoning gay people just because of their sexual orientation? This is a fundamental human rights violation isn’t it?”

Mamdani said his policies remain “consistent” and are built on a belief in human rights for all people, including LGBTQ+ individuals. Mamdani said he would never have taken the photo if he had known about Kadga’s role in drafting legislation that would imprison homosexuals.

Mamdani lashed out at Cuomo before offering her own allegations about past sexual harassment accusations against the former governor: “This continued attempt to denigrate and slander me is also an attempt to distract from the fact that, unlike me, you do not have a platform or set of policies.”

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New York mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo criticized his democratic socialist rival Zohran Mamdani for various alleged scandals involving him during Wednesday’s debate. (Angelina Katsanis/Getty; Angelina Katsanis/Getty)

“Mr. Cuomo. In 2021, 13 different women who worked in your administration have credibly accused you of sexual harassment. Since then, you have spent more than $20 million in taxpayer funds to defend yourself, all while describing these allegations as purely political,” Mamdani said in attacking Cuomo on Wednesday night. he said.

“You even went so far as to legally pursue these women. One of these women, Charlotte Bennett, is here this evening. You wanted to access her private gynecological records. She cannot speak out because you filed a defamation lawsuit against her. But I can speak. What will you say to the 13 women you sexually harassed?”

Cuomo was accused in 2021 of multiple sexual harassment incidents that occurred before he resigned as governor later that year. A subsequent report by New York Attorney General Letitia James confirmed that Cuomo “sexually harassed multiple women from 2013 to 2020;” In January 2024, the US Department of Justice stated that this situation was almost $500,000 settlement with Cuomo’s executive office over one of the allegations. But no criminal charges were filed against Cuomo because some district attorneys argued the evidence was insufficient.

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Cuomo defended himself against Mamdani’s allegations and returned to questions about Mamdani’s alleged past, noting that the cases were eventually dropped.

Sliwa, meanwhile, didn’t miss the opportunity to criticize Cuomo over sexual assault allegations, saying earlier in the debate during a discussion about homelessness that Cuomo was “escaped” from the governor’s office while an impeachment inquiry was investigating him.

“Andrew, you didn’t ‘leave.’ “You escaped impeachment by the Democrats in the state legislature,” Sliwa began, drawing loud applause from the audience before delving into the issue of homelessness.

“‘To leave?’ You ran away!” Sliwa continued to applaud. “But let’s get back on topic.”