The top five wildest moments from New York City’s final mayoral debate

The candidates got here out swinging on the last mayoral debate in New York Metropolis on Wednesday night time, with all three candidates launching private assaults and spotlighting one another’s greatest controversies.

With simply weeks till the elections, Socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani is closely favored to win. However, Wednesday’s debate was each man for himself, with every candidate insulting and insulting the opposite.

Listed here are the 5 most necessary moments from Wednesday night time’s debate.

1. ‘Hit him within the tuchas’

Impartial candidate Andrew Cuomo, who led the state as Democratic governor from 2011 till he resigned amid controversy in 2021, took intention at Mamdani’s lack of management expertise and predicted that President Donald Trump would make quick work of him if elected mayor.

“[Trump] has mentioned he’ll take over New York if he wins, and he’ll, as a result of he has no respect for him. He thinks he is a child and he will hit him within the tuchas,” Cuomo mentioned.

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Former Governor Andrew Cuomo, Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa take part within the second New York Metropolis mayoral debate at LaGuardia Group School in Lengthy Island Metropolis, Queens, New York Metropolis, on October 22, 2025. (Hiroko Masuike/POOL/AFP through Getty Pictures)

Mamdani instantly fired again by calling Cuomo “the puppet of Donald Trump himself.”

“You would activate the TV any day of the week, and you may hear Donald Trump telling you that his alternative for mayor is Andrew Cuomo, and he needs Andrew Cuomo to be mayor, not as a result of it will likely be good for New Yorkers, however as a result of it will likely be good for him,” Mamdani mentioned.

2. ‘You fled!’

Though Republican Curtis Sliwa was by far the darkish horse candidate within the race, he took a few of the hardest hits of the night time. Early within the debate, he took intention at Cuomo’s controversial departure from workplace, saying, “Andrew, you did not depart. You fled the impeachment by Democrats within the state legislature. You fled!”

Cuomo, in the meantime, reserved most of his anger for Mamdani. At one other level within the debate, he turned to the 34-year-old socialist member of the New York Meeting and mentioned, “You do not know learn how to run a authorities, you do not know learn how to deal with an emergency, and you’ve got actually by no means launched a invoice on something you are not speaking about in your marketing campaign.”

“You had the worst attendance on the assembly, and also you gave your self the very best increase in america of America,” he mentioned, exclaiming, “Disgrace on you! Disgrace on you!’

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Impartial candidate and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo participates within the second New York Metropolis mayoral debate with Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa on the LaGuardia Performing Arts Heart at LaGuardia Group School in Lengthy Island Metropolis, Queens, New York, on October 22, 2025. (HIROKO MASUIKE/POOL/AFP through Getty Pictures)

In response, a grinning Mamdani mentioned, “It’s at all times a pleasure to listen to Andrew Cuomo create his personal information at each stage of the controversy.”

“We simply heard a former governor say in his personal phrases that the town is being screwed by the state. Who ran the state? It was you!’ Mamdani mentioned. “You ran the state for ten years and ruined the town!”

Cuomo instantly denied the accusation, blaming present Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and saying, “That is the final 4 years.”

3. The meme second

Chaos erupted on the controversy stage after Mamdani tried to sidestep a query about whether or not he helps a sequence of housing poll initiatives, with Cuomo, Sliwa and the moderators instantly pressuring him to reply.

‘What’s your opinion, Zohran? Come on!’ Sliwa shouted as Cuomo boomed, “Sure or no?!”

Cuomo rocked his palms backwards and forwards, mocked Mamdani and mentioned, “It is a TikTok dance,” delivering probably the most meme-worthy second of the night time.

Andrew Cuomo taunts Zohran Mamdani with a dance in the course of the last mayoral debate in New York Metropolis on October 22, 2025. (Spectrum Information NY1)

‘They level out what I needed to say. Would you please reply the query?’ requested a moderator.

Mamdani continued to deflect, saying, “I feel you’ll be able to see on this stage two individuals advocating for votes for the Republican Occasion, and myself talking on to New York Metropolis.”

“Reply the query,” Cuomo continued as Sliwa waved his arms and hit his brow along with his palm.

“My query to you was: Do you help the three voting modification questions?” the moderator pressed.

Mamdani ultimately responded, “I’ve not but taken a place on these poll initiatives,” as each Cuomo and Sliwa groaned in protest.

“What a shock!” Cuomo teased. “Don’t be concerned, as soon as he takes it, he’ll change it anyway.”

TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM FIERY MAYORAL DEBATE IN NYC: ‘HE LITERALLY NEVER HAD A JOB’

Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani participates within the second New York Metropolis mayoral debate with impartial candidate and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa on the LaGuardia Performing Arts Heart at LaGuardia Group School in Lengthy Island Metropolis, Queens, New York, on October 22, 2025. (HIROKO MASUIKE/POOL/AFP through Getty Pictures)

4. Help for international jihad?

Moderators and candidates alike pressed Mamdani about his controversial positions on Israel and the rising concern amongst New York’s Jewish group.

Quoting two sons he mentioned have been raised Jewish, Sliwa mentioned, “This concern is private to me.”

“Let me converse on behalf of my two sons once they have heard a few of the statements you could have made, for instance in help of worldwide jihad, and I hear some individuals say, ‘The Jews, that point has come,’ which suggests the identical factor. They’re afraid; they’re afraid. They see you because the arsonist who fanned the flames of anti-Semitism,” Sliwa mentioned.

“You will have lots to elucidate and apologize for,” Sliwa continued. “My sons are scared. Their household, their associates, many within the Jewish group are frightened in the event you turn into mayor as a result of they do not assume that when anti-Semitism rises, which it does now greater than ever earlier than, you will not have the power to come back in and put out these flames of hatred.”

Mamdani responded: “I feel there’s room for disagreement on many positions and plenty of insurance policies, however I additionally wish to set the document straight: I’ve by no means, not as soon as, spoken in help of worldwide jihad.”

“That is not one thing I mentioned, and it is nonetheless attributed to me. And truthfully, I feel plenty of it has to do with the truth that I am the primary Muslim candidate who’s about to win this election,” Mamdani continued, including, “But, Curtis, I nonetheless wish to be the mayor who will shield your sons, who will shield each New Yorker.”

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Hundreds of demonstrators maintain a pro-Palestinian rally and march in protest towards Israel on October 13, 2023 in Instances Sq., New York Metropolis, New York. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis through Getty Pictures)

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5. A stage filled with scandals

Sparks flew when Cuomo and Mamdani got free rein to query one another and, unsurprisingly, selected to press one another on their most controversial scandals.

Cuomo slammed Mamdani, an immigrant from Uganda to the US, for being a “poisonous” drive in New York Metropolis, and pressured him for not advocating boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) towards Uganda over its anti-homosexuality legal guidelines.

“You’re taking an image with Rebecca Kadaga, Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda… She is called Rebecca ‘homosexual killer’ Kadaga,” Cuomo mentioned, asking: “How do you not resign your citizenship, or demand BDS towards Uganda for imprisoning people who find themselves homosexual simply due to their sexual orientation? Is not {that a} basic violation of human rights?”

Mamdani responded: “If I had recognized that the First Deputy Minister was the architect of that laws, I might not have taken that picture.”

In flip, Mamdani criticized Cuomo on 13 sexual harassment allegations filed towards him whereas he was governor. Cuomo brushed this apart, saying, “The circumstances have been dismissed,” and he additional insisted, “You don’t have any downside with BDS towards Israel, however no BDS towards Uganda.”

Andrew Cuomo, New York Metropolis mayoral candidate, from left to proper, New York Metropolis mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, and New York Metropolis mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, throughout a mayoral debate in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, October 22, 2025. Thousands and thousands of {dollars} are pouring into the mayoral election, with lower than two weeks to go earlier than New Yorkers go to the polls. (Hiroko Masuike/The New York Instances/Bloomberg through Getty Pictures)

At one other level within the debate, Mamdani tried to show the difficulty of expertise on Cuomo, saying, “The issue is that all of us lived via your expertise.”

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“The issue is that we skilled you making a $5 million ebook deal whereas sending seniors to their deaths in nursing properties. The issue is that we lower funding for the MTA to ship cash to ski resorts throughout the state. The issue is that we noticed you give $959 million in tax breaks to Elon Musk. The issue is your expertise,” Mamdani mentioned.

“The issue is you haven’t any expertise,” Cuomo insisted, including, “You have not completed something.”