On Wednesday, October 22, 2025, the three candidates for the New York City mayoral race—Democrat Zohran Mamdani, independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa—faced off in a fiery debate.
Here are five standout moments from the final general election debate before Election Day.
Mamdani speaks up for the 13 women who were sexually harassed by Cuomo.
In 2021, Cuomo resigned from his position as governor following multiple allegations of sexual harassment from 13 women, including former aide Charlotte Bennett. Bennett, who was physically present at the debate on Wednesday, said that the former governor made repeated references to his desire to be physical with her and forcefully repeated mentions of how she was sexually assaulted in college. At the debate, Mamdani brought up Bennett and the other women, highlighting how Cuomo also asked to see private gynecological records from the women.
“She cannot speak up for herself because you lodged a defamation case against her,” Mamdani said. “I, however, can speak. What do you say to the 13 women that you sexually harassed?” In response, all Cuomo had to say was that the allegations were a “misstatement.”
For his legal troubles, New York taxpayers have paid $60 million in expenses.
Cuomo claims that Mamdani is not “experienced” enough for the position.
Throughout the event, he claimed that Mamdani was a “divisive” candidate and lacked the experience and new ideas for the mayoral position. Cuomo also claimed that Mamdani “accomplished nothing.” In response, the Democratic candidate referred to the COVID-19 scandal involving Cuomo. During the pandemic, Cuomo’s administration was accused of failing to report thousands of COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes.
“The issue is that we have all experienced your experience,” said Mamdani. “The issue is that we experienced you taking a $5 million book deal while you sent seniors to their deaths in nursing homes.”
Sliwa accuses Cuomo of cutting funding for psychiatric beds.
The Republican candidate claimed that Cuomo cut the number of beds for mentally ill people from 40,000 beds down to 4,000 beds by the end of his gubernatorial run. In response, Cuomo highlighted how the 40,000 beds were available 40 years ago and claimed that he would “save one of those beds” for Sliwa. During Cuomo’s time as governor, however, the number of hospital beds did drop mostly due to an emphasis on outpatient treatment.
Candidates address Canal Street ICE Raid.
During the debate, all three candidates were asked about the ICE raid on Canal Street in Manhattan. Four U.S. citizens were arrested as ICE targeted street vendors and detained nine people on Tuesday. Mamdani called out ICE as a “reckless entity that cares little for the law and even less about the people.” Along with emphasizing the need for the federal government and City Hall to cease their “chapter of collaboration,” he also presented passing street-vending reform bills.
Cuomo also spoke out against ICE, claiming that they are not necessary for “life enforcement” and calling out the federal government for sending them to NYC without letting the NYPD know. Had he been in office, he would reportedly have told President Trump to either cease the raid or have the NYPD get involved. Meanwhile, Sliwa also said that federal agents should not have been part of the raid, claiming that the NYPD should have handled it instead. The Republican candidate spoke of his past patrolling Canal Street and of his opposition to the protestors who attempted to help the people being detained.
Candidates discuss how they would handle Trump.
While Sliwa said that he would negotiate with the administration, Cuomo referenced his experience with Trump during the pandemic, saying that he is “hyper aggressive and that he is going to overstep his bounds.” To obtain federal assistance, he claims Trump needs to “respect” you. Meanwhile, Mamdani said he would be “ready and willing” to discuss affordability but promised to fight Trump on other issues.
FULL DEBATE:
