NYC mayoral debate tonight has Zohran Mamdani, Curtis Sliwa, Andrew Cuomo ready to appeal to voters
NEW YORK (WABC) — The three candidates running for mayor of New York City will participate in their second and final debate on Wednesday evening before Election Day.
The showdown could be the last and best chance for the candidates to convince voters before they cast their ballots.
While we can expect a spar of words between the candidates, Andrew Cuomo will try and challenge Zohran Mamdani publicly while Curtis Sliwa will try and drum up further support and appeal to New Yorkers.
Some of the candidates’ suggestions for the city were revealed Tuesday, including Cuomo who made a pitch for city oversight of the New York City Transit capital budget and Mamdani who laid out his own framework for saving the Department of Education money by streamlining the way contracts are given out.
In the backdrop of Wednesday’s debate are the growing calls for Sliwa to drop his mayoral bid.
Sliwa started his WABC Radio appearance Wednesday morning by declaring he will not return to the conservative station as a talk show host, citing multiple recent appearances by Cuomo.
“You will never see me in the studios of WABC again. Never. No matter how this election turns out,” said Sliwa.
Sliwa questioned why host Sid Rosenberg is backing Cuomo, who he had as a guest twice since last Friday. Both Rosenberg and owner John Catsimatidis called for Sliwa to drop out of the race to potentially stave off a Mamdani win.
The belief is that if Sliwa drops out, voters would end up voting for Cuomo.
When asked about the race, President Trump said Sliwa dropping out of the race only gives Cuomo “a little bit of a chance, really.”
“Not looking too good for Cuomo,” Trump summed up. “Looks like we’re going to have a communist as mayor.”
Cuomo has tried to appeal to his conservative base, saying he’d give Sliwa a job in his administration if elected.
Meanwhile, a new poll from AARP and Gotham Polling shows Mamdani continues to hold a strong lead over Cuomo at 43.2%. Cuomo trails at 28.9%, and Sliwa at 19.4%.
The poll also finds that in a head-to-head matchup between Mamdani and Cuomo, his lead would fall to 4%, within the margin of error.
RELATED: Curtis Sliwa remains defiant, says he will vote for himself Saturday: ‘I’m in it to win it’
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