Zohran Mamdani Dominates Wild NYC Mayoral Debate

Would you protect the Christopher Columbus statues that exist here in the city?

I'm telling you my focus is on affordability. I'm not thinking about that.

You're not answering the question.

Thank you. He gave the finger to the Columbus Day statue.

Last night was the New York City mayoral debate between Democratic candidate Zoran Mamadani, Republican candidate Curtis Lewa, and Independent, who lost his primary, Andrew Cuomo. So in this video I have several clips to get to, including ones that maybe aren't getting a whole lot of attention but stood out to me for one reason or another, including just a hilarious moment that I will get to later that I just think it was so ridiculous. But let me first start with some quick polling here, recent polling.

This is from Fox News, which I found to be interesting because it really shows Zoran Mamdani with a dominating lead. So Fox News up to this point has really been pushing Eric Adams. Eric Adams of course has now dropped out. So they're more for Curtis Lewa or Andrew Cuomo and it doesn't matter to these, at least the Fox News pollster,

because Mamdani is running away with it since Eric Adams dropped out and he was already running away with it, but his lead is only increased and taking a look at issue by issue, locally economy slash cost of living mom Donnie running away with it and really running away with it on every issue, housing taxes, even crime he's leading. So it's at this point, not even really close. That said,

let's get to the first clip. This one has to do with experience.

This is not a job for a first timer. Any day you could have a hurricane. You got forbid a 9-11, a health pandemic. If you don't know what you're doing, people could die.

Mr. Mondani, do you want to respond?

And if we have a health pandemic, then why would New Yorkers turn back to the governor who sent seniors to their death in nursing homes? That's the kind of experience that's on offer here today. What I don't have an experience I make up for an integrity and what you don't have an integrity you could never make up for an experience.

That's an incredible line from Mamdani there, of course referencing the fact that there was this massive nursing home scandal during the pandemic under Andrew Cuomo writing here this is from the House Oversight Committee the select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic held former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo publicly accountable for his involvement in issuing the disastrous March 25 directive which forced nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients positive patients and publicly exposed his efforts to cover up the tragic aftermath of his administration's deadly decision, including they made a

deliberate decision in its accounting of nursing home deaths to exclude out-of- facility deaths as a way to keep the numbers down. Just this debate over experience in any race is always incredible to me because it it's not about just experience for experience sake, What matters is what did you do with that experience? People currently are having a hard time being able to afford to live. And that's at least partly under Andrew Cuomo's leadership as governor of New York.

Why would you want that same person to now run the city of New York when clearly under his leadership, things didn't work out well? So experience matters only in the case of did you actually do something with your experience? Did you help people? If you didn't then experience for experience sake doesn't mean anything. In fact it's a negative. Here is the next clip. This is on Cuomo's criminality leading to wasted public money.

Andrew Cuomo thinks it's alright to spend 60 million dollars to fund his legal defense From accusations of more than a dozen women of sexual harassment But if I say we should spend the same amount of money on delivering cheaper groceries in this city, okay pilot program

I'm back. They sound fathomable quick

Response quickly first. I did not bring those lawsuits. That was brought by the attorney general, which I said was political.

Well, those lawsuits were filed by individual women and some of them have still been making their way through the courts this year and now.

Yes, and I've been dropped from the cases.

Not all of them.

Yeah. This is a great example of what happened a few times throughout the evening where Cuomo claims all these accusations were proven false. No, they weren't. Why do you keep saying this thinking that you're getting away with it? Now look, this is like the Trump playbook. You say something over and over and over again and people begin to believe it. It's simply not the case. Also lost in his answer there is the fact that he did indeed

waste nearly 60 million dollars in legal fees.

New York taxpayer money. Let me get to the next clip here. This deals with

an insane accusation from Andrew Cuomo about Israel and the incredible response from Mamdani.

The assemblyman just said in his response, well, it depends on Andrew Cuomo about Israel and the since he signed up to be Benjamin Netanyahu's legal defense team

During the course of this genocide another incredible response from Mamdani I'm gonna get to more on that very fact that Cuomo did indeed sign up to be part of Netanyahu's legal defense team There's an incredible clip from Cuomo discussing that I'll get to that in just a minute But on the idea of occupation how Cuomo brings it up as supposed to be offensive that Mamdani has discussed the occupation this is a legal definition the United Nations here calling on Israel to end the occupation are they being offensive in their discussion of this how about the this

Israeli human rights group B'Tselem calling to end the occupation this is from back in 2017 are they beingselem, calling to end the occupation. This is from back in 2017. Are they being offensive? Do they want to end Israel because they're calling to end the occupation? Like, Cuomo is betting on you being stupid. That's what he's hoping for. The people that don't know anything vote.

And I don't think he's doing too well, because New Yorkers, I think by and large, are a lot more aware than Cuomo gives them credit for. But this gets to the insane fact that Andrew Cuomo joined the legal dream team led by Alan Dershowitz. So here is Cuomo discussing his support for Netanyahu. And this is the to stand against that by 70 days. All right, so two things stand out to me in that clip. One is just how proud he is to be defending a war criminal in Benjamin Netanyahu, who this is his ICC arrest warrant. I mean, that in itself

really shows you the lack of character from Andrew Cuomo. But combine that with his next line about how he's standing up against anti-semitism. The conflation of standing up for a war criminal with defending Jewish people, you can actually call what Andrew Cuomo is saying here to be anti-Semitic because of that conflation. The state of Israel does not equal Jewish people. You have two very different things here.

You have a government and their war crimes that they have committed and Jewish people as a whole, which does not include the war crimes. But Andrew Cuomo thinks those two things are exactly the same, so I must defend this war criminal. It's disgusting. And you have Alan Dershowitz, Jeffrey Epstein's lawyer. He is the one that put this legal dream team together.

This is the guy you're on the same side of? You think you're on the right side of history? Who's also, by the way, backing a pardon for Netanyahu, like it's the layers of just a complete lack of humanity throughout all of it. Andrew Cuomo comes off as such a sleazy politician just speaking to whatever rooms he thinks he needs to speak to to win an election, does not actually care about any of it.

This is a guy that was born into a political family and took all the wrong lessons from

it.

Just wild stuff. Let me get to the next clip here. This is a complete left turn from this more serious discussion, but this is around top calls to 311. And only one candidate here was actually close in their answer.

Last year 311 received 38 million contacts from New Yorkers, from calls to the website. I wanted to know if you had a sense across five boroughs what the top two categories of complaints were. What do you think they were, Mr. Sulejman?

Potholes. Constantly potholes. People's undercarriages ripped out, ball bearings, I meant second one top two rats rats okay the city is flooded with

rats mr. Cuomo what do you think the top two complaints were homeless and trash rats all right mr. Mamdani there was housing and noise okay so the answer is

noise and illegal parking only Zoran Mamdani was close to getting the answer right. To me, this clip isn't getting a whole lot of attention, but it speaks to how much closer Zoran Mamdani is to the actual citizens of New York City than the other two candidates, Andrew Cuomo especially. Where Mamdani got noise right, no one else got that, and heat and hot water, which I guess could fall under housing, is actually third.

And if you combine maybe that with blocked driveway, which I also imagine would be more of a housing thing, closer to second place here. But Mamdani is more aware of the day-to-day lives of New Yorkers than Andrew Cuomo is, and that came through very clearly in that answer, not to mention the whole debate. But let me get to, this is the next clip.

This is a continuation of the question around 311. This is around noise. And only one person answered the question.

First of all, it's the residential one, that's the neighbors and the loud music. And the second one is a street or sidewalk, everything with a loud construction and workers outside. So Mr. Cuomo, as mayor, what can you do to help the city that never sleeps get a little bit of rest, Mr. Cuomo?

Yeah, look, I think if the 311 system worked well, if it was actually contact with people, I think New Yorkers would get it. I think New Yorkers would be responsive.

How would you quiet a little bit the city that never sleeps?

In the outer boroughs, I see problems all the time, quality of life issues, 18-wheel tractor trailers, RVs parked everywhere, garbage that's not picked up and collected.

Mr. Mamdani, your turn.

What we've seen is one of the biggest sources of noise in this city is from congestion. And with the implementation of congestion pricing, we've actually seen noise complaints drop in the congestion zone. And so I would continue to find ways to ensure that we have reduced congestion across the city. And one of the ways is by making the slowest buses in America ones that are fast and free so that New Yorkers can

not only live a life of excellent quality of life, but also be able to get around the city without having to worry if they have $2.90 or soon to be $3 in their pocket, which is already out of reach for one in five New Yorkers.

That answer again, this is one that isn't getting a whole lot of attention, but it really shows you the difference between all of the candidates. Only one person there, Zoran Mamdani, actually both understood the question and had an answer. Andrew Cuomo, I don't even know what he was talking about, talking about improving 311, that was part of the previous Q&A, why did you insert that into this question about noise. Curtis Lee was talking about 18 wheelers and RVs parked everywhere. What does that have to do with anything? And then, Mamdani actually addresses the freaking question. It shows you the difference between all of these people. Someone that actually understands

citizens and their issues and two others that are living in their own world. Let me get to the next clip here. This is incredible. Andrew Cuomo is asked about why he failed in the primary. Did he learn any lessons from that? And here is his response. And where this goes is just wild.

What lesson did you learn and what do you feel it said about you? Something you did wrong, something that you need to change about yourself?

Yeah, I think in the primary campaign, I did not do enough on social media, which is a very effective medium now. I think the assemblymen did do a better job on TikTok and social media than I did during the campaign. And that has changed now.

I've also increased my activity significantly, but my agenda is exactly the same. I am the Democrat, although I'm not on the Democratic line. He is a Democratic Socialist called Barack Obama, evil and a liar. Didn't vote for Kamala Harris. Fight and deliver is, I will fight for people, I will fight the bureaucracy, and I will deliver results. New Yorkers need the mayor to get something done. This is all words and theories.

I am a manager who can actually get things done.

This is a question about self-reflection. Is the thing you're reflecting on the most that you need to be on social media more? Was there any other deeper lesson?

Between the two campaigns, social media, more accessibility.

Okay.

I just have to say, it's been an hour and 20 minutes of this debate and we haven't heard Governor Cuomo say the word affordability. That's why he lost the primary. That's why he'll lose the general election. And you can lie all you want, but the truth is, I voted for Kamala Harris. I'm the only candidate on this stage to have the endorsement of Kamala Harris, and I'm

not the one who's funded by Bill Ackman, who called Kamala Harris unqualified to be the vice president of this country.

OK, may I respond? Yes, brief response, please. who support me. And there are a lot of Jewish New Yorkers who support me because they think

you're anti-Semitic." That absolutely killed me the first time I watched that. I was laughing out loud. Andrew Cuomo, you haven't talked about affordability. Well, you're an anti-Semite! What? What does that have to do with anything? What are you talking about? The absolute desperation that Andrew Cuomo has on display here is remarkable. He has no actual retort and his answer is terrible. Your self-reflection after losing the primary was that you didn't use TikTok enough? Really?

Not that maybe you didn't speak to the actual issues that New Yorkers were feeling like cost of living obviously being the big one there? That wasn't part of your thought process? No, I should use TikTok more. I should have done some more dances. Like what?

It's so absolutely stupid. And not the issue of Jewish voters, just to put this stupid line to rest. In these times, there's a great piece here. Why does the New York Times keep ignoring polls showing Mamdani leading with Jewish voters?

So several polls have showed this Two recent polls from Mamdani's well ahead with Jewish voters the first a July Zenith research poll shows Mamdani with a 17-point lead with New York Jewish voters the second poll also from July by GQR research which was commissioned by an anti Mamdani pro-Israel organization, New York Solidarity Network, found Mamdani leading with Jewish New Yorkers by 12 points. Even an anti-Mamdani group, their own poll still shows Mamdani leading with Jewish voters. Yet the bullshit continues. And I just want to write here, Times has cited GQR research several times over the years and

frequently uses GQR's data in their upshot election forecasting model, yet for some reason aren't showing or discussing those polls about Mamdani. And while Zenith Research is a fairly new polling outlet, its founder longtime pollster Adam Carlson is frequently quoted in the Times. So it really goes to showing how this narrative has been, how media organizations have been trying to craft this narrative around Mamdani and it's simply not working because voters actually, they know what they see with Mamdani.

They know who this man is. He's been in New York for a while, been in politics for a while. They know he's the real deal and they're not being fooled by any of this bullshit. Last clip here. This is just a hilarious, ridiculous moment. It was so absurd that, again, it really goes to show the absolute desperation from the other candidates.

Every parade has the right to exist in New York City. I would ask you, Mr. Mondani, would you protect the Christopher Columbus statues that exist

here in the city? I'm telling you, my focus is on affordability. I'm not thinking about statues.

Well, you're not answering the question. Yeah, thank you. He did not answer. We gave the

finger to the Columbus Day statue. That's what we call a disgraziato. That's right, Mom Donny. Anti-Italian discrimination. Thank you so much, debate, for allowing me the opportunity to bring in the Sopranos. Just they're attacking him over statues now. That's how desperate things have become. Incredible stuff. So let me know your thoughts on this debate on Mamdani's performance on Cuomo, Curtis Lee-Wa, what you expect or hope out of this race.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. If you enjoyed this video, please hit like and subscribe, If you enjoyed this video, please hit like and subscribe, and check out some of the other videos I have on this channel.