In a crowded NYC mayoral debate, Cuomo faces attacks from all sides
New York City mayoral race front-runner Andrew Cuomo was forced to fend off a volley of attacks from his Democratic primary rivals in a debate Wednesday with his opponents unleashing pent up barbs at the former governor in an attempt to crack his lead Cuomo was on the defensive from the opening bell From a crowded stage Cuomo s opponents swiped at him over the sexual harassment disgrace that forced him from the governor s mansion his coronavirus response and the federal scrutiny into whether he lied to Congress about his handling of the pandemic in nursing homes At one point Zohran Mamdani a democratic socialist state lawmaker who has emerged as one of the leading candidates in the race pressed Cuomo on the overlap between the former governor s political donors and those who donated to Republican President Donald Trump The difference between myself and Andrew Cuomo is that my campaign is not funded by the very billionaires who put Donald Trump in D C Mamdani revealed calling himself Donald Trump s worst nightmare Weathering the onslaught Cuomo started flicking out his own jabs Mr Mamdani is very good on Twitter with videos but he really produces nothing Cuomo announced Donald Trump would go through Mr Mamdani like a hot knife through butter He s been in administration minutes he s passed three bills That s all he s done The pile-on came after Cuomo the presumed favorite has avoided his opponents in society giving them virtually no opportunities to meet him face-to-face That all changed Wednesday night The former governor s opponents had him in their sights throughout the debate working in criticisms of Cuomo in their responses to questions or interjecting at points to get in another quick dig at the former governor of New York The cross talk was heavy on a stage that hosted nine candidates In one exchange Cuomo deflected on a question about whether he had any regrets from his time in politics saying that if he regretted anything it was that the Democratic Party got to a point that we allowed Mr Trump to be elected that we got to a point where rhetoric has no connection to reality The other candidates pounced Adrienne Adams the speaker of the New York City Council spoke up asking Cuomo if he had regrets about his record on robustness care child care and more Really no regrets she revealed as she shook her head at Cuomo As Cuomo moved to respond Jessica Ramos a state senator tried to get a point in but was drowned out by a moderator who directed the former governor to answer Adams critique It is just not accurate Cuomo stated Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams a Democrat who pulled out of the primary to instead run for a second term on an independent ballot line did not participate in the debate Cuomo had been considered one of the Democratic Party s rising stars before his dramatic downfall in following a sexual harassment disgrace The former governor has revealed he did not intentionally mistreat the women and had fallen out of step with what was considered appropriate workplace conduct though his lawyers and consultants have worked to discredit his accusers Cuomo repeated a similar refrain on Wednesday during the debate In his comeback run for mayor Cuomo has faced renewed scrutiny about his decisions during the COVID- pandemic and is under inquiry by the Justice Department over whether he lied to Congress about how he handled the virus as it spread through nursing homes During the debate moderators tried to pin Cuomo down on the truthfulness of his congressional testimony about a state statement on nursing home deaths during the pandemic but he sidestepped the question I was very aware of the statement he explained drawing a laugh from one of the other candidates Izaguirre communicated from Albany New York Source
