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Socialist New York City mayoral favorite Zohran Mamdani came under fire during a debate when Andrew Cuomo challenged him on his refusal to condemn Hamas.
Mamdani, 33, leads by double digits in the polls but his left-wing economic proposals and intense criticisms of the Israeli government's military actions in Gaza have unnerved some centrists and conservatives.
Cuomo again tried to characterize Mamdani as dangerous to Jewish New Yorkers by highlighting his past reluctance to condemn use of the phrase 'Globalize the intifada,' which is seen by many Jews as a call to violence.
'Why wouldn´t he condemn Hamas?' Cuomo said. 'He still won´t denounce Globalize the intifada - which means kills all Jews.'
Since the primary Mamdani has said he does not use the phrase and would discourage people from saying it.
But Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa said it wasn't enough.
'Jews don´t trust that you are going to be there for them when they are the victims of antisemitic attacks,' he said.
During an appearance on Fox News earlier this week, Mamdani sidestepped a question about whether Hamas should lay down arms as part of a fragile truce that has paused the two-year Israel-Hamas war.
On Thursday he did not equivocate, saying, 'Of course I believe that they should lay down their arms.'
Cuomo even referenced Mamdani's inability to condemn left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who once said 'America deserved 9/11.'
'I find the comments that Hasan made on 9/11 to be objectionable and reprehensible,' Mamdani said.
'And I also think that part of the reason why Democrats are in the situation that we are in, of being a permanent minority in this country, is we are looking only to speak to journalists and streamers and Americans with whom we agree on every single thing that they say.'
The leftist assemblyman fired back by accusing Cuomo of discounting the city's Muslim community, claiming that it took losing to a Muslim candidate for Cuomo to step inside a mosque.
'It took me to get you to even see Muslims as part of this city,' Mamdani said.
Cuomo, now running as an independent after losing the Democrat primary, continued to try to cast Mamdani's agenda as too extreme, saying he lacks the experience to lead America´s biggest city.
Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, countered with attacks on the former governor's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and sexual harassment allegations that Cuomo denies.
Meanwhile Curtis Sliwa, a Republican and the colorful creator of the Guardian Angels crime patrol group, tried to vault his underdog campaign to the fore amid calls for him to drop out.
Though he could have helped Cuomo by ganging up on Mamdani, he instead spent much of his time undercutting the former governor.
Mamdani came under attack straight out the gate, as Cuomo highlighted the 33-year-old's relative lack of job experience.
Cuomo, stressing his own executive experience, said being mayor 'is no job for on-the-job training'
'This is not a job for a first timer,' he said, adding that Mamdani would be 'Bill de Blasio Light,' a reference to the unpopular former mayor.
Mamdani hit back at Cuomo´s integrity and decision-making as the COVID-19 pandemic spread through nursing homes.
'What I don´t have in experience, I make up for in integrity. What you don´t have in integrity, you can never make up for in experience,' he charged.
Mamdani's brand of economic populism - a laser focus on lowering the city's astronomical cost of living through the idea that government should do more to help the lower and middle classes instead of wealthy people - has generated buzz and excitement.
President Donald Trump, who has threatened to arrest Mamdani, to deport him and even to take over the city if he wins, was invoked early and often.
Pressed on how they would handle Trump, Mamdani said he would stand up to him while also being willing to work with him on lowering costs and affordability.
'What New Yorkers need is a mayor who can stand up to Donald Trump and actually deliver,' he said.
Cuomo warned that if Mamdani wins, 'It will be Mayor Trump.'
'I´d like to work with you. I think we could do good things together. But No. 1, I will fight you every step of the way if you try to hurt New York,' Cuomo pledged.
He said Sliwa would not stand up to Trump, and as for Mamdani, the president 'would knock him on his face.'
Sliwa warned that taking too contentious a tone would end up hurting the city.
'If you try to get tough with Trump,' he said, 'New Yorkers will suffer.'
The underdog candidate found himself caught in the middle - literally and figuratively - with the Republican´s lectern positioned between his two opponents as they lobbed attacks at one another.
At one point Sliwa complained that he was not getting enough speaking time, saying, 'I am being marginalized out of this.'
At other times Sliwa aggressively attacked both Mamdani and Cuomo, including after the former governor stressed his willingness to take on Trump.
'You think you´re the toughest guy alive, but let me tell you something, you lost your own primary, rejected by your own Democratic party,' Sliwa said.
Then, in a reference to Cuomo's sexual misconduct accusations, he added: 'You have a difficult understanding of what the term no is.'
Sliwa has resisted calls to exit the race from Mamdani critics who want to frame up a one-on-one race between Cuomo and Mamdani
So far little has changed the trajectory, including Adams' departure.
Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, suspended his reelection campaign late last month after being deeply wounded by a now-dismissed federal corruption case and his relationship with the Trump administration.
A poll of New York City likely voters conducted by Quinnipiac University in early October, after Adams ended his bid for a second term, found that Mamdani continued to hold a lead over Cuomo.
The poll suggested that Cuomo may have benefited somewhat from Adams´ departure, but the current mayor´s exit did not appear to have a meaningful impact on the state of the race.
Adams was not included in the poll but remains on the November ballot because he didn´t withdraw his candidacy before a balloting deadline.
The candidates are scheduled to meet for a second and final debate next week.