Democratic candidate for Mayor Zohran Mamdani and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo debated their positions on Israel, experience in government and how they would handle President Donald Trump in a two-hour televised debate Thursday night.

The event, the first of two scheduled before the Nov. 4 election, was combative at times, as the candidates, who also include Republican nominee and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, questioned each other’s integrity and honesty, and pointed fingers over responsibility for crime and disorder on city streets.

Trajectory of the race unchanged

Betting markets signaled that the event failed to change the trajectory of the race, with Mamdani still seen as the most likely winner in November. Polymarket shows the Queens assemblyman with 89% odds compared with 10% for Cuomo. A Fox News poll released just before the debate shows Mamdani garnering 49% of the vote among registered voters polled, while Cuomo would win 28% and Sliwa just 13%.

Cuomo repeatedly attacked Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist, for his age and inexperience in city government.

“On his resume it says he interned for his mother. This is not a job for a first timer. Any day you could have a hurricane, you could have, God forbid, a 9/11, a health pandemic. If you don’t know what you’re doing people will die,” Cuomo said.

“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?” Mamdani responded, pointing to controversy over Cuomo’s handling of the Covid pandemic.

Mamdani questioned on Israel

Mamdani, who would be New York City’s first Muslim and first mayor of South Asian descent if elected in November, also faced a string of questions over his positions on Israel. Mamdani has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, and of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

A day before the debate, Mamdani gave a vague response to a Fox News interviewer when asked about whether or not Hamas should disarm and leave Gaza, drawing condemnation from some Republicans and Democrats, including Cuomo.

“Of course I believe that they should lay down their arms,” Mamdani said of Hamas on Thursday night.

Architects of criminal justice: Sliwa

Republican nominee Sliwa, who polls show is in third place, accused Mamdani and Cuomo of being architects of criminal justice reform policies, like amendments to the state’s bail laws, that Sliwa said were responsible for increased crime in some categories since the pandemic.

Each of the candidates faced questions about how they would manage the city’s relationship with Trump, who has threatened to revoke federal funding to the city. The president has been particularly critical of Mamdani, describing him as a “communist lunatic.”

Would work with Trump on some issues: Mamdani

Mamdani said he would work with Trump in areas where they agree on helping New Yorkers. But “what I’d tell the president is if he ever wants to come for New Yorkers in the way that he has been, he’s going to have to get through me as the next mayor of the city,” Mamdani said.

Cuomo said he fought repeatedly with Trump during the Covid pandemic. In a hypothetical first phone call to the president after becoming mayor, Cuomo said he would tell Trump, “if you come after New York, you know what I’m gonna do, you know it’s gonna be ugly.”

If Mamdani were elected, the city would suffer as a result, Cuomo said.

“Donald Trump will take over New York City and it will be Mayor Trump,” Cuomo warned.

Sliwa said he would adopt a more conciliatory tack and try to negotiate with Trump to preserve federal funding for New Yorkers. He suggested he might trade away plans to expand the Q train subway line northward in exchange for Trump agreeing not to cut the $16 billion Gateway tunnel project between New York and New Jersey, a long-planned transit improvement.

Bill Ackman, who’s donated money to a super PAC opposing Mamdani’s candidacy, called on Sliwa to drop out of the race after watching the debate.

“He comes across as a good man who cares and knows a lot about the City,” Ackman posted on X. “But if he really cared as much about NYC as he seems to, he needs to drop out of the race tomorrow. A vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani.”