NYC mayoral candidates debate as supporters gather outside venue

New York Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa faced off Thursday night in their first general election debate and, without a live audience, supporters flooded 50th Street outside 30 Rock, cheering on their favorite candidates with campaign signs and launching verbal attacks on their opponents.

With less than three weeks until Election Day, the debate gave voters a clearer look at the candidates vying to lead the nation’s largest city.

On the debate stage, candidates pledged to ensure affordability and public safety for New Yorkers. Outside the venue, while speaking to Fox News Digital, Mamdani’s supporters told Fox News Digital they were ready for change, while those cheering for Cuomo said they were voting for him for his experience.

“He’s very experienced,” Emily, a Cuomo supporter who lives in Brooklyn, told Fox News Digital. “I think he’s going to keep our city safe and he’s going to keep small businesses alive and he has just the right amount of experience for the job.”

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Supporters of Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani gather outside 30 Rock in New York on Thursday, October 16, 2025. (Fox News Digital/Deirdre Heavey)

New York State Sen. Robert Jackson, who was cheering for Mamdani across 50th Street, said Cuomo already had the opportunity to live up to New Yorkers’ expectations as governor, telling Fox News Digital Cuomo “wasn’t the leader we wanted. He never got there.”

On the other hand, Jackson praised Mamdani for getting New Yorkers excited about politics, explaining that he liked Mamdani’s “straight-forward” and “no-nonsense” politics.

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However, Emily and Anthony Braue, a union activist from the Bronx, said Mamdani’s policies motivated their support for Cuomo.

“Giving away free stuff is not the answer,” Brau said, telling Fox News Digital that he appreciates how Cuomo supports union workers, wants to build infrastructure in New York and make it a safer place to live.

Emily added that Mamdani is “not experienced” and his “policies seem too extreme.”

“Nothing is free. Giving free things means that workers’ taxes are going to pay for those free things,” Braud said. “There’s no such thing as free. It never works. It might be a good sales campaign pitch, but I don’t think it’s the right thing.”

Braue said he didn’t understand why members of the Hospitality and Gaming Trades Council, a union that supports hospitality workers, were across the street cheering for Mamdani. Before the debate, the New York City Police Department designated three respective enclosures for supporters to gather.

Supporters of Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa gather in New York City ahead of the first mayoral debate of the general election on Thursday, October 16, 2025. (Fox News Digital/Deirdre Heavey)

“I don’t know exactly what they’re doing there,” he said. “They should be on this side with the rest of the union workers, but everyone has their own opinion. They are entitled to it.”

After Thursday night’s debate, Mamdani met with a roundtable of union workers at the Service Employees International Union headquarters Friday morning in Manhattan.

“The reason I support Zoran Mandani is because he is a common-sense politician,” SEIU member Pedro Francisco told Fox News Digital ahead of the debate. “He really understands what this city needs. The city needs to be affordable for all of us.”

From left, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani participate in a town hall debate Thursday, October 16, 2025 in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, swimming pool)

While acknowledging that Cuomo is a “great politician” with big ideas, Francisco said, “Cuomo was the past, Zohran is the present and the future of New York City. »

Jim Golden, a 67-year-old New Yorker, agrees that “it’s time for change, it’s as simple as that.”

“We’ve messed up this city enough and it’s time to let other people try to fix it. It’s a disaster,” he said.

Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa all greeted their supporters before Thursday night’s debate, with Mamdani sparking the loudest commotion as he walked through a group of reporters and cheered his supporters lined up along a police barricade.

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Thursday’s town hall debate was hosted by NBC 4 New York/WNBC and Telemundo 47/WNJU, in partnership with Politico. Election Day is Nov. 4 in New York City for the race to replace Mayor Eric Adams, who suspended his re-election campaign last month.