Mamdani on defense
Mamdani came under attack straight out the gate, as Cuomo highlighted his 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.
Mamdani hit back, criticizing 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.
At the same time, the state assemblyman's calls to raise taxes on wealthy people and intense criticisms of the Israeli government's military actions in Gaza have unnerved some centrists and conservatives. That's where Cuomo's rebooted campaign sees its path to victory.
The former governor has painted Mamdani as a potentially dangerous leader who would lead the city into financial and social ruin, while casting himself as a competent manager who can handle its expansive bureaucracy and finances.
