NEW YORK — Zohran Mamdani has a lead to protect. Andrew Cuomo can’t be too gruff. And Curtis Sliwa can simply be his iconoclastic self.
The three New York City mayoral candidates will face off Thursday in their first general election debate, which is co-sponsored by POLITICO and NBC 4 New York. Each candidate brings their own political calculus to the forum as Gotham’s voters prepare to replace Mayor Eric Adams as the leader of the nation’s largest city.
POLITICO spoke with more than a half dozen top New York political strategists to determine what each candidate must do to win the evening. The consensus? All three contenders must tackle competing needs during the debate if they want to claim victory…