NYC NOW - Midday News: Cuomo Questions Mamdani’s Experience, NJ Lawmakers Push to Expand Community Solar Program, and Final Democratic Primary Debate Recap

Episode Date: June 13, 2025

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani exchanged sharp attacks during the final Democratic mayoral debate Thursday night. Cuomo questioned Mamdani’s experience, while Mamdani challenged Cuomo’s record. Meanwhile, New Jersey lawmakers are advancing a bill to expand the state’s community solar program, boosting capacity to power over 500,000 homes. Finally, WNYC’s Brigid Bergin breaks down key moments from the final Democratic primary debate for New York City mayor.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, June 13th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo and assembly members Zoran Mamdani are laser-focused on each other in the lead-up to election day. The two mayoral candidates traded Barbes in the final debate of the Democratic primary for mayor last night. Cuomo argued that 33-year-old Mamdami is, or has a... thin resume. To put a person in this seat at that, at this time with no experience, is reckless and dangerous. Mom, Donnie responded by revisiting Cuomo's record as governor. I have never had to resign in disgrace. I have never cut Medicaid. I have never stolen hundreds of

millions of dollars from the MTA. I have never hounded the 13 women who credibly accused me of sexual harassment. Most polls show Cuomo is the front run in the race, and Mom is second. Early voting starts tomorrow. Primary day is June 24th. New Jersey lawmakers are advancing legislation to expand the state's community's solar program. The program allows low-income residents, people living in apartments and others to use solar energy by tapping into nearby solar arrays. The bills would increase the program's capacity to three gigawatts, enough power to power 500,000 homes. This comes as the state sees skyrocketing energy prices. The states have Senator Vingold Paul introduced the bill.

We need more generation and we need it quickly. The evidence shows that community solar projects are the quickest way to get electrons on the grid locally. And at the same time, provide savings to middle class and low-income families. Green energy advocates say users of the program can see energy bills that are 40% lower. 77 and mostly sunny now. Shower's likely mainly by two tomorrow and cloudy and cooler. Stay close. There's more after the break. The seven top candidates in the Democratic mayoral primary debated for two hours last night.

WNIC's Brian Lera was one of the moderators. With early voting set to begin tomorrow, the atmosphere was electric, with highly charged race between Cuomo and Mamdani taking center stage. WNIC's Bridget Bergen joins us now to recap some of the highlights from the debate. Boy, we described it as electric. I'll say that's an understatement. Bridgett, a lot of happen. leading into last night's debate, would you walk us through what happened yesterday before the

candidates took the stage? Yeah, Michael. I mean, it's some important context because it was quite a day. There are two things I want to focus on. First, there was some controversy over a flyer that a Cuomo super PAC, so a super PAC that's backing the former governor was going to put out, it's unclear if it's actually gone out, but it was attacking Mom Donnie's record on Israel. And the image was manipulated to make Mamdani's beard look thicker. And the PAC says that the ad, you know, shouldn't have gone out. They don't know how it got on social media. It wasn't actually mailed out. But it is something that the Mamdani campaign really seized on. They said it should never have been done. For Cuomo's campaign, they said, you know, they agreed it was something that should never have

happened. But it wasn't a good look. Kind of brought up some history of things that have been associated with the Cuomo campaign in the past, and just sort of maybe hinted at kind of where this whole campaign is headed, which feels a little bit like towards the gutter. Meanwhile, you've got city controller Brad Lander who got a real boost yesterday. He was the top choice, not of the New York Times editorial panel because they are not doing endorsements, but of this new kind of experimental panel that they've formed. But it's not something that most people would probably be able to make the easy distinction between. So he was, pushing it as an endorsement last night during the debate.

As the front running in the race, Cuomo has emphasized that decades of experience he brings to the role. His closest competitor, based on the polling, Zoran Mamdani, is a 33-year-old assembly member from Queens. Did the experience gap come up between the two candidates? Yeah, Michael, the moderators actually asked the candidates directly about this, and it was another one of these fiery moments that came up, Mom Dani tackled the question first. He told voters to judge him by the campaign he's built and committed to bringing them the best and brightest into City Hall. Cuomo, who is 67 and has served as Federal Housing Secretary, State Attorney General and Governor managing all manners of crises, really went after Mamdani. Experience matters. And I think inexperience is dangerous in this case.

Mr. Mondami has had a staff of five people. You're not going to run a staff of five people. You're not going to run a staff of 300,000 employees. He's never dealt with the city council. And Cuomo went on from there. He's never dealt with Congress, never negotiated a union contract, never dealt with a natural disaster, and most importantly, has never dealt with Donald Trump. But Mamdani was ready with his reply. Here's about 30 seconds of that. To Mr. Cuomo, I have never had to resign in disgrace. I have never cut Medicaid. I have never stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the MTA. I have. I have never stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the MTA. I have never hounded the 13 women who credibly accused me of sexual harassment. I have never sued for their gynecological records.

And I have never done those things because I am not you, Mr. Cuoma. And furthermore, the name is Mamdani. M-A-M-A-M-D-A-N-I. You should learn how to say it because we got to get it right. So a lot of heat there. You know, Mom-Dani said he wants to bring the best and brightest to City Hall. and he even named-checked some really respected city leaders, Attorney Stephen Banks,

and even former deputy mayor, Maria Torres-Springer. The sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo only came up briefly in the first debate. Were they much of a factor last night? Yeah, I mean, this was one of the ways that city controller Brad Lander really made an impact. He brought a burst of energy to the stage, was on much more of the attack than we saw in the first debate,

and one of the striking moments was when after Cuomo for the sexual harassment allegations. You admitted at the time that you called a 25-year-old staffer into your office and asked her questions about whether she'd had older partners and whether she was available and intimated that you were looking for a partner. Everybody here knows that you sexually harassed women, that you created a toxic work environment. And of course, Cuomo had an opportunity to respond.

He claims that, you know, talks about how those allegations were investigated by five district attorneys who never brought cases. And he called Landers' characterization a bold-faced lie. Cuomo is considered the frontrunner. According to most of the polling, did anything happen to possibly shift the momentum last night? You know, Michael, he did take a lot of incoming. And unlike in the first debate, it seemed to rattle him a little bit more. You know, Lander accused him of failing to pay immigrant workers hired by a company contracted by the MTA to clean the subways during the pandemic, the proper wages they were owed. And Cuomo referred to them as illegal immigrants, which, of course, Lander immediately seized on.

Cuomo was asked why he never visited a mosque and what message that sends to Muslim New Yorkers. And, you know, he couldn't think of a mosque he had been to. I think it's too soon to know how much the momentum has actually shifted. Cuomo has millions in campaign funds and then several PACs supporting him who have lots in the bank that they haven't spent and they plan to spend. But I think it's a real sign that this last week and a half is going to be extremely intense. Now, since the first debate, we've seen increasing protests against immigration rates and cities across the country. and of course here in New York.

How much did that come up in last night's debate? Yeah, Michael, that was actually the first question from our own Brian Lair. Cuomo said he was experienced with dealing with President Trump and had stopped him before. Lander described how he'd gone to immigration court to score families in and out. And Mamdani said that the NYPD now has been working with ICE. And under his administration, he would not let that happen, but he would instead build out the city law department.

Adrian Adams, the city council speaker, used as something that is currently going on to talk about how she would deal with the Trump administration. It's work that she is doing now to block an executive order from the current mayoral administration. Again, a little bit of longer clip here from her. They want to bring ice back on to Rikers Island. And the person that is endorsing me, she is the baddest AG in the nation. Her name is Tish James. She said, Adrian, if Donald Trump's... starts to get in your way, sue him. So I am suing him. I am suing the mayoral administration and

Donald Trump's ICE. We will continue to protect immigrants when I am mayor, just like I am protecting them as the leader of the city council. And Michael, I was told that James is actually in the audience at that debate last night. That's our Bridget Bergen on last night's debate. Thank you, Bridget. Thank you. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a date,

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