NYC NOW - Midday News: New York City Leaders Condemn ICE Raid, Broadway Strike Averted, and Recap of Final NYC Mayoral Debate

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

New York City Council leaders are condemning the Trump administration after federal agents detained several Canal Street vendors earlier this week. The Broadway musicians’ union has reached a tentative deal to avert a strike. and with early voting set to begin Saturday, the three candidates for mayor faced off in their final debate Wednesday night. WNYC’s Elizabeth Kim joins us for a recap.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Thursday, October 23rd. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle. Some New York City Council members and clergy leaders are condemning the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in New York City days after a federal raid on Canal Street. City Council Speaker Adrian Adams spoke at a City Hall rally this morning. Today we've gathered in unison to send a clear message to the Trump administration. Hands off, New York City. Stop threatening our public safety and our economy.

Federal agents earlier this week arrested nine West African immigrants, who were mostly vendors on Canal Street. Department of Homeland Security officials say the raid was a targeted operation to address the sale of counterfeit goods. The union representing Broadway News, Musicians says it's reached a tentative agreement with the Broadway League and Disney Theater Productions to avert a strike that was set to begin today. The American Federation of Musicians says the deal includes wage increases and contribution increases to the health fund. The deal will now go to members for ratification.

Musicians have been working without a contract on Broadway since the end of August. A separate union representing Broadway actors, the Actors' Equity Association, also reached a tentative agreement over the the weekend with the league in negotiations for a new contract. WNYC has reached out to the Broadway League for comment. Now let's check in on the weather today, a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful fall day, sunny with a high around 60. Tonight it's going to get much colder, mostly clear, with a low around 46. Tomorrow, sunny and 60 with a light wind, chilly at night, Saturday, increasing clouds around 57. Stay close. There's more after the break. On WNYC, I'm Michael Hill.

In this segment, we are talking about last night's debate. Early voting begins this Saturday in the election for New York City's next mayor. Last night, WNYC co-moderated a debate among the three candidates, Republican Curtis Slewa, Democrat Zeran Mamdani, an independent candidate, Andrew Cuomo. It was the last debate of the election. WNIC's Elizabeth Kim joins us now to catch us up on what happened. Liz, Mamdani, confirmed in the debate he will ask Jessica Tish to remain city police commissioner if he becomes the next mayor.

You had reported that Mamdani's campaign was debating whether to announce a high-profile pick. Why do you think he did that with less than two weeks to go in the race? Well, Michael, he's been criticized by his opponents as inexperienced and also that he has a weakness when it comes to public safety. But by saying that he would hire Tish, he's basically trying to neutralize those attacks. Now, Tish is widely liked by the billionaire class and also Governor Kathy Hokel, who Mamdani will need to work with to get his affordability agenda done. It may also put some voters at ease that he would hire a relative moderate like Tish, who has taken a more aggressive approach to quality of life.

life issues. And it also signals that Mamdani is pragmatic, you know, politically and also, at least, on policing. He wants to launch a department of public safety, of community safety that would have social workers handle some mental health calls. But beyond that, he's not really looking to reinvent policing. Based on Tish's approach to policing and running the NYPD, would Commissioner Titch declined to serve in a Mamdani administration? During the debate, Cuomo and Sliwa both tried to throw some cold water on the idea that Tish would serve under Mamdani. Like I said, you know, she is a law and order Democrat, and she's partnered with Mayor

Adams on some of his criticisms of progressive criminal justice reform. But she has said that she wants to stay in the job, no matter the outcome of the race. This is her dream job. And it's also hard to see how Mamdani would make such an announcement without consulting her first. Governor Cuomo lost a Democratic primary to Mamadani and now trails him in the polls and has. What has his strategy been to gain ground? Well, he was pretty aggressive from the get-go. Here's what he said about how President Trump would treat Mamdani.

He has said he'll take over. New York if Mandami wins. And he will because he has no respect for him. He thinks he's a kid and he's going to knock him on his took us. So Trump has loomed over the race. And all the candidates were asked how they'd respond to a federal immigration crackdown. You know, it's already happening as we witnessed on Tuesday with federal immigration agents raiding vendors in Chinatown.

Cuomo has been pushing Sliwa to drop out of. of the race in recent weeks, but there was a moment when Cuomo and Sliwa agreed. That's right. In the first half hour of the debate, Mamdani was asked about a controversial ballot proposal that would take away some of the city council's power in approving housing. Critics argued that this would change the system of checks and balances on housing projects, while those who supported say it's really needed to fast track housing in the city. But here's what Momdani said. We desperately need to build more housing in this city, and I also know that the jobs we create in the building of that housing should be good jobs as well.

What a political answer? What is your opinion, Zoran? Come on. Yes or no. What is your opinion? Yes or no, Zoran? So there you hear it. Sliwa and Cuomo, they're really giving it to Mamdani. They're taunting him, right? So Mamdani, when he was pressed on it, he says he just hasn't taken a problem. position, and that's been a feature of his candidacy during the general election. He's avoiding taking positions on thorny issues that might alienate important constituencies. In this case, it's the council, which is opposed to those proposals. Did Curtis Slewa give any indication he'd bail out of this race? We know there's no love loss between him and Cuomo, but did he spend more time attacking Mom Donnie in this debate? You know, he's been pretty firm.

He sees no reason to drop out, but he was more aggressive with Mom Donnie this time around. Here's one example on the issue of anti-Semitism. My sons are afraid. Their family, their friends, many in the Jewish community are concerned if you become mayor because they don't think when anti-Semitism rears its ugly head, which it's now doing more than ever before, that you will have the ability to come in and put out the flames of hate. You really hear how Sliwa is personalizing this argument. You know, he's making a criticism that some Jewish New Yorkers and others have made about Mammani because he has been

critical of Israel. And he is opposed to Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state without equal rights for Palestinians. How did Mamm Nani respond to this? Well, he objected to some of the language and assertions that Slewa made. Here's what he said. I think, There is room for disagreement on many positions and many policies, but I also want to correct the record. I have never, not once, spoken in support of global jihad. That is not something that I have said, and that continues to be ascribed to me. And frankly, I think much of it has to do with the fact that I am the first Muslim candidate to be on the precipice of winning this election. So Mamdani has also himself never used the term globalizing the antifada.

He's gotten a lot of criticism for that from Cuomo for refusing to condemn it. He's instead said that he discouraged the use of the term. Frontrunners often try to stay above the fray in debates. Did Mamdani take that path? No. You know, he has kept up his attack on Cuomo. And as an example, he invited Charlotte Bennett. She's one of the 13 women who've accused Cuomo of sexual harassment to the debate.

So he asked Cuomo to address her directly in the audience, and he reminded New Yorkers that Cuomo's lawyers tried to gain access to her gynecological records as part of his legal battle against her claims. Cuomo has denied all the allegations, saying that they were politically motivated. But I should point out, Michael, that the investigation by the Attorney General did substantiate many of these claims. Did Mamdani take any shots at Slewa? Well, since the debate, Cuomo and Slewa have been engaged in an increasingly, you know, bitter battle. And that's all to Maldani's advantage. In many ways, he's happy that Slewa is there. And there was even this one moment where he was asked who he'd rank in a hypothetical rank choice vote.

Here's what he said. Myself number one and Curtis number two. Mr. Slewa. Oh, please don't be glazing me here, Zoron. Are you kidding? So, Michael, he says, don't be blazing me here, Zoran. And if you're not up to your Gen Z speak, that means not to shower someone with excessive praise.

I got it. Okay, thanks. WNYC's Liz Kim. That's a new one for me. Early voting in New York City starts Saturday this election. is November 4th. Liz, thank you so much. Thanks, Michael.

Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a date for the latest news headlines and occasional deep times. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.