The last week has been action-packed in terms of the New York City mayoral race.
The final debate was held on Wednesday night, and the sparks were flying.
Democratic Party nominee Zohran Mamdani, however, made a big mistake, and now he is facing legal action from the New York Knicks for possible copyright infringement.
The mayoral debate this week was far livelier than the prior one, with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo taking some shots, but landing far more against Mamdani, and GOP hopeful Curtis Sliwa even got into the picture.
For instance, Sliwa landed a great jab at them both, stating, “Zohran, your résumé could fit on a cocktail napkin. And Andrew, your failures could fill a public-school library in New York City.”
From the reports I read about the debate, and based on my own opinion, Cuomo was the clear winner, with Mamdani looking flustered and having no real answers or a substantive plan to put his agenda in place, especially in terms of paying for all the freebies he wants to offer.
I am looking forward to seeing the next round of polling to see just how much the night hurt Mamdani and whether Cuomo managed to grab any of the undecided votes that could really tighten this race up before early voting starts next week.
The one part of Mamdani’s plan that he has made clear is that he intends to slap the city’s richest residents with higher taxes, and that is not sitting well with a lot of people.
Residents have already been fleeing New York City for states like Florida and Texas. Now, a new poll suggests that more than a quarter of the city’s residents are thinking about leaving if Mamdani wins for fear of how he would “reshape” the city.
The poll noted, “However, many voters are extremely concerned about that outcome. 39% of voters believe Mamdani is a threat to the future of the city. Cuomo and Sliwa voters are widely considering fleeing the city if he’s elected.”
It continued, “New York City seems to be nearing an inflection point, one that could reshape the city for years to come.”
After the debate, Cuomo and New York City Mayor Eric Adams sat in the front row at the Knicks basketball game, and it was later announced that Adams was set to endorse Cuomo, which is surely what inspired Mamdani to use the Knicks logo scheme for an ad.
The ad replaced the “Knicks” on the logo with “Zohran,” but the Knicks did not take kindly to the usage and immediately issued a cease and desist order to Mamdani, stating, “The NY Knicks have sent NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani a cease-and-desist letter for using the NY Knicks logo to promote his candidacy.”
A Knicks spokesperson added, “The Knicks want to make it clear that we do not endorse Mr. Mamdani for Mayor, and we object to his use of our copyrighted logo. We will pursue all legal remedies to enforce our rights.”
This is a pretty big blow to Mamdani, as he has been sliding in polling of late, just not as much as Cuomo needs him to. Right now, this is still Mamdani’s race to lose, but I think that things are getting far tighter than anyone expected them to be, and if Mamdani continues to make missteps, you just never know.
