Everything to know about NYC Democratic primary mayor debate — and why Eric Adams won't be participating
Nine Democratic candidates for mayor will take the stage Wednesday night to face off on how to fix the Big Apple's biggest issues.
The event, put on by the city's Campaign Finance Board (CFB), will give New Yorkers a thorough look at the candidates in the June 24 primary, their policies and their records.
It will be frontrunner Andrew Cuomo's first time sharing the stage with the slew of other hopefuls vying for the party nod.
The first Democratic mayoral primary debate is taking place Wednesday, June 4 at 7 p.m. at NBC's iconic 30 Rockefeller Center studios.
The event, which will be hosted by NBC 4 New York/WNBC, Telemundo 47/WNJU and POLITICO New York, will be filmed and aired live.
'The debates at 30 Rock will be informative, engaging, and help voters make their preferred choices at the ballot box. Our team understands the critical issues facing the city, and we're listening to what New Yorkers want to hear from the candidates,' said Amy Morris, senior vice president of news for NBC 4 New York and Telemundo 47.
The debate will be airing live on WNBC — and there are a couple of ways to watch for free.
Viewers can claim a free trial on DIRECTV or Sling TV to access WNBC live if they don't already pay for cable.
A packed field of nine candidates will be participating in the debate. Here's a brief overview of the mayoral hopefuls, in order of how they'll be standing on stage, left to right:
Adrienne Adams: Speaker of the City Council since 2022 and a member since 2017. She hails from and represents South Jamaica, Queens. She is a progressive Democrat.
Brad Lander: The City Comptroller since 2022 and a career pol, Lander is a Brooklynite by way of St. Louis, Missouri. He is a progressive Democrat.
Jessica Ramos: Born and raised in Elmhurst, Queens, Ramos is a state senator representing Queens' 13th District since 2019. She is a pro-labor progressive Democrat.
Zellnor Myrie: A Brooklyn state senator since 2019, representing its 20th District in Crown Heights, Myrie is a native of the borough and a progressive, pro-real-estate Democrat.
Andrew Cuomo: The former governor of New York, hailing from Queens, is making a comeback bid for mayor. Facing a slew of scandals, he resigned in 2021 after serving for 10 years. He is a conservative Democrat.
Whitney Tilson: A former hedge fund manager originally from Connecticut, the Harvard-educated Tilson is a conservative Democrat.
Zohran Mamdani: A Queens state Assembly member representing Astoria and Ditmars-Steinway since 2021, Mamdani is a Democratic socialist originally from Uganda, who was raised on the Upper West Side.
Michael Blake: A reverend from the South Bronx, Blake served as a state Assemblyman from 2015 to 2021 in The Bronx's 79th District. He is a progressive Democrat.
Scott Stringer: The city comptroller from 2014-2022, the longtime pol was born and raised in Harlem. Though Stringer ran a progressive ticket in the 2021 mayoral race, he is a tad more center this go-around.
Read more about the candidates here:
The 110th mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, will not be on the debate stage.
Though he ran as a Democrat in 2021, he withdrew from the Democratic primary this April — opting instead to seek re-election as an independent candidate.
Yes! Leading Democratic candidates will have a second, smaller, but just as fiery debate next Thursday, June 12.
Ramos and Blake didn't meet the CFB's fundraising requirements to make it to the second round — so Wednesday will be voters' only chance to see them square up against their opponents.
WNBC has not yet confirmed if mics will be turned off after candidates' allotted time — like they were in 2024's presidential debate.
There won't be a studio audience at this round of debates — with only select guest credentials being provided to campaign staff.
MAMDANI vs. CUOMO: Mamdani has been slashing Cuomo's lead in recent polls — though the two candidates are on opposite ends of the Democratic spectrum. Wednesday's debate is likely to see both the conservative-leaning former governor and the socialist Queens Assemblyman go toe to toe on various issues and refute each other's policy proposals.
CUOMO GANG-UP: Expect to see a barrage of blows fired at the former governor by all candidates on stage, particularly about his resignation and his handling of the COVID-19 nursing home crisis.
ANTI-SEMITISM: With rising antisemitsm in the Big Apple and the conflict in the Gaza Strip, expect this topic to bring up heated points of view from candidates. Keep an eye out specifically for a sparring match between Cuomo, who is staunchly pro-Israel, and Mamdani, who has a history of Palestinian activism and controversial views on the Jewish state.
SAFETY and AFFORDABILITY: Two hot-button issues on the ballot right now are safety and affordability — particularly when it comes to housing. Expect to hear a lot of talk about police, subway safety and housing solutions.
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The Intercept
5 minutes ago
- The Intercept
Veterans Are 'Guinea Pigs' in Trump's First National Abortion Ban Experiment
Ash Wallis knows she likely wouldn't survive another pregnancy. Doctors said as much years earlier after she suffered a pulmonary embolism following a miscarriage, and got a second blood clot. Getting pregnant again isn't a risk she is willing or able to take. 'I have two sons,' said Wallis. 'I don't want to leave them motherless.' Wallis, 40, begged her health care provider to give her an IUD — her best chance at preventing another pregnancy and protecting her life. But her provider, the Department of Veterans Affairs, refused to cover the procedure. Despite three years of service in the Army, Wallis was forced to pay out of pocket at a local clinic. 'The risks of me getting pregnant and there being a significant health issue were too much risk for me to gamble on,' she said. Access to reproductive care and abortion has long been a problem for those who rely on VA care. But a policy change by the Trump administration stands to make reproductive health for service members and veterans even worse. Last week, the administration posted a proposed rule for VA facilities that would severely narrow access to abortion — eliminating exceptions for health, rape, and incest, and only allowing the procedure in situations deemed to threaten the life of the mother. The rule would also ban any counseling for abortion through the VA. The proposed policy now enters a mandatory 30-day comment period, after which it can go into effect. Experts told The Intercept that the rule change will have devastating consequences for the millions of service members and veterans reliant on health care through the VA, as well as their families. 'It's the worst-case scenario,' said Rachel Fey, vice president of policy and strategic partnerships at Power to Decide, a nonprofit focused on reproductive and sexual health. The Department of Veterans Affairs has long excluded abortion care and abortion counseling from its medical benefits package, with a narrow exception for the 'life of the mother.' That changed in 2022 when the Biden administration, recognizing the danger posed to veterans and service members by the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, instituted a new rule allowing for abortion counseling and abortion care in an expanded list of circumstances. It's this Biden-era change that is under attack by the Trump administration. The administration describes the proposed policy shift as a return to form. 'Prior to the Biden Administration's politically motivated change in 2022, federal law and longstanding precedent across Democrat and Republican administrations prevented VA from providing abortions and abortion counseling,' wrote Gary Kunich, a Veterans Affairs spokesperson, in a statement to the Intercept. Fey and other reproductive health experts had anticipated the Trump administration would institute an abortion ban at the VA. But they told The Intercept that this version is particularly draconian considering the dramatic fall-off in abortion access following the Dobbs decision. 'This new policy would be one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, and for veterans living in the 12 states that ban abortion, it would further close off what may be their only opportunity to access urgently needed abortion care,' said Liz McCaman Taylor, senior federal policy counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, in a statement. 'For veterans living in these states, they may now be forced to carry pregnancies to term even if they were raped or the pregnancy puts their health in jeopardy.' The proposed rule would 'reinstate the full exclusion on abortions and abortion counseling.' Unlike under the Biden rule, which allowed for abortion counseling and abortion care to protect the health of the mother or in cases of rape and incest, the new proposed rule only includes a vague, narrow exception for 'life of the mother.' 'For the avoidance of doubt, the proposed rule would make clear that the exclusion for abortion does not apply 'when a physician certifies that the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term,'' wrote the administration in a summary of the draft proposal. However, in a potentially complicating line, the administration wrote: 'Taken together, claims in the prior administration's rule that abortions throughout pregnancy are needed to save the lives of pregnant women are incorrect.' Jaclyn Dean, director of congressional relations, reproductive health, at the National Partnership for Women & Families, said that the lack of medical clarity around when doctors are allowed to intervene is going to cost lives. 'If I'm a doctor for the VA,' said Dean, 'I'm very confused about what I'm legally allowed to do.' Fey said her organization, Power to Decide, was 'not aware of any circumstances' where the VA covered abortion care under the life exception in place before the Biden rule. 'There was always sort of supposed to be this very, very narrow life exception, but similar to what's happening now in the post-Dobbs world, we're seeing that those life exceptions don't work in practice,' she said. Lindsay Church, executive director of Minority Veterans of America, said the counseling ban adds another layer of risk because providers are prevented from even discussing the option of abortion until it may be too late. 'Good luck if you get to a place where you're dying,' said Church, 'because you can't get abortion counseling before that. And that, to me, is insulting. Not only that, but it could have deadly consequences.' Read Our Complete Coverage The counseling ban also means veterans or active-duty service members referred to the Veterans Affairs administration for care after being sexually assaulted can't discuss abortion as an option with their provider. 'We already know that women veterans experience Military Sexual Trauma at alarming rates, and many of us continue to fight battles long after our service ends,' said Stephanie Gattas, founder of the Pink Berets, which offers support for women veterans struggling with PTSD, military sexual assault, and other mental health issues. Over 8,000 service members, who can also be referred to the VA for care, reported being sexually assaulted last year. And nearly 500 people reported being sexually assaulted while on a VA campus last year, according to Church. Both numbers are likely a severe undercount. 'The military community is wrought with sexual violence,' said Church. 'Now, if you get raped and become pregnant … because of assault at the Department of Veterans Affairs, they won't help you.' Sylvia Andersh, a former service member who worked at Veterans Affairs hospitals as a nurse, called the lack of exceptions for rape 'cruel.' 'My faith in humanity has been quite tested with the fact that they're willing to blatantly hurt women,' said Andersh. For Wallis, who was sexually assaulted while serving in the military, the lack of rape exceptions is especially troubling. 'It feels like being spit in my face,' she said. 'I wrote a check up to and including my life for this country, and I'm not provided equal access to care,' Wallis said. Wallis also worries that this new policy could increase suicidal ideation among service members. 'An unexpected pregnancy, whether it's due to rape, incest, or contraceptive failure, doesn't matter what the cause is,' she said, 'it increases suicidal ideation, and in the lack of access to care, you add that in, and that risk increases further.' The biggest impact is going to fall on veterans and service members living in states with abortion bans, experts told The Intercept. The Department of Veterans Affairs is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, serving 2 million women veterans, over 400,000 of whom live in states with abortion bans. 'We were living in a much different world the last time this total ban was in effect.' Though the Trump administration insists the policy change would be a return to standard VA practice, Taylor, of Center for Reproductive Rights, points out that the landscape has changed following the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision. 'We were living in a much different world the last time this total ban was in effect. This is the first time there has been a total abortion ban in VA health care facilities since Roe v. Wade was overturned,' said Taylor. 'Before Roe fell, if a veteran couldn't get an abortion at a VA health care facility, they could seek one elsewhere in their state. Now, abortion is banned in many states, and over 100 clinics have closed, meaning veterans living in those states will be totally out of options.' Wallis said she feels as if the administration is testing how far it can restrict access to care, pointing to the abortion ban and new restrictions on gender-affirming care at the VA. 'We're the guinea pigs they want to test what they're able to do to the general public,' she said. 'I truly feel like they're testing what they want to do with the rest of the country on us, and it's scary to me.'

USA Today
5 minutes ago
- USA Today
How DC's unique status let Trump take control of police, deploy National Guard
As Trump sends the National Guard to bolster immigration enforcement, Democratic governors and mayors are fighting his use of the military for law enforcement. WASHINGTON – Although President Donald Trump threatened to extend his takeover of the DC Metropolitan Police Force to fight crime and homelessness to other cities, it can't be replicated elsewhere, according to legal experts. The capital's unique status as a federal city, rather than part of a state, grants the federal government unique power to manage it directly. But the president is unlikely to be able to take control of the entire DC government because that would require a change in federal law, which would be difficult to get through the Senate, experts said. Trump also has special authority to deploy the National Guard in DC, in contrast to governors traditionally overseeing mobilizations in their states. But the military is typically blocked from participating directly in law enforcement, which is why California filed a federal lawsuit against Trump's recent deployment of thousands of troops in Los Angeles. 'DC as a federal enclave is fundamentally different than a state or a local government,' Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, told USA TODAY. Here's what to know about Trump's authority to bolster law enforcement in states and cities − and the limitations on that power: Trump becomes first to take over DC police under 1973 Home Rule Act The Constitution ratified in 1787 provided for a federal capital district to serve as the seat of government controlled by Congress, and DC was founded a few years later. In 1973, Congress approved the Home Rule Act that gave the city a mayor and city council. But Congress kept control over the city's spending and the ability to overturn DC laws, as happened in 2023 when the council tried to reduce penalties for some crimes. A provision in DC law allows the president to take control of the Metropolitan Police Force temporarily during an emergency. 'I think Washington DC is the only city where the president can do that,' Tom Manger, the former chief of Capitol police and departments in the DC suburbs of Montgomery County in Maryland and Fairfax County in Virginia, told USA TODAY. Trump invoked the provision for the first time Aug. 11 aiming to rid the city of what he called was an emergency of 'crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.' He said the city was overrun with "violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals," despite a declining crime rate. Trump had to notify the leaders of congressional committees overseeing DC in order for him to keep control of the police for 30 days. A longer extension would require authorization by lawmakers. Trump told reporters Aug. 13 that he would ask Congress to 'long-term extensions' for him to remain control of the DC police, which he expected to be approved 'pretty much unanimously.' But he said he could call a national emergency if needed. 'We're going to be essentially crime free,' Trump said. 'This is going to be a beacon.' Trump declared the initial emergency despite DC reporting a 35% drop in violent crime from 2023 to 2024, and a 26% drop in crime so far in 2025. Kreis said 'a lot of people would contest' the declaration of an emergency, but the challenge would be difficult to litigate. 'You almost by default have to defer to the president's judgment on this, no matter who the president is,' Kreis said. Taking away DC home rule would require change in federal law Trump is unlikely to be able to take control of the entire DC government because that would require a change in federal law. The legislation could be blocked by filibuster in the Senate, which requires 60 votes to overcome in a chamber with 53 of Trump's fellow Republicans and 47 members of the Democratic caucus. Trump also criticized crime in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Baltimore as 'bad, very bad.' Trump threatened to expand the deployment of the National Guard to help fight crime in other states and cities. He specifically cited New York, Chicago and other cities as targets for more troops. "We're not going to lose our cities over this. This will go further. We're starting very strongly with DC," Trump said. 'This will go further,' Trump said. "We're going to take back our capital," Trump added. "And then we'll look at other cities also. In August 2023, Trump criticized Atlanta's crime in August 2023 as 'WORST IN NATION' and a 'GIANT MURDER WAVE!' despite a decline in the crime rate. But other cities and states aren't part of the federal government, so experts say he could not directly take over their police or local governments.'The federal government does not have the authority to commandeer state and local officials against their will to do their (its) bidding,' Kreis said. 'He just fundamentally cannot do that as a federalism matter.' DC Mayor Muriel Bowser called Trump's takeover of the police force 'unsettling and unprecedented' but didn't challenge it in court. 'It's times like these when America needs to know that DC should be the 51st state,' Bowser said in a social media post Aug. 12. Trump leads DC National Guard as commander in chief Trump didn't need any additional authority Aug. 11 to assign 800 National Guard troops to bolster crime fighting in DC because as commander in chief he oversees the Guard in the federal city. Joseph Nunn, national security counsel at New York University's Brennan Center for Justice, said presidents can deploy the National Guard where they want, but the troops are prevented from helping with law enforcement under a law called the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act. NOT CLEAR TO ME HERE WHAT THIS MEANS WRT THE ASSIGNMENT IN DC? IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE SAYING THEY WON'T BE ALLOWED TO DO LAW ENFORCEMENT, BUT IN DC THEY WILL. DO YOU MEAN HERE TO SAY THAT PRESIDENTS CAN DEPLOY THE DC NATIONAL GUARD OUTSIDE DC? BUT OUTSIDE DC THEY CANNOT DO LAW ENFORCEMENT? CAN YOU CLARIFY HERE? This is why WHAT KIND OF? troops in Los Angeles WERE THEY DC NATL GUARD? SPECIFYwere described as protecting federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and buildings rather than helping arrest undocumented immigrants. 'He can put those troops wherever he wants to put them, but they will be constrained by the Posse Comitatus Act in terms of what they want to do,' Nunn told USA TODAY. THAT LAST PHRASE IS CONFUSING. WHO IS THEY? FIRST THEY WOULD BE THE TROOPS, BUT SECOND IS MAYBE REFERRING TO THE PRESIDENT? BC WHAT THE TROOPS THEMSELVES WANT TO DO SEEMS LIKE A WEIRD CONCEPT... IF HE MEANT PRES CAN YOU REVISE TO CLARIFY? 'Up to now, the sort of logistical support we've seen provided to ICE during in the interior country has largely been provided by federalized National Guard and by active-duty armed forces.' National Guard deployments have been routine Before Trump's latest directives, National Guard deployments were routine in DC and elsewhere for purposes other than law enforcement. For example, after the Capitol attack Jan. 6, 2021, Manger was given the authority to request National Guard reinforcements FROM THE PRESIDENT? OR JUST DIRECTLY FROM THE GUARD ITSELF? on his own as chief of Capitol police, AS OPPOSED TO WHAT SITUATION PREVIOUSLY?. Manger said he appreciated the extra staffing to protect the Capitol or help with traffic during protests, such as when he set up dozens of traffic posts to keep vehicles moving during a trucker protest against public health restrictions by truckers. 'The National Guard is terrific,' Manger said. Local authorities also often coordinate with federal law enforcement such as the FBI to fight organized crime or the Drug Enforcement Administration to combat drug trafficking. 'There's a symbiotic relationship between federal and local police across the country,' Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum think tank, told USA TODAY. 'What happened in Washington is distinctly different from what happened in pretty much any city in the country.' Wexler added that the National Guard has a role to play, but troops are traditionally use 'sparingly.' 'They will never be a replacement for local police,' Wexler said. 'No police chief I know would ever put the National Guard in a position where they're making an arrest or their dealing directly with a volatile crowd. They have to be used strategically.' But Manger was uncertain how Trump would move homeless people out of the capital. 'I'm not aware of any other cities or towns around the country that are clamoring for homeless," Manger said. "Where is he going to put them?" Richard Stengel, a former undersecretary of state during the Obama administration, warned against the use of military to bolster law enforcement at a time when violent crime in DC is at a 30-year low. 'Throughout history, autocrats use a false pretext to impose government control over local law enforcement as a prelude to a more national takeover,' Stengel said in a social media post Aug. 11. 'That's far more dangerous than the situation he says he is fixing.' Trump bolsters immigration enforcement with National Guard The Pentagon announced on July 25 that 1,700 National Guard personnel – 1,200 already deployed plus 500 additional troops – will work on "case management, transportation and logistical support, and clerical support for the in- and out-processing" of ICE arrests. GIVEN THE IMPORTANCE OF DISTINGUISHING IN THIS PIECE WHETHER THEY ARE FROM DC OR A CERTAIN STATE, CAN YOU CLARIFY WHICH LOCALITY THEY ARE FROM HERE? The duties of some will also include taking DNA swabs, photographs and fingerprints of people held at ICE facilities, according to a defense official speaking on condition of anonymity. California fights Trump's use of National Guard for law enforcement A landmark federal trial began Aug. 11 in San Francisco challenging Trump's deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 active-duty Marines to support deportations and quell immigration protests in Los Angeles. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco will determine if the government violated the Posse Comitatus Act. California sued the Trump administration by arguing the deployment violated federal law and state sovereignty. But a federal appeals court allowed Trump to retain control of California's National Guard during the legal fight. California Gov. Gavin Newsom seeks a ruling that would return its National Guard troops to state control and a declaration that Trump's action was illegal. What is the Insurrection Act? One option for Trump to get around the prohibition on troops conducting law enforcement would be to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act, which aimed to suppress armed rebellion or insurrection. Despite the harsh terms, president have invoked the law throughout the country's history. Former President George H.W. Bush was the last to invoke the law in 1992, in response to rioting in Los Angeles after the acquittal of four white police officers charged with beating a Black motorist, Rodney King. CAN YOU SAY HERE WHAT BUSH DID WITH THAT INVOCATION? LIKE HE SENT ARMY TROOPS INTO LA? TO DO WHAT? Trump threatened repeatedly after Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 to invoke the Insurrection Act but hasn't done so recently. Legal experts said any challenge to Trump invoking that law would turn on similar semanatics defining whether the emergency or rebellion justified taking over the DC police or deploying National Guard troops in other cities. 'I think it would be naïve to suggest that the president would not try or could not try to stretch the definitions of insurrection or rebellion beyond their common political usage to suit his political needs,' Kreis said. 'The law might say one thing but its ability to be stretched and molded into a political weapon for the president's benefit is not really purely speculative.' Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman and Reuters


The Hill
5 minutes ago
- The Hill
Kansas City mayor: Takeover threats not ‘making anyone safer'
The mayor of Kansas City, Mo., cast doubt on the effectiveness of President Trump's crime crackdown in Washington, D.C., and argued the tactics being used are 'not a solution for anyone.' 'I think what most reasonable people would say is there are certainly situations where help could be a great thing for America's cities,' Mayor Quinton Lucas (D) said in a CNN interview Wednesday morning. 'But threats of takeovers — just sending hundreds of forces, troops in some ways, into America's cities — is not something that's making anyone safer, particularly if you think about what a lot of our urban violence is.' Lucas, who has been a vocal advocate of stricter gun laws, said much of the violent crime in major cities is retaliatory and gun-related, rather than random street crimes. 'Bringing National Guard forces or making FBI agents come out of their usual investigative detail and walk around parks in your community is actually not a solution for anyone,' he said. Trump declared a public safety emergency Monday and announced he was seizing control of the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Force (MPD) and deploying hundreds of Nation Guard troops. The announcement ramped up the D.C. crimefighting tactics Trump launched over the weekend by sending in officers from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies. The president has repeatedly suggested that he may try similar methods in other cities with high crime rates — particularly ones led by Democrats — like Lucas's. 'I don't think mayors have ever said we'll refuse federal help — indeed, we've worked with the ATF, the FBI, on investigations for years,' the Kansas City mayor said. 'Usually, you need folks to help you get guns off the streets, to do investigations on crime guns so you can actually get the evidence to convict people. That is collaboration.' Lucas said he thinks that Trump may be motivated by politics, rather than safety. 'What they're doing now, I think it is a political stunt, and that's what you'll continue to see as he looks to other cities,' he said. '[Trump]'s not really interested in trying to save lives for us, but just exploiting the political issue.' The Hill has reached out to the White House about Lucas's remarks. The administration has pushed back on suggestions from other Democratic mayors who have criticized Trump's moves.