Adams, Sliwa Spar In Fiery 1st NYC Mayoral Debate
Democrat Eric Adams and Republican Curtis Sliwa attacked each other Wednesday while debating vaccine mandates, policing and education.
Matt Troutman,Patch Staff
NEW YORK CITY — Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa engaged in a fiery first New York City mayoral debate that saw the two candidates at loggerheads over vaccination mandates, policing, education and more.
The debate Wednesday saw Adams, the Democratic nominee, swat back — and calmly return — a spate of rat-a-tat attacks from Sliwa, the GOP's candidate.
He maintained a calm demeanor throughout the debate in contrast to Sliwa's interjections and digressions.
"I'm speaking to New Yorkers, not speaking to buffoonery," he said toward the debate's end.
The colorful Sliwa repeatedly tried to portray Adams as out-of-touch. At one point, he accused Adams of hobnobbing with "elites in the suites" and "TikTok girls" trying to live up to the Kardashians.
"Come on, Eric — come back to the streets and the subways… be with the real peeps," he said.
Adams is heavily favored to win the Nov. 2 election given that Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans in the city.
But Sliwa has made efforts to cast himself as a GOP candidate that Democrats can support. He also tried to tie Adams to the unpopular Mayor Bill de Blasio.
And, although Adams has de Blasio's backing, he also at times tried to distance himself from the man he hopes to replace. He said he supported de Blasio's newly announced COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all public workers, but critique the mayor for not sitting down with unions.
"I would have handled it differently," he said.
Sliwa said de Blasio's public worker vaccine mandate threatened to sap staff who have been on the front lines of public health and safety.
"I feel we don't have enough police officers as it is," he said, alluding to the nearly 30 percent of NYPD officers who are unvaccinated.
Sliwa — who founded the Guardian Angels — repeatedly expressed support for the NYPD and almost as often mentioned the five times he was shot after taking on John Gotti. He said the city needs 38,000 more police officers to fight crime.
"I'm only the candidate standing on this stage that has said I will hire more police officers," he said.
But Adams said Sliwa while "playing cop," he was working within the NYPD. He pointed out — as did the debate's moderators — that Sliwa had admitted to concocting incidents, including faking a kidnapping.
"He made up a crime, New Yorkers," he said. "That itself is a crime."
Sliwa said he made "mistakes" as an immature 25-year-old.
"I did apologize for it, I brought it to everybody's attention and I'll continue to apologize for it, but I've earned the trust of New Yorkers," he said.
Between the fireworks, the candidates did offer New York City voters some substance on issues.
Adams, who has criticized de Blasio's proposed gifted and talented phase out, said he'd expand opportunities for accelerated learning, as well as options for children who learn "differently." He didn't support a test for 4-year-olds that has been a controversial component of gifted and talented admissions.
"I don't believe a 4-year-old taking that exam should determine the rest of their school experience," he said. "That is unacceptable. We're going to let parents opt out and we're going to make sure that evaluate and expand throughout that educational experience."
Sliwa said gifted and talented should be expanded into all schools, rather being offered to only 2,500 new students each year.
Both candidates found themselves on different sides on congestion pricing for cars entering Manhattan below 60th Street. Adams supported the plan, with some caveats for certain types of travelers, while Sliwa assailed it as an attack on the outer boroughs.