Curtis Sliwa, the Republican contender for New York City mayor, entered Tuesday night's debate with little if anything to lose. His party has dwindling registered voters in the five boroughs. He has struggled to attract serious media attention while his Democratic opponent Eric Adams has for weeks been performing a victory lap, making speeches and meeting with power brokers along with the rich and famous. To boot, a poll released Monday put Adams ahead of him in the general election by 40 points. All signs point to a landslide victory on Election Day next Tuesday.
But anything can still happen in a debate, a live televised contest under bright lights and involving rapid fire questioning.
So how did Sliwa, the Guardian Angel and former TV pundit with a flair for the dramatic, perform?
The debate was mostly a retread of the first debate, but Sliwa swung wildly and hard. He went over time, interjected, taunted and repeatedly accused Adams of being a "partner and teammate" of Mayor Bill de Blasio. But Adams didn't bite. Other than a moment in which he reprimanded Sliwa for behaving like a 4-year-old, he stared straight into the camera and maintained a tight smile. “Show some discipline so we can get to all of these issues," he told Sliwa. "You’re interrupting, you’re being disrespectful.”
Sliwa responded by invoking Pagliacci, the tragic Italian opera about clowns. For the one-hour final act, he sang his aria about a city overrun by crime and homelessness, being run by a mad mayor bent on punishing civil servants who refuse to get vaccinated.
Here were the most memorable moments of the debate; but first, the one compliment Adams tossed Sliwa:
A Split Over Mandatory Vaccinations
One of the clearest differences between the two men is their position on vaccine policy. Like the first debate, both candidates were asked about de Blasio's decision to mandate vaccinations for city workers, an issue that other cities and workplaces are grappling with. Sliwa said employees should be able to opt-out through testing. He expressed deep outrage, accusing the mayor of "firing" heroic civil servants and violating their civil rights. In fact, municipal workers who are not vaccinated beginning on Monday will instead be placed on leave without pay and can return once they get the shot.
Adams has said he supports the mayor's plan although he would have negotiated with the unions first. But on the question of requiring vaccinations for school children, the Democrat softened his stance to allow for religious exemptions. "I believe we should look at that," he said. "But we can't go backwards. COVID devastated our city, our economy." He has said several times that he would consider mandating vaccines for children aged 5 to 11, and to accommodate children whose families don't want them to get vaccinated, he would be willing to offer a remote learning option, something that de Blasio has steadfastly refused to provide.
Sliwa is opposed to any plan requiring schoolchildren to get vaccinated.
Adams, Sliwa On Immigrant Voting Rights
In one of the few new topics discussed, the candidates were asked whether they would support the right of New York City green card holders to vote in local elections. Introduced by Manhattan City Councilman and Adams supporter Ydanis Rodriguez, the legislation could affect between 600,000 to one million New Yorkers. But it has faced opposition from de Blasio, who has said that only the state, not the city, has the legal authority to administer such rights. Advocates of the bill have strongly disagreed with the mayor's interpretation.
Adams had previously publicly stated that he was in favor of the measure. "New York City must allow permanent residents and those authorized to work here to vote in local elections," he wrote:
But during the debate, Adams sided with the current mayor and punted the plan to the state. "My understanding is that the law department states that the state must carry that out. That's not going to be the power among the City Council or our city," he said, adding, "So hopefully the state lawmakers will look at that and make a determination of what's the best thing for the city."
Still, for Rodriguez, the bigger slight came from Sliwa. Calling the right to vote a privilege that should only be kept to U.S. citizens, he wrongly portrayed Rodriguez as a green card holder. "You have to ask yourself why after all this time would Ydanis Rodriguez not want to be a citizen of the United States?" he said.
In a tweet, Rodriguez said he became a citizen in 2000 and has "been voting ever since."
Trimming The City's $99 Billion Budget?
Asked how they would cut the city's budget, Sliwa took aim at one of his favorite targets: ThriveNYC, the $1 billion mental health initiative spearheaded by First Lady Chirlane McCray which has been criticized by some as failing to show measurable results. "That program gets disbanded," he said. "It will not continue when I'm mayor." He also said he would cut from the Department of Education, which received $38 billion in the current fiscal year.
Adams, who received backing from District Council 37, the biggest municipal sector union, called for 5% pay cuts across the board for every city agency—but without any layoffs. He then pivoted toward a proposal for universal childcare, which he said would help bring back workers and revive the city's economy.
Adams did not appear to respond when asked if he would pledge not to raise taxes. Sliwa, however, jumped at the question, saying not only would he not raise taxes, he would reduce them by promising not to enact congestion pricing.
The Taxi Medallion Crisis
In a rare show of unanimity, both Adams and Sliwa said the city needed to do more to help the city's taxi drivers, many of whom are struggling with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt after paying inflated prices for their medallions, or permits to operate their taxi. De Blasio has provided a $65 million fund and free-interest loans. But since last Wednesday, one group has been on a hunger strike in front of City Hall, calling on the mayor to do more given the scale of their debts and the city's complicity in the overpricing of medallions.
Without giving any financial detail, Adams said he would find a way to assist the struggling drivers. "We cannot ignore those everyday hard-working men and women that thought they were buying into an American Dream," he said, pledging to help small individual medallion owners.
Similarly, Sliwa said he would "sit down with the individual owners and operators with the medallions and see how we can make them whole."
Best Zinger & Personal Details
Last week, Adams issued his best line of the debate by pointing out that Sliwa had faked crimes, which was itself a crime. During Tuesday's debate, Sliwa turned the tables on Adams and raised once again the lingering issue of where the candidate rests his head every night. "Talk about faking! You fake where you live, Eric Adams. We still don't know where you live. You live in Jersey, most people say."
The candidates were also asked to tell New Yorkers something personal about themselves. Similar to when he revealed his softer side during a primary debate by saying he enjoys hot baths with rose petals, Adams, 61, said he enjoys a good cry after watching a movie and cited The Five Heartbeats, 1991 musical drama about a fictional R&B group. "I'm just a softy when it comes down to movies," he said.
Sliwa, 67, shared his unabashed love of EDM (electronic dance music). "It is my mood elevator. I listen to it as soon as I get back from the subways in the streets and campaigning," he said.