If Zohran Mamdani made the first mayoral debate look easy – even fun, Andrew Cuomo left the second one swaggering. Maybe it was the ticking clock, maybe it was Red Bull . But Cuomo was more assured, landing sharper critiques of Mamdani’s lack of executive experience. “My friend doesn't really understand government,” Cuomo said. “I allocated more funding for housing than any governor in the history of the state, all right. I did things! There is no reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for 8.5 million lives. You don't know how to run a government, you don't know how to handle an emergency.”

Cuomo needed a successful performance. With the start of early voting mere days away, it was the independent candidate’s last wide-reaching opportunity to close the gap between him and

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