‘Let’s cut out middle man’: NYC mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani challenges Trump to public debate

Calling his opponent and former governor Andrew Cuomo a “puppet”, Mamdani said: “Why should I debate Donald Trump’s puppet when I could debate Donald Trump himself?”

Later, over a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Democrat wrote: “Enough with the backroom scheming. If @realDonaldTrump is serious about intervening in the mayoral race, he should come to New York City and debate me directly.”

Enough with the backroom scheming.

If @realDonaldTrump is serious about intervening in the mayoral race, he should come to New York City and debate me directly. https://t.co/bdKrs9PWOJ

— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) September 4, 2025

Mamdani’s dare comes after Cuomo called on the Queens socialist to debate him five times — once in each borough — while addressing a press conference on Thursday.

The 33-year-old democratic socialist has emerged as the presumptive favourite in the mayoral primary elections since he beat former governor Andrew Cuomo, an independent candidate, in June this year.

Quoting sources, the NY Post reported that White House officials were mulling possible job offers in the Trump administration for Mayor Eric Adams, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, in an effort to convince them to drop out of the mayoral race.

Trump, moreover, on Thursday said that Mamdani will likely become the next mayor of the New York City unless two of the three major candidates running against him drop out of the race, as reported by news agency AP. Even though the US president denied urging or encouraging any of the candidates in the race to drop out, he went on to say he would like to see that happen.

That would, according to the report, arguably give Cuomo a leg up to beat the far-left lawmaker during the November contest.

Earlier on Thursday, Cuomo had ripped Mamdani for refusing to take part in mic-fights being floated by PIX11 and CBS News, the NY Post report stated.

“New Yorkers deserve answers. I challenge him to five debates, one in every borough where we speak about the issues in that borough,” he declared.

Over a video, Mamdani told voters that he would not be participating in debates outside of the two scheduled by the city’s Campaign Finance Board for October, the report noted.