In New York City mayoral races, Black women are a demographic that rarely gets much specific focus, but that changed for at least a night during a forum in Harlem on September 29 at the Apollo Stages at the Victoria Theater. The three remaining major candidates in the race chatted with NY1’s Cheryl Wills about how their policy platforms pertain to Black women. Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, and independent candidate Andrew Cuomo took turns sitting down one by one in Harlem during the event, held by the Links, Incorporated, a long-respected organization whose membership consists of influential Black women.
All three maintained they would stand up to President Donald Trump and discussed affordability in 20-minute intervals. Mayor Eric Adams was scheduled to appear, but ended his re-election campaign a day before the event.
Sliwa went first, highlighting his relationship with the city while maintaining he would not bow out of the election. He reflected on engaging with Black New Yorkers through his role in founding the Guardian Angels and living in Brownsville, as well as through his first of many wives when he married Koren Drayton, a Black woman from the Virgin Islands he once likened to Black Panther Angela Davis in appearance. As the Republican candidate, Sliwa fielded questions about his party’s pressure on the city, pointing to how Trump “dissed” him last month over his well-documented love of cats.
“Let the people vote on November 4 who they choose for mayor,” said Sliwa. “No billionaires, no politicians are going to choose the mayor. You the people are going to choose the mayor. And if I happen to lose, I stay, I improve. I’m not going to flee to Florida like Cuomo.”
Wills pushed back against Sliwa’s assumption of characterizing Black women issues as solely working-class concerns to be solved by vocational training. She pointed to mass layoffs of Black women in the professional spaces. “I wouldn’t declare myself to be omnipotent and knowledgeable of all issues that affect Black women,” said Sliwa in his closing statement, “but I certainly have ears wide open because of my experiences and there will always be a place to have conversation with me.”
Mamdani commended Adams for filling his administration with Black women despite his criticism of the current mayor. The Democratic candidate and de facto front-runner enjoyed the biggest crowd support and promised to protect diversity in New York City, with plans to implement Black studies better in public schools and pushing for increasing competition for contract bids among minority- and women-owned enterprises (M/WBES).
“Whether they’re talking about African American history or they’re talking about us turning our back on New Yorkers who are our neighbors, we are going to make it very clear this is unacceptable,” said Mamdani, “and we are not actually going to take their violation of the law as something that is legal.”
The assemblymember spent his closing statements thanking Black women for their support and pointed to the achievements of prominent Black women allies like Attorney General Letitia James, Rep. Yvette Clark of Brooklyn, and Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies CEO Jennifer Jones Austin. “These are so many of the women who have shown what it actually looks like to have the courage to fight and to have the courage to win.”
Cuomo closed the show to polite applause and a thinner crowd. The ex-governor highlighted his long resumé and claimed his administration was the most diverse in New York State history, promising his mayoral administration would be the most diverse in New York City history. He also pointed to his experience with founding service provider Help USA and chairing the homeless commission under David Dinkins’s administration, which would help tackle the city’s homelessness, while his time as Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary would address issues with aging NYCHA developments.
“We should be the battleground that withstands this Trumpian wave that is sweeping across this country,” said Cuomo. “And let him come with his demands and we won’t go. And let us make that case and let us show this country the right way to govern and live together and accept one another.”
During his closing remarks, Cuomo memorialized the late Hazel Dukes, who served as president of the NAACP New York State Conference. “She used to call me her white son,” he recalled. “Only Hazel could say that. I don’t think anyone could say Hazel said anything politically incorrect.”