
By Gus Saltonstall
The majority of the Democratic candidates vying to be New York City’s next mayor traveled to an Upper West Side synagogue on a windy Wednesday night for a forum hosted by three neighborhood political clubs.
The candidates were joined at B’nai Jeshurun on West 88th Street by hundreds of attendees who packed both levels of the more than century-old building.
“A gorgeous building. I was astonished when I walked in,” a forum goer who lives in the Village told West Side Rag. “Never seen anything like it.”
More than 1,200 people RSVP’d to attend in person or watch the candidate forum online. It was hosted by West Side Democrats, Broadway Democrats, and Columbia University College Democrats.

The candidates, who all have received a minimum of 200 campaign contributions, included Scott Stringer, Whitney Tilson, Brad Lander, Jessica Ramos, Zellnor Myrie, Michael Blake, and Zohran Mamdani.
The candidate not in attendance? Mayor Eric Adams, who along with President Donald Trump and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, received consistent criticism and ire throughout the night.
Adams has not participated in any candidate forums this election cycle.
Councilmember Gale Brewer and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal were also in the building to watch the forum.
There was a buzz in the synagogue as the forum kicked off at 7 p.m. sharp.
“Can you please sit down so we can see,” a woman in the Upper West Side crowd exclaimed to a photographer who had stood up as the event started.
“I’m press,” they responded.
“We don’t care,” the woman replied.
The photographer sat down.
As the candidates began their introductory statements, the crowd was also quick to let the mayoral hopefuls know to stand up and project when speaking.
The forum, which lasted two hours and was moderated by Columbia University Professor Ester Fuchs and Politico journalist Jeff Coltin, covered a wide range of topics, including affordable housing, small business support, public safety, ICE raids, senior care, food insecurity, mask bans, Airbnb regulations, and more.

Some of the loudest applauses of the night came after the candidates were asked to name two similarities they each had with one another.
“We all believe neither Eric Adams nor Andrew Cuomo should be the next mayor of New York City,” Comptroller Lander said to a loud reaction.
“None of us canceled MLK events to go to Trump’s Inauguration and none of us are trying to get a pardon,” former Assemblymember Blake said to equally loud applause.
Another supportive reaction from the crowd came after one of the moderators urged Stringer, who formerly represented the Upper West Side in the state Assembly and also served as Manhattan Borough President and Comptroller, to stick to a simple “yes” or “no” during a lightning round of questions.
“This is the west side, we don’t do things with just a yes or no,” Stringer responded with support from the audience.
Queens Assemblymember Mamdani also provided a neighborhood connection, mentioning that he grew up on the Upper West Side after emigrating to the United States, and attended the Bank Street School.
“I’m not going to stand here and promise to make prices lower at Harry’s Shoes, but what I can do is fight every single day to make this city more affordable,” he said during his closing remarks.
The candidate forum included dozens of questions and remarks, which you can watch in their entirety — HERE.
While the Rag will not cover all of these interactions, we did want to provide readers with each of the candidates’ closing remarks on why they thought New Yorkers should vote for them, and a link to their campaign websites.
The remarks are presented in the order that the candidates spoke.
You should vote for me to be the next mayor of this city because I am going to do everything in my power to make this city more affordable. You’ve heard me speak a lot about rent freezes, the necessity of universal childcare, but I want to talk about free buses for a moment and what it will do to transform this city.
More than a million New Yorkers ride the slowest buses in the nation. I launched a campaign called “Fix the MTA.” I don’t need to tell you why we call it that…we won a free bus pilot making one bus route free in each borough of New York City. And we saw by doing so, we increased ridership by more than 30 percent, decreased assaults on bus operators by 38 percent, and brought in a majority of new riders, taking people out of private automobiles, putting them on public transit.
When you stand up and say that you have a vision for working class New Yorkers and an affordable New York City, people say that it is not realistic. It is very realistic. If we simply match the corporate tax rate of New Jersey, we would be able to pay for this entire agenda. I’m not going to stand here and promise to make prices lower at Harry’s Shoes, but what I can do is fight every single day to make this city more affordable.
You need a mayor who is going to fight for New York City, while also fighting what’s going on in D.C. You need someone who is prepared to do that immediately, and we’ll give very concrete ways on how we can help you right now. We need to have universal child care across New York City, we need nonprofits to be reimbursed faster because you’re doing the work and you’re being asked to wait way too long. We need to have civics for all our kids so they can reimagine their lives, we used to have school house rock back in the day, let’s actually have civics in our communities right now.
We need to have guaranteed income so we can actually help people pay their bills and realize their dreams. We need to have middle class and affordable housing that is dedicated, because you have done the work, and we need to fight for you. If you recognize that we pay too much and get back too little, we deserve better. My name is Michael Blake and i am asking for your vote to be the next mayor of New York City.
I would not be standing here today if not for my middle school teacher, who scrapped the curriculum in the 8th grade and said, ‘I’m going to prepare you to take the specialized high school exam.’ We got into Brooklyn Tech, it changed the course of my life, I took the train in one direction and had my entire successes before me, and if I went to a different school in the other direction, my life would have been very different.
We deserve a city where no matter what train you take, no matter what ZIP code you live, no matter what language you speak, no matter how old you are, that you will have opportunity to be great. We need a mayor that cares about New Yorkers and not himself, and we cannot look to the past if we want a better future. I hope to earn your support.
I’m ready to fight like a mother for my city. I love New York City, I want to be able to grow old in New York City, and I want my children to have a fighting chance to be lifelong New Yorkers, just like me. We need real change in leadership. Now, I look a little different than my colleagues up here, I would be the first woman mayor, and I’m also the only candidate who has already worked at City Hall.
I’ve been proud to carry 20 years of public service. I started out as a council staffer during the Bloomberg administration, and I was a member of the de Blasio administration who helped deliver on universal pre-K. I’ve been seeing Adams at City Hall as a state senator, and these past six years, I’ve wasted no time fighting for affordability in our city. I have a strong record of raising the minimum wage as it ties to inflation, increasing childcare eligibility, and I want to bring that record and that experience to create a city hall that actually works for New Yorkers.
I wake up every day thinking about how to solve the problems New Yorkers are facing with the resources we have. New York City’s pension funds under my watch have now reached their highest levels ever; we have the most ambitious decarbonization plan of any pension fund in the country; we have the backs of Starbucks and Amazon workers; we made the biggest investments ever in affordable housing, $2 billion dollars in social bonds; our audits have saved hundreds of millions of dollars, and held Eric Adams accountable time and time again.
If you look at only one plan of mine, my plan “Safer for All” would end street homeless for people with serious mental illness in New York City. It began with audits of homeless sweeps failing, went on to look at audits of the intensive mobile treatment program failing, and then found the solution: housing first, which in an integrated model can actually connect people to housing and care, and end street homelessness for people with serious mental health illness in New York City. If you want the best problem solver in the race, I would love your vote.
Raise your hand if you think the city government is providing you with super-high government services for the super-high taxes we’re all paying. Me neither. For what we are paying, we should be living in paradise, and we’re not. The city government is providing mediocrity at best, and outright failure in too many places. If you want someone to manage the city better, who can be a true change agent, I’m the only person in the race who is not a career politician and will shake up the status quo.
When I’m elected, I won’t owe anything to anyone, and will be fighting solely for the people of New York City. I pledge to end street homelessness, cut crime in half, double the rate of construction of affordable housing, and make this city the best city in the world for small businesses. So, please join me in the fight for prosperity, affordability, and safety for every New Yorker, because we deserve better.
Well, I am a career government elected official. And I’m proud of it. Because right now the city is in tremendous crisis. If you want somebody who is going to have a real track record in fixing things, somebody who is a proven reformer, you get the best doctor that you can find, you don’t hire a new plastic surgeon, you hire somebody with experience. In every office I’ve had, I’ve made a big difference in change. In the Assembly, I took on the establishment, as Manhattan Borough President I built community-based planning with many people in this room that changed the direction of this wonderful community and Manhattan, and as Comptroller I did big national things.
Not to diminish Brad in any way, he is my successor, but I divested four billion from fossil fuels when everybody said it couldn’t be done. I was the one who divested from guns when they said that couldn’t be done. I was the one who said let’s end investment in private prisons and make sure we send a loud message. I did that work. Right now, the best thing Andrew Cuomo can say is that a $5 million book deal sold no copies. But what he did was turn around and hurt 1,000s of our grandparents. I’m going to change the discourse and the conversation by doing the real work, because I’m the only one who has the government track record to do it.
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I thought several mayoral candidates’ support for restricting first amendment rights with a “mask ban at protests” was extremely disturbing, given what’s happening this week federally, and given the ongoing spread of viruses and persistent wildfires that require masking for public health.
Scott Stringer indicated he was “perhaps” in support of a mask ban at protests, and Whitney Tilson said “you can’t protest anonymously”.
There were a few candidates who did strongly support first amendment rights. Memorably, Brad Lander said “you can protest anonymously, you just can’t commit crimes anonymously!” to great applause, and Zohran Mamdami cited a recent op-ed that argued mask bans have been historically used to suppress rent and LGBT protests throughout NY history.
Scary stuff! I’m glad the forum gave us a chance to see which candidates are more likely to defend our constitutional rights!
It’s one thing to wear a medical mask over your mouth and nose. It is another thing to wear a cloth that completely covers your head, face and eyes. You know what I am talking about.
You can surely protest anonymously by commenting right here on West Side Rag.
I was watching local news this afternoon and the reporter asked Mayor Adamas what he thought of this situation and his reply was “pardon me”.
Thank you and have a wonderful day!
A cavalcade of ultra progressive disasters. No thanks.
Even Whitney Tilson?
there was a huge and enthusiastic crowd and many elected officials, including Gale Brewer, who got very warm applause when her name was mentioned. I was impressed with the knowledge and speaking abilities of all the candidates.
Progressivism is not dead on the UWS! in fact, as this forum demonstrated, it is very much alive. And people are following the Mayoral race. Don’t let the right wing tenor of many WSR comments bring you down.
You are correct, progressivism is indeed not dead on the UWS, our neighborhood still looks like shit.
Yes, it’s alive. And, sadly, that is why we have crime, high taxes, homeless, illegal migrants, bikes running into people, slashers in the subways, students threatened because of their religion, our no cash bail system and the stench of marijuana every time we walk down the street.
When one party sends out voter registration forms to eligible voters with their message that they wanted to “simplify” it for us by already “checking off” the Democrat Party, that alone should be illegal.
If intelligent thinking NYC voters don’t get off their butts and really understand the ideas these candidates are running on, and look into other alternatives, we’ll be damned to repeat the same things we constantly complain about on this open forum that the WSR is good enough to allow.
You make some good points. So why not call the Democratic Party by its name? There is no “Democrat Party.”
You are correct when you say the registration form has the party listed as Democratic Party. However when someone tells me how they vote, they normally say, “I am a Democrat.” I know no one who tells me they are a Democratic. Hence, the reason I used that term. Not meant to be an insult.
Either way, I find it very presumptuous to “check” a choice on behalf of a prospective voter.
And that’s why we’ll always have high crime, deadly subways and Jews getting threatened on college campuses in NYC for the foreseeable future. Cool!
But NYC doesn’t have high crime – it’s one, if not the, safest cities in the US. Could be better, but let’s put it in proper perspective.
Than k you for actually providing facts. According to both the FBI stats (the one used for every major city in the U.S..) and the NYC CompStates, the murder rate is up (slightly), but every other form of crime is down. The only reason people keep regurgitating right-wing talking points about NYC being “crime-ridden” or unsafe” is because they only see the sensationalized cases, and not the much broader actual stats. NYC IS one of the safest cities in the world.
Ok checking comp stat 2.0
City wide Rape YTD is up 43%.
That is not a “right-wing” talking point.
It is a reality talking point.
Ian, the issue is that quality of life crimes affect almost every New Yorker. Murders affect very few. That’s why the overall perception is negative. It’s misleading and unhelpful to use murders as a proxy for crime.
So, all the items that we see locked up in stores now is normal ?
Bruce is a proud participant in many anti-Israel protests. So yes, he thinks progressivism is a great thing and he supports the anti-Israel bent of several of the mayoral candidates at this forum.
I supported Sara Lind over Gale in 2021 because Gale does not show the amount of respect to the UWS Muslim community that she should. We are not the ones causing problems on the UWS yet she is okay with us being treated with contempt.
How are non-Muslims treated in Muslim countries?
Turkey, a Muslim country is among the most visited countries in the world with many non Muslims visiting and being treated very well. If you see Muslims as beneath you, then maybe many of the worldly Upper West Siders should not come to Turkey or any other Muslim country they find exotic like Morocco. You all see us as exotic play things but treat us with contempt when we are part of the community here in America, here on liberal UWS. Us Turks do not want your tourism money if we are treated unfairly or unjustly here.
Turkey is led by an anti-American, pro-Hamas dictator. There are plenty of other countries to visit. I will never give Turkey one dime of my money.
I am a big fan of pide ekmek, however.
There is a reason why we got Erdogan and part of it is how the west sees Muslims as beneath them. The one good thing is Erdogan makes the west work to get what they want such as Sweden joining NATO. That shows that you need to respect Muslims, something that is lacking even on liberal UWS.
I attended the forum. It was an atrocious woke fest of far left candidates pandering to a far left crowd.
The only candidate who appeared somewhat rational was Whitney Tilson. When asked about the 40K vacant apartments in the city he correctly blamed rent stabilization. He explained that landlords can’t afford to properly maintain these apartments as they won’t be able to recoup their costs by charging a reasonable rent and this is why they remain empty.
He was roundly booed for this comment. Apparently, many progressives don’t want to hear an inconvenient truth.
A dose of common sense. Refreshing to hear.
I just don’t understand Mandani’s focus on a few free bus lines.
If he thinks buses should be free, then why should only a limited number of riders benefit?
Why not free buses for all buses during one week?
Or free buses once a month?
He is referring to a pilot program that is currently in place. I believe he wants to expand the idea more broadly?
Truly scary assortment
“Can you please sit down so we can see,” a woman in the Upper West Side crowd exclaimed to a photographer who had stood up as the event started.
“I’m press,” they responded.
How inconsiderate…. lady press woman! 👎 total BS “I ‘m press!”
Thank you for the incredibly helpful reporting!
Many of these candidates live in fantasy land. Their ideas are unrealistic. Rent freezes? Guaranteed income? They just want to throw money at problems. Where will that money come from?
Stringer was a good candidate 20 years ago. He is constantly repositioning himself and his shtick has gotten old.
Based on what I’ve seen, I am starting to really like Tilson. He is pragmatic, while still holding core Democrat values. He unfortunately will likely be considered too corporate for many voters. But that is exactly what we need. One can be corporate but also support a traditional Democrat agenda.
Thank you Leon for perfectly articulating what bugs me about Scott Stringer.
Great reporting. The type of real work you can only do by getting off your tuchus and hitting the pavement – not sitting at your computer like a lazy hack rewriting other people’s articles. Thank you, Gus.
We are in deep trouble.
All these candidates will lock up the law abiding while letting criminals run free,
( among other issues, but safety is paramount)
Please do not be fooled by any of their empty promises.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results.
PLEASE don’t vote for any candidate who is soft on crime: https://www.city-journal.org/article/jewish-anti-semitism-crime?utm_source=virtuous&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cjdaily&vcrmeid=4sNGlmV1bkalw3ii3ZNfA&vcrmiid=vggP4PrVeU2LpeB35rM6kw
This was an orchestrated meeting focusing mainly on housing and city public transportation. There was complete silence concerning the corporate take over and privatization of our tax payer maintained curb space by Lyft who owns citibikes; bike lanes paid for by tax payers when less than one percent of bikers use bikes for work. The registration & licensing of e-bikes-not a word.
After housing, transportation is our greatest need. We do not have adequate public transportation to enter and leave our city. Essential workers no longer can afford to live here. Democrats have run this city for years. They are now puppets for Transportation Alternatives a multimillion dollar nonprofit that that is donating to all candidates to privatize the last piece of public real estate we have-curb space.
As a life long Democrat, I consider these candidates useless.
Point of fact: Lyft pays to use that curb space…something most drivers do not. So it is actually generating more revenue for the city.
Your stat about the number of cyclists does not make sense. In the same 20-foot space where one person can store one car, Citi Bikes move nearly 30 people a day. Over 60,000 people bike commute to work. Drivers should want more people on bikes because it means fewer people in cars….which, as Congestion Pricing has demonstrated, makes traffic move faster for everyone.
As a non-car owner, I subsidize car owners by over $1500/year. Me not owning a car makes it easier for car owners to find free parking.
Gretchen:
In NYC, bicyclists, particularly Citibikers, are former subway or bus riders (not former drivers) and bicycling siphons from bus and subway usage.
Bicycling does not reduce cars.
Also notable – DOT focuses resources on bicycling to the extent that DOT is hampering bus riders such as in the case of “open streets” which force bus detours.
Incredible that DOT would sacrifice essential bus transit.
I’ll bet 99% of the people who bike regularly in NYC don’t own a car. This would negates your entire hypothesis that bike usage reduces car usage in NYC.
Democrat policies are destroying good people’s quality of life, while uplifting and emboldening criminals to be in charge. Take away perceived
prejudices and the right to an abortion months 5-9 of pregnancy. What do you people have? Why do those who have it good want to throw away society to the wolves? Have mercy! There’s no bigger threat to us all than evil people, and evil people is who benefit the most from democrat policies and ways of thinking.
The word Democrat is a noun
No one is uplifting and emboldening criminals. If anything we are emboldening racists who want to rid the United States of people like me despite me being born and raised here.
I am not for anyone who is not for more and stronger policing, more arrests, holding perpetrators. Also, we need to clean up all the homeless, migrant, and drug shelters. We have to stop protecting criminals.
Sam, your first sentence rules out any chance of your second sentence happening.
Thanks for really terrific coverage of the event. Gus, you captured not just the words, but the atmosphere. I was out of town and unable to attend, but your article makes me feel better about having missed this important forum.
Unpopular opinion: We had a run of flawed but solid mayors with Giuliani, Bloomberg and BdB. Adams could’ve been decent, too, if not for that whole corruption thing, which was glaringly obvious before he won a single vote.
Now we’ve got far-left candidates who are way out of step with the mood of the city, moderates who are slimy or simply out of their depth, and clownish right-wingers who spend way too much time on that ridiculous Citizen app.
Surely one of our 8.3 million residents has integrity, competence and moderate politics? Does anyone have Kathryn Garcia’s phone number?
Bill de Blasio was solid? In what way? He let criminals, homeless and spending run out of control
YES WHERE IS KATHRYN GARCIA??? I think she lost by <7,500 votes. She should be the rightful frontrunner but she isn't even running. She would strike the right balance of experienced, pragmatic, with center-left credentials.
I agree. I voted for her and I think the result would be different in today’s climate.
The only one with a prayer at beating Adams is the one who openly acknowledges that progressive policies have failed the neighborhood and the city. Only the most deluded Upper West Siders would disagree. People are secretly starting to lean right on certain policies. You know it and I know it.
Exactly. I bet all these candidates are decrying as “racist” ICE’s arresting of violent Tren de Aragua gang members that are in our city. Find me the candidate that agrees with deporting violent criminals, and he’s got my vote. This isn’t hard, people.
Someone mentioned Kathryn Garcia–I agree, has anyone heard from her?
She probably gave up in disgust.
Interesting that some people call what Scott Stringer says a “schtick.” There is no schtick. We have rarely had a more qualified, experienced and effective legislator, or constituent services advocate and provider than Mr. Stringer. He is absolutely correct that we NEED a “career politician” to govern this largely ungovernable city.
That has been more than proven by Adams’ scandal-ridden, ineffective feckless term, one which is likely to land him in jail. And before him there was the feckless, arrogant, de-blowhard, who nearly destroyed this City single-handedly. Bloomberg was okay (he did a couple of good things), but he also gave us Billionaire’s Row (casting shadows on Central Park, and allowing his billionaire friends (including many questionable foreign nationals) to “park” their money in those buildings as investments and tax write-offs), and also sued for that illegal third term – in which he not only did NOT “reduce homelessness by 1/3” (his campaign promise), but actually INCREASED it by 1/3.
When we don’t have a strong, broadly experienced, career politician in Gracie Mansion, this City always becomes worse. Mr. Stringer is our best hope for getting things under control, making progress in many critical areas, and bringing some sanity back to the City.
He has always had, and will always have, my vote for those reasons.
And he’ll probably have mine — again. (The “probably” only because I reserve final judgment until the last moment.)
This assumes we’ll still be around — free elections, functioning economy, no WW3, etc. — in June. Given the current rate of decay, that may be assuming too much. Developments such as (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-aides-lock-government-workers-out-computer-systems-us-agency-sources-say-2025-01-31/), to name but one from a multitude, do not inspire much hope.
Really? I thought Mike Bloomberg did a pretty good job, certainly better than DeBlasio or Hochul, Cuomo or Stringer. What has Stringer actually accomplished?
I bet all of the candidates support the “protesters” at Columbia. This week, members of the university’s “Apartheid Divest” group apparently thought the best way to protest casualties of the Hamas-Israel war was to wage their own battle on … the school’s plumbing. They “cemented” the sewage system in Columbia’s International Affairs Building, clogging toilets in public restrooms and forcing the university, in the vandals’ words, to “to shut down business-as-usual.”
But it was certainly business as usual for the anti-Israel agitators, who also sprayed buildings with the customary graffiti, appended complaints about race relations in the United States to their list of grievances, and made vile comments about the NYPD.
University administrators have pledged to take “swift action”.
All of the candidates except for Scott Stringer, Whitney Tilson, and Eric Adams
Right, those “protesters” think that Interim Pres. Armstrong will go over to Israel and Bibi will just decide to withdraw all the troops from Gaza? The protesters are committing crimes against their own fellow-students and staff at Columbia. Not one Palestinian child’s life is going to be saved by anything these spoiled virtue-signalers do, and they might actually do harm to people who live in Gaza or elsewhere in Palestine.
These people are exactly why Trump won.
I’m going to take a closer look at Tilson, as so many of the others are entrenched in our failing NYC political bureaucracy.
He’s the best of a bad lot.