Eleanor Randolph Journalist and former Times editorial board member

It looks like Mamdani is going to win, but you never know absolutely what’s going to happen in an election. We’re riding on hope here because we don’t really know who this guy is, ultimately, but he’s doing a lot of the right things, like talking and listening to people in the business community as part of understanding how complicated this city is.

Caitlin Kawaguchi Nonprofit strategist and community representative in Brooklyn

I hear that we don’t know definitively how he will be as mayor, whereas with Cuomo, we have his background. But I think with Cuomo, his background is not good, right? We’ve seen that he rewards his donors. We’ve seen that he retaliates against folks who oppose him.

When he’s had a platform, he’s used it to his own personal gain.

Amit Singh Bagga Democratic strategist and former city official

On his core issues, Mamdani has stayed remarkably consistent. He’s had a laser focus on affordability and quality of life as it is experienced. And that is the No. 1 issue facing New Yorkers. Like Eleanor, I’ve been pleased and encouraged by what I have experienced as genuine and sincere outreach to corners of New York City society and economy that perhaps were very skeptical of him. And he has demonstrated a remarkable degree of openness that many politicians do not seem to have, a willingness to learn.

Neil Blumenthal Co-founder and co-chief executive of Warby Parker

This is effectively a two-way choice. On the one hand, you have somebody who has a wealth of experience, has been an attorney general, a governor, a cabinet secretary. And on the other hand, you have somebody who hardly has work experience. So that’s what it comes down to for me.

Joseph Borelli Republican former city councilman from Staten Island

Andrew Cuomo will not be as conservative as I’d like him to be. I think he won’t be as progressive as others would like him to be. I think he’ll be more moderate by definition. And that, to me, is a better outcome than having someone who will almost always be looking to accelerate the progressive socialist agenda. Mamdani is running not just to fix the potholes. He’s running to implement a vision of government that is not shared by myself and not shared by a lot of New Yorkers.

Mitchell L. Moss Urban policy professor at N.Y.U.

I think Mamdani’s a compelling candidate with vast upside but much more downside than people recognize. He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. He is prepared to give up control of the school system, and that is a path to more education failure, not greater success.

Policywise, he has a thin agenda. The rent stabilization that he proposes would not help people in NYCHA [the city’s public housing agency]. It doesn’t help people who rent in two-family homes. But it’s very attractive symbolically. Affordability is a great concept, but as for free buses, the buses aren’t actually under his control, but under an M.T.A. board.

Antonio Weiss Financial executive and former U.S. Treasury official

There’s a lot to unpack in what Mitchell said. Since the ’70s we’ve had the Financial Emergency Act, which calls for a balanced budget. And so the budget should also be thought of as a set of choices that the mayor and the City Council make about the allocation of resources. Mamdani has been clear about the priorities he would set in a way that this current administration has not done. And look, we’re going to be in a pitched battle next year with a federal administration that’s withholding funds.

New York State passed its budget as if none of this were happening. New York City passed its budget as if none of this were happening. And what Mamdani has shown us is he’s reaching out across the board. And yes, that’s a coalition to get elected. It’s also a coalition to govern.

Frederick A. Davie Senior executive vice president at Union Theological Seminary

I want to explore a little bit of an intangible. Mamdani has tapped into the way that a whole swath of this city that’s a lot younger than me understands and experiences life. And he’s able to not only grasp that, but give voice to a lot of what they’re feeling and offer solutions and directions that they can connect to. And I think there’s a genius in that we shouldn’t miss or dismiss. And I think that same genius can be brought to bear on governing the city. It’s probably time for a generational shift in leadership in this city.

Iwen Chu Former New York State senator representing South Brooklyn

Brad [Lander] was my choice in the primary, and then Brad now is not on the ticket. What option do I have?

For me, there are four factors. We look at the past for your record. We look at the future for your vision. We look at your team, your leadership. We look at your personal ethics. That’s how I ranked it.And I think Mamdani’s approach, how he handled police, public safety, education, Israel issues, business is all the same: He listens. So I think how he builds his team is crucial, to build the trust for the voters.

Frederick A. Davie Senior executive vice president at Union Theological Seminary

So Mamdani’s under no illusion that Trump’s going to make it easy for him. But he also knows it’s not a battle he has to fight alone, that he has the governor, state legislative leaders and members of Congress.

Christina M. Greer Political scientist and a host of the “FAQ NYC” podcast

I don’t trust Cuomo to protect New York City. I think that he will acquiesce to Donald Trump in ways that he says he won’t, but he’s a lot of bluster.

I do agree with Mamdani in the sense that it will take Hakeem [Jeffries] and Chuck [Schumer] having a backbone and supporting him in a lot of ways. I do think we will be penalized — as a city economically, if not worse, with the National Guard and ICE agents.Is Mamdani an ideal candidate, 33 years old, who’s never been citywide elected? [Mr. Mamdani turned 34 after this discussion took place.] No. Are these the cards that we have and we’re going to play them? Yes. And I think I’m optimistic with him, sort of, getting people power to resist the Trump administration and the draconian policies that will come out of Washington, D.C.

Joseph Borelli Republican former city councilman from Staten Island

I think this issue has been framed to be one-sided. Why do we assume that Trump is going to come after New York when, in reality, Mamdani is going to benefit politically from going after the Trump administration, and being the leading far-left figure in American politics?

Jared Trujillo Law professor and former defense lawyer

I think that Andrew Cuomo actually had a really good opportunity to push back on the Trump administration when they threatened to arrest someone — Mamdani — who won a Democratic contest for mayor. He didn’t. And I think that’s really indicative of who Andrew Cuomo is. To the extent he was an effective leader, it’s because he was a bully. He cannot deal with Trump, someone with more power than him.

Whitney Toussaint Co-president of Community Education Council 30 in Queens

On Trump, Cuomo has already sold out. He’s not really spoken out against the harmful things the Trump administration has already done. He’s courting many of the same kinds of voters.

Howard Wolfson Deputy mayor in the Bloomberg administration

I’ve been profoundly disappointed by the lack of conversation about education during the campaign from all the candidates. The Times recently published a story, 140,000 homeless students in New York. And I don’t hear the candidates really talking an awful lot about how to address what is, in my view, a really systemic crisis. I think the mayor should be running the school system. There should be a point of accountability. If parents feel like they have been shut out and Mamdani feels that way, too, he can bring them in.

Neil Blumenthal Co-founder and co-chief executive of Warby Parker

I think around a million students having a school system overseen by someone who has managed an office of five or so people and only has a few years of experience in the State Assembly —

I think that is a major abdication of responsibility by us as voters to those kids, to put somebody in charge of them that has so little experience. And to layer on, he’s been against mayoral control of the schools, which is the single most important governance issue for our schools, and to ensure that we’re educating our kids.

Whitney Toussaint Co-president of Community Education Council 30 in Queens

On school control, the law is what the law is. He will still have to appoint a chancellor and members to the panel of education policy. The mayor still has to do that. But we do need to engage parents who are active.

Mamdani is listening to us on education. Cuomo is talking at us instead of including parents like me in these discussions. We are talked at. You know what Eric Adams called us? Professional parents. Well, damn it, I am.

Caitlin Kawaguchi Nonprofit strategist and community representative in Brooklyn

On housing, it’s a central issue to New Yorkers of all ages, especially renters. I think there’s a real need for not only a focus on building, which I think is crucial, but also deep affordability.

One thing that’s really resonating with folks, including myself, about Mamdani’s platform is that it feels like he’s willing to try new things and to push the envelope. Freezing the rent is something specific to rent-stabilized tenants, which is not all of New York. But I think it is emblematic of a commitment to thinking about solutions in a way that can be talked about and communicated.

Jared Trujillo Law professor and former defense lawyer

Housing is not my first issue. But if it were, I think I’d be really excited about Zohran. It has been a big part of his affordability messaging. And just looking at how he’s prioritizing it, I can tell that he cares a lot about it.

Howard Wolfson Deputy mayor in the Bloomberg administration

Cuomo had the edge on this last time we met because he did not call for defunding the police. And he didn’t call them racists, which Mamdani did and has now walked back from. This was like five years ago, during the beginning of his political career.

Jared Trujillo Law professor and former defense lawyer

And after George Floyd died, we saw 10 minutes of people actually caring about racialized policing. Now we’re seeing real retrenchment from that. I think that is why Cuomo was given so much unearned grace. Something that we haven’t really talked about here yet is that Mamdani is the first Muslim candidate who has a very real chance of becoming mayor. For most of his life, he is much more likely to have been profiled because of who he is than to be mayor, to be any elected official at all whatsoever.

And so I don’t really like the fact that he walked those statements back. At the end of the day, is it reflective of policy? I actually am a little bit worried that it is.

A. Mychal Johnson South Bronx social justice advocate

Mamdani has talked about how policing alone cannot solve social issues happening on the street — trauma, mental health, housing. If the police are the first in, people in crisis end up in Rikers, not in care. That’s not the answer.

I’ve personally been stopped and frisked. Who else in this room has been? OK, only people of color. Mamdani’s approach here is, how do we do things a little bit differently? Andrew Cuomo wants to increase the police force. Is that the answer? I say no. We need police. Who doesn’t say we need police? But we also need the community care and infrastructure that actually make all of us safe. Cuomo hasn’t shown a willingness to do anything differently.

Joseph Borelli Republican former city councilman from Staten Island

I think Sliwa would be the best to deal with policing, but he’s not going to win. I think he has a more rational view: that there are bad people who need to be prosecuted, punished and put in jail.

Iwen Chu Former New York State senator representing South Brooklyn

Public safety and policing are totally different subjects. School safety, mental health, homeless issues: They’re all public safety.

But policing and the quantity of the police are not equal to public safety. Mamdani wants to hold the law enforcement accountable — that’s policing. How he can build a coalition and work with the law enforcement and make sure our law enforcement is functional — that’s a separate subject.

Eleanor Randolph Journalist and former Times editorial board member

There’s another issue besides public safety. And that is how the police and the mayor are going to deal with the possibility of the president and his team sending up people to walk around the streets with their guns out and all that sort of stuff.

You can hear the drumbeat and you know he’s coming after New York. So how does that work with a police department and the way the next mayor operates?

Neil Blumenthal Co-founder and co-chief executive of Warby Parker

I think it’s important to look at the data. The data shows that more police officers in the subway, on the streets and on corners in high-crime neighborhoods can reduce crime.

Between Cuomo and Mamdani, one is proposing expanding the police force and one candidate is not. When Mamdani claims that he wants to defund the police and then now claims to be an advocate and a champion for N.Y.P.D., are we supposed to believe that he’s going to be able to lead and inspire the nation’s largest municipal police force to do their best work?

Frederick A. Davie Senior executive vice president at Union Theological Seminary

Eric Adams was probably the most pro-police mayor that we’ve had in a while. And we’re still hemorrhaging police officers.

So I’m not sure that that in and of itself gets us to where we want to be. Could Andrew Cuomo have a better relationship with the N.Y.P.D. than Zohran Mamdani would or could? The answer to that is probably in the beginning, yes. But again, I think what we’re seeing with Mamdani is that what he understands is that he needs to aggregate around him people who have expertise in areas and places where he does not.

Howard Wolfson Deputy mayor in the Bloomberg administration

Mamdani has energized an enormous number of people who were previously outside of the political process and did not see themselves as central to it. And to miss that would be an enormous mistake and, as a Democrat, completely foolish.

The flip side of that is that the Democratic establishment — of which, for better or worse, mostly, I’m something of a card-carrying member — utterly failed during this campaign. It attempted to elevate candidates that were deeply flawed, were unable to solidify behind people who would have been able to present an alternative to Mamdani.

Caitlin Kawaguchi Nonprofit strategist and community representative in Brooklyn

It’s not as if the establishment could have produced a Mamdani. The Democratic Party has not been engaging with folks who could be the next great electeds. And it’s not going to be just a person who presents in the same way as Mamdani. We’ve seen campaigns across the country who are looking to emulate his campaign by doing walking-style TikTok videos. But that’s not what was great about Mamdani’s campaign. It was great because it was connecting with everyday New Yorkers around issues that matter to them, that presented creative solutions.

Christina M. Greer Political scientist and a host of the “FAQ NYC” podcast

I have some strong critiques of the Democratic Socialists of America still, but they have been using their network as a way to bring people into the political fold in a way that the parties haven’t. I think a lot of voters feel really disrespected by the establishment. Because the voters spoke on June 24 and said: We don’t want you, Andrew Cuomo. Go home.

Jared Trujillo Law professor and former defense lawyer

I have to think that a lot of the refusal to support Mamdani is Islamophobia. And I think that there’s going to be a real reckoning with that at some point.

Iwen Chu Former New York State senator representing South Brooklyn

I lost my election last year because Democrats don’t know how to address cost of living. When the primary result came out, it was like: What am I going to do as a voter, as an immigrant? I looked at Mamdani’s policies again. Sure, I do want those city-run grocery stores down my block. Do I want free buses? Yes, I do. New York State actually can afford statewide universal free lunch, school lunch. It’s just about priorities. We don’t have a shot if we don’t try. We need to try.

Antonio Weiss Financial executive and former U.S. Treasury official

Democrats have to embrace winning and be a bit more fearless about that. As important or more important than this election is that, once elected, Mamdani succeeds, and the Democrats abandon their approach of disqualifying and discouraging winning candidates and instead start investing in their success.

A. Mychal Johnson South Bronx social justice advocate

Mamdani is running like he wants to serve. It’s not like he’s running for a job or for power. And we too often have candidates who are about power and control, not community.

Amit Singh Bagga Democratic strategist and former city official

Some of his promises are achievable independently at the city level; others require real partnership with Albany. Overall, these fresh ideas are proxies for goals that he wants to achieve because they are the core issues that people face every day.

Joseph Borelli Republican former city councilman from Staten Island

I think the city was ripe for new ideas. The problem is, some of those ideas aren’t really practical or financially feasible. We can talk about free buses, but what happens when you take, you know, $800 million out of the fare box of the M.T.A.? How do we make up for that shortfall?

How does this affect the need to raise tolls and congestion pricing down the road? These are all scary things.

Whitney Toussaint Co-president of Community Education Council 30 in Queens

The universal child care that he’s proposing. He wants families of newborns to get baby baskets, something they do around the world. You don’t realize how expensive these things are until you have to go shopping for a baby.

And I’m going to bring it back to what Mychal said, because I love what you said. He is running like someone who wants to serve.

Mitchell L. Moss Urban policy professor at N.Y.U.

We basically have hope versus despair. Cuomo is despair. Each one has different strengths. But my students are working for Mamdani. And I mean of every race and income.

Howard Wolfson Deputy mayor in the Bloomberg administration

On Israel, I believe his views are deeply felt.

I happen to be in very strong disagreement with him in this area. There was a real effort post-primary to encourage him to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.” To his credit, he met with and spoke with many people who shared their very strong concerns about that. And I believe that he was sincerely listening. In the end, where he landed was he was going to discourage people from using it.That was a really long time to brew some really weak tea. I think it was indicative of a very strongly held set of beliefs on his part that are very much at odds with my set of beliefs and the set of beliefs of many of my friends and neighbors.

Mitchell L. Moss Urban policy professor at N.Y.U.

I think that we have to appreciate that he’s not changing. This is a belief. And when you buy the mayor, you buy the belief.

Mitchell L. Moss Urban policy professor at N.Y.U.

We should recognize the lunacy of voting for Sliwa. I’m not saying he’s not going to get votes, but it’s a wasted vote.

Jared Trujillo Law professor and former defense lawyer

I would vote for Sliwa before Cuomo.

Amit Singh Bagga Democratic strategist and former city official

So would I.

Jared Trujillo Law professor and former defense lawyer

That’s saying a lot. To be clear, Sliwa is not the lovable eccentric some make him out to be — he’s not a serious candidate. His platform is riddled with proposals that a mayor can’t actually enact, like rolling back the 2019 state tenant protections that only Albany can touch. Other parts of his agenda veer into the downright Orwellian. He’s not even a Bloomberg Republican. On policy, he’s Trump in a red beret.

That said, I do think he’s genuinely committed to ending the inhumane practice of horse-drawn carriages. He is the most qualified candidate for equine liberation, and that is it.

Christina M. Greer Political scientist and a host of the “FAQ NYC” podcast

I think Sliwa will do better than expected. There’s going to be some people who are like: This 33-year-old kid and some of these ideas are just maybe a bridge too far for me. [Mr. Mamdani turned 34 after this discussion took place.] And Cuomo is an absolute no. And there are some people who will never be able to vote for a nonwhite person.

Mitchell L. Moss Urban policy professor at N.Y.U.

I admire the way in which Mamdani has framed his belief that we can make the city better. His work in political campaigns has been terrific. The evidence that he’s a great manager is the great campaign he ran. But running for office and governing are opposite skills. One is performance art. The other is a day-to-day job of distributing not just joy and benefits, but pain, too.

Antonio Weiss Financial executive and former U.S. Treasury official

Mamdani’s appointments, if he wins, will matter a lot. Who’s going to be the first deputy mayor? Is there going to be a deputy mayor charged with figuring out how to integrate the Department of Community Safety with the N.Y.P.D.? Every indication is that he’s going about not just his campaign but his transition with the intent of providing convincing answers to all of that.

Neil Blumenthal Co-founder and co-chief executive of Warby Parker

There’s just a big difference between running a campaign and running one of the largest cities in the world. Experience matters for the second most important job in America.

A. Mychal Johnson South Bronx social justice advocate

I’m just hearing all these comments about Mamdani’s relative lack of experience, but the ones who had experience didn’t deliver for the people who mobilized behind Mamdani. These are people and communities who have been left behind for decades.

Christina M. Greer Political scientist and a host of the “FAQ NYC” podcast

Well, we’ve got someone who has the most important job in America who has zero experience. Take a chance.