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The eight Democrats competing to win the June 22 primary presented divergent views on how to lead the city in a sometimes acerbic debate.The two leading candidates in the New York City mayor’s race battled to protect their advantages in a hard-hitting Democratic debate on Thursday evening while their six rivals grasped for breakout moments, sought to redefine the stakes of the contest and put forth their own visions for the struggling city.The contenders clashed over government experience, ideology and public safety in confrontations that sometimes devolved into acrid personal attacks.They sketched out their plans on an array of city issues, taking divergent stances on policing, education and managing the city’s economic revival. Policing emerged as the most-talked about problem, with proposals ranging from reimagining plainclothes units to expanding the use of mental health professionals in traditional law enforcement situations.Andrew Yang, one of the front-runners, was the target of an onslaught of criticism, which he sought to defuse by reaching for areas of common ground rather than engaging with equal force. But the sharpest direct clashes were between the other leading candidate, Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, and Maya D. Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio.Ms. Wiley sought to cast Mr. Adams as a conservative former Republican who embraced stop-and-frisk policing tactics, while Mr. Adams dismissed her criticisms as ill-informed.“Every time you raise that question, it really just shows your failure of understanding law enforcement,” Mr. Adams said after she questioned how he could be trusted to “keep us safe from police misconduct.” Mr. Adams argued that he was a “leading voice against the abuse of stop-and-frisk.”Ms. Wiley shot back that “having chaired the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board, I certainly understand misconduct.”The debate arrived less than six weeks before the June 22 Democratic primary that is virtually certain to determine the next mayor. The contest is shaping up to be the most significant city election in decades, one that will determine how and whether New York will recover from the economic devastation of the pandemic as the city also confronts staggering challenges concerning inequality, gun violence and education.Yet the race remains volatile and muddled, complicated by sparse public polling, a distracted electorate and the first use in a New York mayoral election of ranked-choice voting, a system that will allow voters to list up to five candidates in order of preference.Spectrum News NY1 & the NYC Campaign Finance BoardSpectrum News NY1 & the NYC Campaign Finance BoardFor months, Mr. Yang, the former presidential candidate, has been portrayed by his rivals as a New York political newcomer who lacks the gravitas and knowledge of city intricacies to lead at a moment of crisis. In a reflection of his standing in the race, a number of his rivals sought to put him on the defensive over the extent of his political experience; his leadership record at Venture for America, his nonprofit; and implicitly, over his close ties to a consulting firm run by Bradley Tusk, his campaign strategist.When Mr. Yang was pressed on why he has never voted for mayor in the city that he hopes to lead, he described his deep connections to the city as a parent and noted that he is like many New Yorkers who have not always engaged at the local level.But when he noted his political activity elsewhere — in helping Democrats win two Georgia Senate runoffs, for instance — Mr. Adams ripped his efforts to claim credit as “disrespectful and appalling to Stacey Abrams and those Black women who organized on the ground.” Mr. Yang, who held elaborate mock debates in recent days, was bracing for a pummeling, his allies said. The candidate, who is running on a message of sunny optimism about the future of the city, struck a conciliatory note under pressure, emphasizing areas of agreement as his rivals pressed him.The debate, co-hosted by Spectrum News NY1 and the first of three official Democratic debates, represented the biggest test yet of Mr. Yang’s ability to sustain scrutiny from his front-runner’s perch.In a reflection of his perceived strength in the race, Mr. Adams, a former police officer who is well-funded and has shown strength in some limited polling, was targeted by the other candidates nearly as much as Mr. Yang. Mr. Adams has placed public safety at the center of his campaign pitch, declaring it the “prerequisite” to prosperity and progress. It is a message that he has pressed with new zeal in recent weeks, amid a spike in gun violence, including a shooting last Saturday in Times Square.Mr. Adams identifies as a progressive, has a record of pushing for changes from within the police force and says he was a victim of police brutality. He also briefly switched parties and became a Republican in the 1990s, and his opponents publicly signaled an eagerness to lace into his record ahead of the debate.“Eric, you were a self-described conservative Republican when Rudy Giuliani was mayor,” Ms. Wiley said. When Mr. Adams objected to the characterization, her campaign blasted out an excerpt from a 1999 New York Daily News article.The debate unfolded as issues of crime and gun violence have become central to the mayor’s race. Mr. Adams, Mr. Yang and Raymond J. McGuire, a former Wall Street executive, rushed to Times Square after the shooting to issue stern denunciations of rising violence. Several other contenders have highlighted plans around policing or gun violence this week, including Ms. Wiley; Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner; and the former federal housing secretary Shaun Donovan.In a sign of just how vital the question of public safety has become in the race, it was the first policy topic raised in the debate. Many of the contenders emphasized their interest in both reducing violent crime and combating police misconduct and bias.A year after the rise of the “defund the police” movement amid an outcry over racial injustice, Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams are both plainly betting that the electorate is in a more moderate mood when it comes to public safety, even as they also call for changes to ensure police accountability. Mr. Yang proactively declared that “defund the police is the wrong approach,” while Mr. Adams said that “there’s no one on this Zoom that has a greater depth of knowledge around public safety than I do.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1dg6kl4{margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:15px;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-1rh1sk1{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-1rh1sk1 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-1rh1sk1 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1rh1sk1 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:visited{color:#333;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccc;text-decoration-color:#ccc;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}A number of candidates of color discussed the issue in part through the lens of their personal experiences, whether it was Mr. McGuire describing himself as a “6-4, 200-pound Black man” who wants to have “the police protect me and not profile me,” or Ms. Wiley, who spoke of her racial identity as she called for reallocating $1 billion in New York Police Department funding “to create trauma-informed care in our schools.”“I have been Black all my life,” Ms. Wiley said. “And that means I know two things: I know what it is like to fear crime, and I know what it’s like to fear police violence, and we have to stop having this conversation, making it a false choice.”The first clear contrast of the debate emerged over the question of support for adding more police to the subways. Ms. Wiley, Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive, and Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, did not raise their hands when asked for a show of support, emphasizing that their focus would instead be on empowering more mental health professionals.The debate, like many earlier mayoral forums, was held virtually — the candidates appeared by video from their homes and other locations around the city — which made it harder to smoothly land clear standout moments and more challenging to jump in given the cacophony of several people talking over each other on camera.Throughout months of virtual forums, the candidates became familiar with each other — their policy platforms and their well-traveled lines — and developed a measure of collegiality over Zoom, with few moments of obvious tension. On Thursday, the format was similar but the stakes far higher, the audience larger and the contrasts notably sharper.In addition to the criticisms aimed at Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams, Mr. McGuire and Mr. Donovan clashed over Mr. McGuire’s tenure on Wall Street, and Mr. Stringer took an implicit shot at Mr. Donovan, who has been bolstered by a super PAC funded in part by his father.“Don’t get me involved in your daddy problems,” Mr. Stringer said.For Mr. Stringer, the debate was his most high-profile appearance following an accusation of unwanted sexual advances that has upended his campaign. Mr. Stringer has strongly denied the allegations from Jean Kim, an unpaid campaign worker on his 2001 race for public advocate, but the claims cost him the support of some of his most prominent progressive supporters, though he retains backing from key labor endorsers. He emphasized again during the debate that he rejected the allegations.Mr. Donovan, a veteran of the Obama administration, went after both of the leading candidates. He ripped into Mr. Adams for remarks he has made about carrying a gun, and used his extensive government and political experience to draw a sharp contrast with Mr. Yang.“This is the most consequential election of our lifetimes,” Mr. Donovan said. “This is not time for a rookie.”Mr. Yang was the only one of the eight who did not favor requiring citywide composting, saying his reservations were tied to implementation citywide. He sought to explain his objection with his trademark enthusiasm.“I love composting,” he said.“Just not enough,” Mr. Donovan replied. More

The two-hour debate is unfolding in a moment of economic uncertainty for New York City, and against a backdrop of a spike in gun violence.For many months, the most consequential New York City mayor’s race in a generation has been overshadowed by a pandemic, upheaval in Washington and political burnout in the aftermath of the presidential election.Now, the mayoral candidates are racing to take advantage of what they hope will be their turn in the spotlight.On Thursday, with less than six weeks before the June 22 Democratic primary that is likely to determine the next mayor, eight Democratic contenders will have their most significant opportunity yet to introduce themselves and to capture voter attention, as they convene by video for the first of three official primary debates.The two-hour debate, co-hosted at 7 p.m. by Spectrum News NY1, is unfolding at an inflection point for a city, a period marked by both economic uncertainty and the reopening of businesses, a spike in gun violence and a surge of hope around vaccinations. The election will play a crucial role in determining whether the city retains its standing as a cultural and financial capital of the world in the pandemic’s aftermath.In many ways, the race is unsettled. Left-wing activists and voters who have been decisive in other recent New York races are divided over how to wield their influence, after the city comptroller, Scott M. Stringer — a leading progressive candidate — was accused of sexual assault. He denied the allegation, but it sapped his momentum, and many high-profile endorsers have dropped their support for him.The city comptroller, Scott Stringer, is struggling to hold onto progressive support after a sexual-abuse allegation from 20 years ago hurt his campaign.Sarah Blesener for The New York TimesSparse public polling suggests that Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate, and Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, are the top-tier contenders, with other candidates strategizing around how to cut into their leads.For the rest of the field, time is running short to break out of the pack, and the debate represents the best chance yet to communicate with voters who are just beginning to tune in.“The debate is very important because it gives voters the opportunity to really compare and contrast, to get a sense of all of us next to each other,” said Kathryn Garcia, the former city sanitation commissioner who has been one of the lower-polling candidates, but has attracted fresh interest from some Democrats following an endorsement from The New York Times editorial board.The virtual format may limit opportunities for fireworks and breakout moments, but candidates have nevertheless been preparing for this moment for weeks, poring over policy briefings, huddling with advisers over video chats and in person and doing full-on mock debates.Mr. Yang, who is experienced on the presidential debate stage but new to the front-runner’s spotlight, has participated in mock debate sessions with several high-profile stand-ins, as his team braces for an onslaught of attacks.A former mayoral rival, Carlos Menchaca, a city councilman who has endorsed Mr. Yang, has played Dianne Morales, the left-wing former nonprofit executive; Representative Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat, has played Mr. Adams; Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal of Queens has been a stand-in for Mr. Stringer; and Sasha Ahuja, Mr. Yang’s co-campaign manager, has played Maya D. Wiley, according to someone familiar with Mr. Yang’s debate preparations.Mr. Yang will take the virtual stage as he deals with controversy tied to a statement he made this week of unqualified support for Israel, remarks he sought to modulate on Wednesday amid an outcry on the left and pushback from some of his own volunteers and staff.For Mr. Yang, who has generally led the available polls since he entered the race in January, the debate will test his ability to weather the kind of sustained scrutiny that he never faced onstage as a low-polling presidential candidate, and his opponents have already previewed attacks on his experience and his ties to the city’s civic fabric.Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, is thought to be one of two front-runners in the New York City mayor’s race.Elizabeth D. Herman for The New York TimesMr. Adams has held mock debates, too, with advisers playing the role of his opponents and the moderator. As he has risen in some polls, a number of candidates have increasingly sought to draw overt contrasts with him, a dynamic that is likely to continue onstage, reflecting his standing in the race.Raymond J. McGuire, a former Citi executive, has practiced, with the help of a team of advisers, from his Upper West Side apartment. Ms. Garcia has been peppered with questions from staff members and consultants, “timing me and being like, ‘you’re over a minute, you’re under a minute,’” she said. Shaun Donovan, the former federal housing secretary, has sought to simulate as many of the debate conditions as possible, rehearsing over video in the evenings.“When the story of this campaign is written, this is going to be one of the first things regular voters ever heard about,” said Joshua Karp, a Donovan adviser who said he ran debate prep for Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia and the Democratic National Committee chairman, Jaime Harrison, during Mr. Harrison’s South Carolina Senate bid.There is a debate planned for May 26 for the two Republican candidates, Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, and Fernando Mateo, a restaurant operator who has led or founded Hispanics Across America, the state Federation of Taxi Drivers and United Bodegas of America..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1dg6kl4{margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:15px;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-1rh1sk1{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-1rh1sk1 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-1rh1sk1 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1rh1sk1 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:visited{color:#333;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccc;text-decoration-color:#ccc;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}The debate among the eight Democratic candidates who met the threshold to participate will take place less than a week after a shooting in Times Square, and the contenders are almost certain to engage one another over matters of public safety and the power of the police.Mr. Adams, Mr. Yang and Mr. McGuire all rushed to Times Square in the aftermath of the shooting, speaking soberly about gun violence and crime, even as they have also stressed their support for reforming policing. Other more left-wing candidates have kept their focus more squarely on matters of police accountability. And on Tuesday, Ms. Garcia, Ms. Wiley and Mr. Donovan all held events discussing gun violence and policing.Mr. Adams, a former police officer who pushed to change Police Department policy from within the system, has made public safety a centerpiece of his campaign — the “prerequisite” to prosperity, he often says.In a sign of one possible line of interrogation to come, Mr. McGuire wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: “I guess my question for the cop-turned-career politicians is: in all that time, what have you done?”Then there is the contest for the left wing of the party.Mr. Stringer had appeared on the cusp of coalescing progressive organizations and leaders around his campaign until about two weeks ago, when Jean Kim, an unpaid worker on his 2001 public advocate race, came forward with allegations of unwanted sexual advances. Mr. Stringer has strongly denied the allegations, but the accusation threw Mr. Stringer’s campaign into turmoil. Many of his most high-profile left-wing endorsers, who had been a central part of Mr. Stringer’s pitch, abandoned him, despite seeing him as the most viable of the left-leaning contenders.The controversy surrounding Mr. Stringer has given room for other left-leaning candidates like Maya Wiley, center, and Dianne Morales.Sarah Blesener for The New York TimesThe Working Families Party, which had supported Mr. Stringer as its first choice, is now backing Ms. Morales and Ms. Wiley. Some on the left have also made joint endorsements, while others will be watching the debate closely to decide whether to do a joint endorsement, to elevate one contender over the other in a ranked-choice endorsement or to sit out the endorsement process entirely.“You have a splintering of support among the people who would otherwise maybe coalesce around a single candidate,” said Susan Kang, a steering committee member of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists. “It seems, to me, very fractured.”Mr. Stringer, however, is a well-funded candidate and an experienced debater who is receiving both political backing and air cover from powerful teachers’ unions and may continue to hold onto his Upper West Side base despite losing prominent left-wing endorsers.“One of the things I think will be clear in this debate is, we cannot have a mayoralty on training wheels when we’re in our biggest challenge,” Mr. Stringer said on Wednesday.As for his debate preparations?“Top secret,” he said. 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