Flailing Dems vying for NYC mayor likely to take aim at Trump in final debate tonightafter attacks on frontrunner Andrew Cuomo fall flat

Desperate mayoral hopefuls will likely take aim at President Trump during the final Democratic primary debate Thursday night — after sparing with frontrunner Andrew Cuomo last week did little to move the needle with voters, experts said.Cuomo and repeated runner-up Zohran Mamdani have already seemingly attempted to capitalize on Trump bashing, pitching their plans to fight the White House this week as protests against federal immigration enforcement raids rage in Los Angeles.“To the people who are open to a Mamdani candidacy, it’s a golden opportunity to further that dynamic,” Andrew Kirtzman, managing director of the consulting firm Actum, said of the Democratic socialist Queens assemblyman, who is known for taking part in dramatic demonstrations.“But I think a lot of people, majority of New Yorkers, especially ones who are furious at Trump, are hesitant about this descending into violence, and that plays into Cuomo’s hands,” Kirtzman said.“He could [capitalize] by saying he’s the only one who could keep the city under control.”The two top polling candidates are slated to square off at 7 p.m.at the Gerald W.

Lynch Theater for the final debate, which will be hosted by Spectrum NY1.Also on stage will be: City Comptroller Brad Lander, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, state Sen.Zellnor Myrie, former Comptroller Scott Stringer and former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson.Democratic operative and lobbyist Yvette Buckner said the “zeitgeist” of the race has shifted drastically from “an affordability crisis to defending our democracy.”“We’re going to see the candidates sharpening their talking points around that to use at the debate,” she said.During the first debate June 4, Cuomo was front and center of the vast majority of jabs and haymakers from the poorer polling hopefuls — but the attacks seemingly failed to move the minds of many voters.A Honan Strategy Group poll conducted last week and released Wednesday still had the ex-gov p...