Democratic Socialist Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani tried to deflect mounting criticism Thursday after a bruising mayoral debate in which his rivals painted him as untested, unproductive, and missing in action in Albany.

Speaking at a press conference in Murray Hill, Mamdani accused former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa of running on empty rhetoric rather than ideas for the city. “I spent 90 minutes on stage with Andrew Cuomo and I, like many here, could tell you his critiques of me, his critiques of Curtis Sliwa, but I could not tell you what he was actually running on to deliver for this city,” Mamdani said.

But the Queens lawmaker, 34, refused to answer questions from reporters about his legislative record — or his absence from the state Capitol — even as critics continued to pounce on his threadbare résumé. Cuomo, running as an independent, accused Mamdani during Wednesday night’s Spectrum NY1 debate of “never accomplishing anything,” blasting him for passing just four bills in five years. “You never even proposed a bill on housing or education,” Cuomo charged. “You don’t know how to run a government. You don’t know how to handle an emergency. You had the worst attendance record in the Assembly… Shame on you!”

Sliwa, the perennial GOP contender, was even more cutting. “Your résumé could fit on a cocktail napkin,” he told Mamdani, drawing laughs from the audience.

Mamdani, who entered the Assembly in 2020, has struggled to shake criticism that his legislative record is thin and his time in Albany fleeting. The New York Post reported in June that he missed roughly half of all Assembly votes this year while campaigning for mayor. After collecting his paycheck when the state budget passed in April, Mamdani didn’t return to Albany for the remainder of the session.

He passed just one bill in 2024 — the same number as an 88-year-old Republican lawmaker from Nassau County who was homebound with health issues. Even some of Mamdani’s colleagues have expressed frustration. “I show up! I’m there every day doing my job,” said Assemblyman Chris Tague (R-Schoharie). “He should be an actor in Hollywood — everything is theatrics and acting with him.”

While the number of standalone bills passed isn’t always the defining measure of a legislator’s influence, Mamdani has also struggled to shape the state’s sprawling budget process. His flagship free-bus pilot program, briefly included in the 2023 budget, was axed by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie the following year after Mamdani voted against the spending plan.

Cuomo, 67, used the debate to turn Mamdani’s signature issues against him, mocking his complaints that Albany hasn’t delivered funding for juvenile offender programs. “If Zohran thought that there was money locked up in Albany, maybe he should have gone to Albany and proposed a bill to release it,” Cuomo quipped.

The former governor, who’s styled his independent bid as a centrist alternative to both Mamdani’s democratic socialism and Sliwa’s hard-right populism, sought to portray the Assemblyman as an unserious protest candidate. “There’s no reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for 8.5 million lives,” Cuomo said.

Mamdani fired back from the stage, accusing Cuomo of rewriting history. “We just had a former governor say, in his own words, that the city has been getting screwed by the state,” he said. “Who was leading the state? It was you!”

Despite the attacks, Mamdani has consolidated a loyal base on the city’s left flank, buoyed by endorsements from Speaker Heastie and Gov. Kathy Hochul — both of whom have dismissed questions about his effectiveness. “When I tried to be speaker, you guys tried to do the same thing to me by saying I didn’t pass as many bills,” Heastie told reporters earlier this summer.

Still, Mamdani’s absences continue to dog him. Over the past week, he missed hearings in Albany on tenant protections and rising electric costs — two issues central to his platform. Visitors to his closed Albany office Thursday were greeted by a note taped to the door: “Thanks for stopping by. Please email to make an appointment.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)