Last 2017 NYC Mayoral Debate: How To Watch And What's At Stake

NEW YORK, NY — There's one more chance to see the top candidates for New York City mayor this week. The city Campaign Finance Board's final mayoral debate is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m., just six days before the Nov. 7 general election.

The candidates are the same as the last debate on Oct. 10: incumbent Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, Republican state Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis and Bo Dietl, a retired NYPD detective who's running on his own "Dump de Blasio" party line.

This debate won't have the same large audience that made the last one so raucous. It'll be a more intimate setting, with the three candidates, some reporters and moderator Maurice DuBois of CBS 2 News setting up at CUNY TV Studios in Murray Hill.

But the dynamics will be much the same. De Blasio, leading by a huge margin in polls, will likely argue that he deserves a second term to build on the progress made in his first on issues like affordable housing and education.

He'll also likely continue to cast Malliotakis and Dietl as right-wing conservatives loyal to President Donald Trump, whom the mayor has been keen to fight on the local and national political stages.

Malliotakis and Dietl could once again double-team the mayor as they try to find more of an audience among voters. Roughly two thirds of New Yorkers don't know who either candidate is, an Oct. 5 Quinnipiac University poll found.

Expect the pair to hammer de Blasio hard on his administration's political corruption scandals, especially in light of testimony this week from Jona Rechnitz, a big donor to the mayor's 2013 campaign, that he was promised access to City Hall in exchange for big checks.

The mayor has largely pleaded ignorance, saying he didn't remember communications between the two that Rechnitz recalled on the stand in a federal corruption trial. He also called Rechnitz — who has pleaded guilty to his own federal crimes — "a liar and a felon."

Who, where and when
The debate runs from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday night at the CUNY TV Studios, located at 365 5th Ave. in Manhattan.

DuBois, a CBS 2 News anchor, will moderate the debate. Unlike the first general-election debate, there won't be a panel of questioners.

How to watch
CBS 2 News will broadcast the debate live in English, and WLNY-TV will carry it in Spanish. CBS will also stream the debate for free online.

CBS' two AM radio stations, 1010 WINS and Newsradio 880, will also broadcast audio of the debate.

If you're in Queens, NYC Votes and Transportation Alternatives are hosting a watch party at 78th Street Plaza in Jackson Heights, complete with food vendors, a DJ and a voter-registration drive. The event runs from 5 to 8 p.m. at 33-45 78th St. in Jackson Heights, Queens.

(Lead image: Pool photo by Jefferson Siegel, New York Daily News, via AP)