N.Y. candidates for governor get nasty in lone debate

NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo called his Republican challenger, Marc Molinaro, an acolyte of President Donald Trump, and Molinaro punched back by assailing the Democrat as corrupt as the two candidates faced off Tuesday at their only scheduled debate before next month’s election.

The exchanges between the two men were sharp and unfriendly.

Cuomo, at one point, called Molinaro Trump’s “Mini-me,” a reference to the evil sidekick in the Austin Powers movies.

Molinaro brought up the recent criminal conviction of a close Cuomo aide, Joseph Percoco, who traded influence for money and a cushy job for his wife.

“Governor, you have led the most corrupted state government in America,” Molinaro said. “At what point, after eight years of being in office, do you take responsibility?”

Cuomo is far ahead in the polls and in fundraising and until this weekend showed little interest in debating his lesser-known Republican challenger.

During the debate, Cuomo made Trump, who is unpopular in the most densely populated parts of the state, the central target of his attacks.

“The extreme conservative wing that Mr. Molinaro and Mr. Trump represent exclude everything. They’re anti-women. They’re ANTI-LGBTQ,” Cuomo said after a question about education policy.