A desperate Andrew Cuomo will seek to come out swinging in the final mayoral debate Wednesday as he hopes to rattle the smirking socialist Zohran Mamdani — who maintains a double-digit lead in the polls with under two weeks left to the election.

But the ex-governor is expected to run into a familiar roadblock in Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa — who’s likely to unleash on Cuomo again, potentially helping to deflect any knock-out punches from landing on the front-runner, pundits told The Post.

“As long as Sliwa is there disrupting Cuomo’s attacks on Mamdani and forcing him onto the defensive, it’s going to be difficult, though not impossible, for Cuomo to achieve what he needs,” said longtime communications specialist Andrew Kirtzman. 3

“Cuomo is in a very tough spot,” Kirtzman

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