Democrats running for mayor hashed out hot-button immigration issues Wednesday night – but frontrunner Andrew Cuomo was notably absent from the forum on the topic.  

The disgraced former governor skipped out on another chance to answer tough questions, this time at a debate in which his June primary opponents touched on how they’d address the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal migrants.

The event at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, hosted by the New York Immigration Coalition, featured socialist Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the runner-up in the polls after Cuomo, and five other City Hall hopefuls.

It’s the latest in a string of mayoral campaign forums that the ex-gov has opted not to attend, leading other candidates to lob criticism at him.

A late-arriving Mamdani took a shot at both Cuomo and Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent and didn’t participate, when he said his and other candidates’ attendance at the immigration forum are in “stark contrast to our current mayor and our disgraced former governor who refuse to come to these kinds of forums and refuse to dignify so many of the people that we’re talking about any time or any questions or any answers.”

Cuomo also brushed off a discussion on public safety last week, which was attended by most of the other Democratic primary candidates.

The ex-governor, however, did speak at the Rev. Al Sharpton’s annual National Action Network Convention earlier this month.

Both Cuomo and Adams had been invited to the immigration forum, the organizers said on their website. 

Along with Mamdani, other candidates who attended part or all of the forum were City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Comptroller Brad Lander and his predecessor Scott Stringer, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and ex-Obama aide Michael Blake.

State Sen. Jessica Ramos was listed as expected to attend, but didn’t show up.

The candidates on hand vowed to take on President Trump and his hardline immigration stance while making clear they would not allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to have office space on Rikers Island – in contrast with the current mayor’s stance.

“ICE has no business here,” Blake said while Lander accused the mayor of “demonizing immigrants.”

“They’re trying to use federal funding and other sources and resources to force us to do things we do not have to do,” Myrie said in reference to the Trump White House.

Cuomo’s chronic absences haven’t hurt him in the polls — he led Mamdani 34% to 16% when voters were asked about their top choice, according to a survey released Tuesday.

But Cuomo — who resigned from the governor’s office in disgrace in 2021 over sexual harassment allegations he denies — faced a rash of embarrassing fumbles this week.

The veteran pol lost out on almost $3 million in campaign matching funds due to a paperwork snafu and unveiled a typo-laced housing plan, which a representative admitted was put together with the help of research conducted by ChatGPT.

A Cuomo campaign spokesperson insisted the ex-governor has attended “a number of forums and will attend others in the coming weeks as he continues to engage voters on his platform to make New York City a safer and more affordable place for all.”

Cuomo has also talked about immigration with media outlets and voters are aware of his past track record, the spokesperson added.

A political consultant not affiliated with any campaign argued there is “no benefit” to Cuomo showing up at forums.

“When your name is Andrew Cuomo, you’re leading in every poll and you have millions upon millions to spend, the truth is you don’t need to show up to the forums,” said John Tomlin, senior managing director of Actum.

“People know who he is, they know what kind of leadership he brings and they either support him or they don’t. Him showing up to the forum just puts him in the line of fire and honestly elevates his opponents more than it does him.”