Will Curtis Sliwa have any regrets if he wakes up on November 5 and Zohran Mamdani is the new mayor of New York — knowing he could have stepped aside and cleared the crowded campaign field that many fear will split the vote?
“Nope,” the Republican candidate told me.
So he’s not willing to sacrifice his candidacy to save the city he loves from socialism?
“That’s based on the idea that everyone is going to go over and vote Cuomo. Ain’t happening. They hate Cuomo. I’m in the streets every day. All I hear is ‘slapping fannies and killing grannies.’ He’s never apologized,” Sliwa said of Andrew Cuomo’s Covid and #MeToo scandals.
Meanwhile, a new AARP poll shows Mamdani’s support at 42% among registered voters; Cuomo is at 23%, fellow independent Adams is at 9%, and Sliwa claims 16%. It would stand to reason the three need to become one to beat the Democratic socialist.
But Sliwa says it isn’t happening.
“Nobody is getting out. Cuomo isn’t, [Eric] Adams isn’t. Every day there’s a discussion about dropping out, that’s a good day for Mamdani,” Sliwa said.
I met with the 71-year-old at his Midtown campaign headquarters. While he’s been an NYC tabloid figure since the late 1970s, when he launched the civilian crime-fighting group the Guardian Angels, he’s lately been almost unrecognizable — taking off his signature red beret in meetings to look more like a serious politician.
The thing is, I love everything Sliwa has to say, especially about quality-of-life crackdowns.
He wants to cut taxes, ditch congestion pricing and tackle the costly epidemic of fare evasion.
“I laugh when Mamdani says ‘free bus fare‘ and everyone is having a heart attack. I said, ‘Hold on, people aren’t paying in the first place. Why don’t we just enforce the fare?’” Sliwa said. “Adams didn’t do it. Cuomo didn’t do it. We need a no-tolerance policy.”
Can I get an amen?
Like Mamdani, Sliwa speaks about affordability, especially for younger New Yorkers who cannot “afford the American dream anymore. They’re in their 30s and still living in a dormitory” — I think he means they have a lot of roommates — “yet they have a professional career and make good money.”
Unlike the photogenic Mamdani, the Republican is not offering a buffet of cockamamie socialist policy “solutions.”
But in this crowded field, I don’t think Sliwa has a shot at taking down Mamdani and his dangerous DSA ideology.
He wholeheartedly disagrees. “I have a very good shot.”
The last time Sliwa ran for mayor, in 2021, the city was lumbering through the Covid cloud. He lost to Eric Adams and earned only 27.8% of the vote.
“I feel I can start with about 28%,” Sliwa said, “and if I can get up to 32, 33, 34%, I’ll be the next mayor of New York City.”
This time around, his campaign is pushing early voting, trying to court Millennials and Gen Z-ers who aren’t drunk on Mamdani’s “everything is free” socialist brew — and reaching out to Muslim voters.
Mamdani is far, far more progressive than most Muslims in the city. But Sliwa believes many conservative Muslims are turned off by cultural attacks from some politicians on the right, like Marjorie Taylor Greene. Last month, the representative from Georgia shared a meme of the Statue of Liberty covered in a burka.
Because of insults like that, “Some feel compelled to support Mamdani,” said Sliwa.
Still — “All the halal and coffee wagons, Uber drivers are all capitalists. I’m working on them to vote for me.”
Sliwa blames Adams and his cronyism scandals for the rise of Mamdani. As for Cuomo, “He told a group in the Hamptons that he’s moving to Florida if he loses. He’s waving a white flag,” alleged the Canarsie native.
Despite reports, Sliwa said President Trump hasn’t offered him a job in Washington to get him out of the race — nor has Trump called the Republican candidate to offer support.
Sliwa is non-plussed.
“I believe the president has far more serious issues to deal with, like peace in Ukraine and, if he can — and he alone can — resolving the Gaza situation.”
As we wrap up our interview, Sliwa puts on his hat and we venture down Sixth Avenue. The red beret is like a beacon, attracting a Midtown crowd. One man taps him for a selfie. A group of blue-collar workers abandon their spot in a lunch-truck line to shake his hand and wish him luck.
A smartly dressed woman in her 50s flags him down. A black man calls out in heavily-accented English from behind the wheel of a black SUV: “Curtis, I’ve always wanted to meet you!”
A union plumber who grew up in Staten Island jumped off a bench to offer his support. He and his colleagues said they would vote for Sliwa … but they all moved out to the ’burbs during Covid because the city was too dirty, too crime-ridden and too expensive.
It’s a familiar refrain.
Sliwa wants to save the city — are there enough voters left who want to as well?
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