Curtis Sliwa: Cuomo led to Mamdani
Republican New York City mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa lays out his views and gives his thoughts on opponents Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani on “The Will Cain Show.”
The conventional wisdom in the New York City mayoral race is that Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa should drop out so that the supposedly moderate independent — former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo — has a chance to defeat the current Democratic candidate, socialist Zohran Mamdani.
Two things are clear. First of all, having Marxist Mamdani ruling Gotham is a terrifying idea. With his plans for homeless shelters on wheels, he calls for free buses and social workers for police calls, but secondly, this is a crisis entirely of the Democratic Party’s making.
It was the Democrats who changed the voting rules in New York City in favor of the far left. It was the Democrats who couldn’t get former Governor Cuomo enough votes in the primaries. And it is the Democrats who are failing to highlight the threat of socialism.
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So how is it possible that it is up to Curtis Sliwa, a mortal enemy of Cuomo, to sacrifice his own ambitions and dignity to prevent Cuomo from losing – for the second time – to a 32-year-old commie who has never had a real job?
If this is such an emergency that Sliwa has to fall on his sword and give up his priorities, why haven’t House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, both from New York, had the courage to support Cuomo?
The two most powerful Democrats in Washington DC may play politics, but the man with the beret and all the cats who has been protecting his city as a guardian angel since Zany Zohran was born must be principled, right?
Fugget about it.
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And besides, since when has Andrew Cuomo been a moderate? Let’s look at some of his far-left hits as governor.
In 2017, Cuomo signed the “Raise the Age” bill, which protects 16- and 17-year-olds who commit violent crimes from being charged as adults.
*In 2019, he introduced bail reform, ending cash bail for nonviolent crimes. That same year, he added gender identity as a protected category under New York’s human rights and hate speech laws.
Then came COVID-19, as Cuomo oversaw the deaths of thousands of seniors in nursing homes, allowed raids on open-air Jewish funerals, and went along with school closures that Gotham’s children are still struggling to cope with.
That’s not even counting “Handsy Andy’s” resignation in 2021 amid sexual misconduct allegations.
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All these extreme left positions were opposed by Sliwa. If he had been in charge since 2020, New York City would look very different – and much better – than it does today.
If Cuomo wants the 15% of votes that Sliwa gets, he will have to earn it. So far he hasn’t done that.
Cuomo could have chosen the path of lone Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who has called out the crazy excesses of the far left in his party and even had the decency to praise Trump’s diplomacy in the Middle East and the common sense to oppose his own party’s government shutdown.
If John Fetterman was the moderate alternative to becoming Hizzoner, it might make sense for Sliwa to degrade himself by quitting, but for Cuomo – who helped create the Mamdanis of the world? That’s not going to happen.
It is completely rational for a conservative New Yorker to say that Mamdani is such a threat that they should hold their noses and vote for Cuomo. But it is equally rational to believe that the choice for Cuomo is a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound – or a slower free bus to oblivion.
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani defended New York Attorney General Letitia James during a press conference on October 10, 2025, after James was indicted by a grand jury in Virginia. (Charly Tribelleau/AFP via Getty Images)
It’s a neat trick by the Democrats, as long as they ensure that a communist gets on the ballot in our major cities, every Republican must vote for the quote, without the quote moderate – in this case, Cuomo.
A strong argument can be made here that if Sliwa voters and the Republican Party bail out Cuomo and the Democrats, the party will learn nothing and continue its leftward course toward the country of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
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I’ve talked to people close to Sliwa, and when I start asking them what it will take for Curtis to… they don’t even let me finish and say angrily, “Nothing, nothing, nothing can take him out of this race.”
Curtis Sliwa has no obligation to save the Democratic Party from itself, especially now that its reckless leaders are cowering in fear before Zany Zohran.
When Sliwa founded the Guardian Angels in 1977, a safe subway system must have seemed like a distant dream. He lived to see it accomplished – and then he lived to see it fall apart.
Curtis Sliwa is the Republican candidate for mayor, and unless Andrew Cuomo makes some serious concessions – quickly – to conservative New York voters, those voters won’t vote for him even if Sliwa tells them to.
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Curtis Sliwa cannot and will not save the Democratic Party. Only Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and, yes, Andrew Cuomo can do that. But so far, all three lack the courage to take the stand they demand of Curtis.
So I’ll say it again. Fugget about it.
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