Curtis Sliwa, the creator of New York City’s Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol group, ran for mayor four years ago and lost to Democrat Eric Adams by almost 40 percentage points.
This time around, the Republican believes the math may be more in his favor.
Even in an overwhelmingly blue city, the 71-year-old believes that with three polarizing candidates splitting the Democratic vote, he can maintain the support he secured last time while picking up backers from the other side of the aisle with his message that he’s best positioned to fight crime.
Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman and socialist extremist, is the Democratic nominee after upsetting former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the primary. Cuomo, who resigned as governor four years ago after sexual harassment allegations, is running as an independent.
Meanwhile, Adams, wounded by a federal bribery case, skipped the primary altogether and is instead campaigning for a second term as an independent.
“Zohran obviously is very unique. He’s way to the left, but then again, Cuomo and Adams, listen to the way they talk. They’re Zohran-lite,” Sliwa told the Associated Press. “I will be the alternative.”
Even if he doesn’t win, Sliwa might play the spoiler. While some Mamdani critics have urged Sliwa to drop out and throw his support behind someone with a better chance of beating the Democratic nominee, Sliwa says that isn’t happening.
Sliwa is hoping to ride to victory on crime, an issue that helped Adams, a former police captain, win the pandemic-era 2021 election.
This year’s Democratic primary was dominated by discussions of New York’s high cost of living, but Sliwa believes crime is “beginning to creep up and almost be equal” to other issues voters care about.
In the Bronx, “blood is pouring from the streets.” The “madams and pimps” on the outskirts of Queens need to be arrested, and the “Johns” should be named and shamed. When women ride the subway, they get “perved on,” Sliwa said.
His campaign has shades of some national Republican talking points — claiming the state’s bail laws are far too lenient and saying the National Guard should patrol high-crime areas.
George Arzt, a veteran Democratic political consultant in New York, said Sliwa’s appeal boils down the fact that he’s “really a likeable guy” who’s “enjoyable to hang around.”
“He’s a guy who’s enjoyable to listen to, but does he spout the Republican line? No. Is he a Democrat? Certainly not,” he said. “But he’s someone you like listening to. He’s funny.”
As he strolled up and down a Bronx block recently, shaking hands and passing out campaign cards, he ran into Noemi Molina, 62, who froze at the sight of him: She had known about Sliwa since he started the Guardian Angels and had been seeing him in the news for decades.
“He’s still trying. He’s still striving,” said Molina, who said she would vote for him. “He’s still trying to get things done. He’s trying to help.”
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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