NYC Mayor Eric Adams has announced that he has officially dropped out of the current mayoral race, leaving only former governor Andrew Cuomo (who served as NY state’s 56th governor from 2011 until he resigned in 2021 amid many accusations of sexual harassment) and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa to oppose Zohran Mamdani (whom I’ve written about several times, e.g. here and here).
Many pundits have expressed that, especially now with Adams out of the race, Cuomo is the only candidate to have a shot against Mamdani, based primarily on name recognition. That is of course excepting those many New Yorkers who are in thrall to Mamdani, the Ugandan-born member of Democrat Socialists of America who believes that the police are responsible for rising crime, that food stores are exploitative and should be owned and run by the city, and that the so-called “Palestinians” are a noble people who are oppressed by Israel, a country that he believes has no right to exist. Mamdani also refuses to condemn Hamas or the atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023.
Those who advocate voting for Cuomo acknowledge that New Yorkers who oppose Mamdani will have to hold their noses as they pull the levers for Cuomo. But although Cuomo’s own foul odor doesn’t compare with the stench emanating from Mamdani, there still just aren’t enough clothespins in the world for the nose-holding that voting for Cuomo requires. As much as I cannot fathom why New Yorkers would vote for Mamdani, I am deeply disappointed in all those who encourage voting for Cuomo.
The late conservative talk radio icon Bob Grant (whose real name was Robert Gigante and who was every bit as Italian-American as the Cuomos) used to play the theme from “The Godfather” any time he was speaking of Gov. Andrew Cuomo or his father, Gov. Mario Cuomo. He referred to Mario Cuomo as “Il sfaccim,” and let Mario’s son Andrew bear that same contemptuous sobriquet. For those who understand the meaning of that expression (which I will not translate here), it’s especially appropriate to hang that epithet on Mario Cuomo’s progeny.
Although he’s running as an Independent, Cuomo has been a lifelong card-carrying Democrat, a member of a Democrat family dynasty, and is therefore accountable for all the policies and harebrained schemes that today’s Democrat party endorses and supports. But Andrew Cuomo even fell out of favor with many of his fellow Democrats because of his disastrous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which his policies were responsible for exponential increases in fatalities among elderly persons in nursing homes. To make matters worse, his administration attempted to cover up the nursing home deaths out of fear that the true statistics would be a political liability. For far too many New Yorkers, Cuomo is the man who killed Grandma and Grandpa, and then tried to deny it.
I know that politics makes for strange bedfellows, that it’s a tough and dirty business, and that deals made in smoke-filled back rooms are part and parcel of the whole political process. And yet I cannot in any way justify casting a vote for Andrew Cuomo, even if it’s to stop a monster like Mamdani. Voting for Cuomo represents totally flushing one’s principles down the terlet.
I’m no longer a resident of New York City, so I have no say in the matter, but for me there is only one clear and ethical choice for the role New Yorkers call “Hizzoner,” and that is Curtis Sliwa. If I could vote for NYC’s next mayor I would pull the lever for Curtis Sliwa in a hot second.
Born in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn in 1954, Sliwa has been a fixture on the NYC political scene for decades and has run for mayor before, most notably when he ran against Eric Adams in 2021 and was defeated.
Curtis Śliwa is a genuine hero. As a youth, he was cited for saving people from a burning building. He’s a high school dropout whose unmistakable Brooklyn accent contrasts with his prodigious vocabulary. A lifelong martial arts enthusiast, Sliwa can take care of himself, whether in a physical confrontation or a battle of wits.
Sliwa is best known for founding the Guardian Angels in 1979. But I have written before about how I remember the evolution of that organization. Curtis managed a McDonald’s in the Bronx and organized his employees to clean up litter in the neighborhood. While doing that, Curtis and his crew intervened in muggings. He encouraged his crew to learn karate, and in 1977 they coalesced into “The Magnificent 13,” a band of youthful (and diverse!) crimefighters who then took to riding “The Muggers’ Express” between Brooklyn and The Bronx to protect subway riders. That was what evolved into the Guardian Angels, which now has chapters around the world.
In addition to being a bona fide crimefighter, Curtis Sliwa has hosted several radio talk shows for decades. He’s always been a voice of plain-spoken, commonsense traditional respect for law and order, and is also an example of the “attitude” for which New Yorkers are known. He’s also been an advocate against animal abuse.
Curtis Śliwa is the real deal. He’s true to his principles and cannot be bought, despite being offered a king’s ransom to drop out of the race. He’s precisely what NYC needs; I just hope and pray that New Yorkers in sufficient numbers will wise up and not only reject Mamdani, but also reject the notion that Andrew Cuomo is the lesser of two evils. Choosing to vote for Andrew Cuomo over Zohran Mamdani is like choosing to shoot yourself in the head with a 9mm instead of a .45.
Author’s Note: Stu Tarlowe was born in NYC in 1948 and lived there until 1966 and again in 1978, but has not returned there since 2009. He has contributed to American Thinker since 2010, and most of his work for AT may be viewed here. He also posts on Stu’s Stack o’ Stuff, where subscriptions are currently free and where the content is not exclusively political.