For roughly 45 years, Curtis Sliwa has been a familiar presence in New York City: as the founder of the Guardian Angels, an outspoken radio host and, most recently, a Republican mayoral candidate.

He won nearly 28 percent of the vote four years ago against the Democratic candidate, Eric Adams, and, in a four-way race this year, a similar performance could bring him closer to victory in November.

Some of Mr. Sliwa’s stances align with his party’s talking points, such as his pledge to make the streets and the subway safer. But he does not get along with his party’s leader, President Trump, who dismissed Mr. Sliwa as “not exactly prime time” and teased him for loving cats.

Ahead of the Nov. 4 election, the three leading candidates in the mayor’s race visited The New York Times for interviews. We plan to publish excerpts from those interviews, and this is the first in the series; the conversations have been edited for length and clarity. Mayor Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent and is fourth in the polls, declined to participate.

We asked Mr. Sliwa 10 questions on subjects ranging from thorny policy issues to where he lives, with room for an occasional follow-up.

We’ve written previously about how Mr. Sliwa, 71, wants to be taken seriously, his vow to stay in the race and his complicated history as a public figure in New York.