Curtis Sliwa, New York City Republican mayoral contender, speaks to the media at Times Square after another day of shooting in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images New York I come right at you: The vigilantelike figure who's running to be the GOP mayor of New YorkNEW YORK Many New Yorkers are worried that the city will slip back into the dark days of gang shootings and subway crime. However, one of the most memorable characters from New York's past is running for the Republican banner in the general election to become the mayor.Most people believe that his chances of winning are slim.Curtis Sliwa is a veteran of long odds. He founded the citizen safety group Guardian Angels in 1978. The Guardian Angels were dressed in red jackets and berets. They practiced conflict resolution, outreach, and some martial arts. They rode the subways to protect the straphangers from the crime that the police couldn't control.Sliwa, forty years later, still wears the beret. However, it is more often worn with a suit or tie. After securing the Republican nomination, his message, which received little attention, remained one that focused on protecting the public, and the cats, from the wiles, of the city streets.As the Republican nominee for mayor, he was always going be underdog in an overwhelmingly Democratic New York City. Moderate GOP politicians have almost abandoned their chances to reclaim Gracie Mansion. Sliwa could have a harder job if Eric Adams (an ex-NYPD cop who is running on an anticrime message) wins the Democratic nomination.Eric Sliwa stated in an interview, "Don't forget Curtis Sliwa." New Yorkers are familiar with Curtis Sliwa. You are my friend.The Democrats await ranked-choice voting results to decide their nominee. Adams is leading in first-choice votes. Sliwa received 69 percent of votes, while Fernando Mateo, a Donald Trump-loving advocate to bodega owners, and taxi drivers, got 27 percent. Any candidate with a score of at least 50 percent on the first-place ballot automatically wins the nomination under ranked-choice.Sliwa stated that Im the only person who has ever visited neighborhoods in the five boroughs where Abraham Lincoln was the only Republican the residents had seen.As New York City, along with other major cities, has seen a significant increase in violent crime over the past year, it would be a general showdown between these two candidates. While this is a far cry from the darkest years of New York's history in the 1980s and 1990s when murders topped at over 2,200 per year, many people are still shaken by the violence that has broken out in certain neighborhoods. New York saw an almost 50 percent increase in murders last year to 468.Sliwa is also a radio host and plans to attack Adams for not being sufficiently pro-police, despite Adams's NYPD career. He claims he is a softie and animal welfare is a big part of his platform. He calls for no-kill shelters, and discusses the 15 rescue cats he shares a studio apartment with on the Upper West Side.The Republican candidate is proposing to add 3,000 police officers to the force, bringing it to 38,000. This will be funded by a special property tax on Madison Square Garden and Columbia, as well as New York Universities which are currently exempt from the tax.He is preparing a series of attacks against Adams, including comments by the Brooklyn borough president telling transplants to the area to go back to Iowa. His assertion that a ranked-choice voting alliance between two primary opposition was intended to suppress the Black vote and his past comments that he would have a gun for mayor and be armed to go to church are also part of the attack.Sliwa stated that she doesn't carry guns and has been shot five times.Adams claims that Sliwa can only do one thing and isn't up to the task."We must do more than just be safe. He can't ride to City Hall because he only patrolled the subway. Our economy must grow. The education system must be addressed. Adams stated last week that we need a real system of health care. This is the right moment for my type of leadership to cycle out Covid-19 and end inequalities within this city. Curtis doesn't know how to do that.Sliwa is a New York City legend that dates back to the 1980s, when his subway safety patrols were the talk of the town. The city was still plagued by crime. His passion for publicity has not diminished, whether it was a stickball game for mayoral candidates in 2013, or a recent ceremony to burn a mask marking the lifting Covid-19 restrictions.Sliwa also has been the subject of controversy in the past. Sliwa admitted to faking a few crimes, which was addressed by the Guardian Angels. He was suspended from a NY1 commentator post for making inappropriate sexual comments about the former City Council speaker. A public and ugly divorce battle was centered around his relationship to Melinda Katz (Queens District Attorney), with whom he has two kids. Recently, a video was resurfaced in it in which he made demeaning remarks about ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in the Hudson Valley.Despite the city's liberal reputation, and Democrats having a 7-to-1 voter register advantage, the long odds of a Republican candidate for the office of mayor are more recent.Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, was elected to the city. Mike Bloomberg became an independent later and was then a Democrat for a total of five terms.The moderate, business-friendly Republicans who sent GOP mayors into City Hall for over two decades are no more the face of the party.Joe Lhota was the Republican nominee against Bill de Blasio in 2013. He left the party to become a Democrat as he couldn't stand Trump. Kathryn Garcia was a fellow technocrat who also served as the city sanitation commissioner. He supported her in the Democratic primary.Wall Street and Republican donors donated large sums of money to help influence the Democratic race. A fund raised by investors encouraged Republicans to switch parties in order to be heard in the election. Even the conservative New York Post didn't endorse Adams in the Republican primary. Instead, they voted for Adams.However, the Republican primary between Mateo and Sliwa turned ugly. Mateo stated at one debate, "I have enough dirt to cover you body 18 feet,"The GOP counties parties in five boroughs were split by the two men. Bronx Republican chair Mike Rendino supported Mateo but said he was disappointed by the results. However, he is hopeful Curtis will show Bronx Republicans that he plans to grow the party base and not just preserve a few seats on Staten Island.John Catsimatidis (billionaire), who ran in 2013 for the GOP nomination as mayor and was invited by Republican leaders to run again in 2014, supported Sliwa during the Republican primary. He said that he had nothing to do with Adams, and that he expects to remain neutral in the general elections if Adams becomes the nominee.Curtis's advice was to tell others how great a job you are going to do, and not criticize anyone. He said that he would not criticize Eric or Curtis.Catsimatidis stated that I believe the Democrats have an enormous edge. However, he added Curtis is very articulate. Curtis is more intelligent than most people think. He's very smart. Curtis is also a person of heart. Curtis talks about cats and dogs, which are loved in New York City. Anything could happen.Further dividing an already weak local GOP was the primary fight. This was a very ugly primary that brought out a lot of hatred. A party source said that it will take time for the party's to move on and could cause divisions for many years.Sliwa, who was formerly the leader of New York's Reform Party, registered last year as a Republican. Mateo attacked him because he wasn't a true Republican. But Sliwa doesn't see that as a problem.He was partly right. I did not argue. He said that he was a populist.Sliwa has collected enough signatures to put an Independent Party line on November's ballot with his name. This will allow New Yorkers who are reluctant to vote for a Republican to cast ballots for him.His campaign would aim to show voters another side of him. It will highlight his love for animals as well as his work with his groups to help homeless and mentally ill New Yorkers in the streets and subways.They know Curtis will crack down on crime. Sliwa, who like Adams speaks in third person, also knows that.He said that they don't know the other side of compassion. Uncaring societies are those that do not care about animals and emotionally disturbed homeless people. I have never done that.He is also working to improve law enforcement. One of his major campaign platforms is to build no-kill shelters for animals in the city.While out campaigning, regardless of whether they support AOC or DSA, or whether theyre hardcore Trumpers, they supported Biden. He said that my position on no kill shelters had resonated with them, referring to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D.N.Y.) as well as the Democratic Socialists.Joe Borelli, Staten Island Republican City Council member, said that Sliwa would be a great candidate. Adams would also benefit if he wins on the Democratic side.He said that law and order seem to be the main issue of the day. New Yorkers know which side represents rational policing and safer streets.Richard Flanagan, a professor of political science at The College of Staten Island said that focusing on law and order won't be enough to increase the chances of the Republicans winning.It is more liberal. The white ethnic bloc Giuliani built in 89 and 93 is gone. They are gone. They are gone.Flanagan stated that it would be difficult to underestimate the power of their underdog-edness. It's a sideshow, I believe.
