Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa refuses to quit the New York mayoral race, blasting Andrew Cuomo and anti-Israel extremist Zohran Mamdani as the city’s Jewish community rallies for sanity and security.
In a fiery declaration on Monday, Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa vowed to stay in the New York City race despite mounting pressure to step aside — declaring himself the only true “law and order” voice standing between New Yorkers and a dangerous leftist takeover.
“I’m the only Republican candidate. I’m the law and order candidate,” Sliwa told The Hill on NewsNation from Staten Island. “Why would I want to drop out?”
Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and a longtime advocate for public safety, currently polls at 17%, down from 28% in his previous bid. Yet, early voting turnout has surged to five times higher than 2021, signaling voter anxiety over rising crime and ideological extremism.
His refusal to withdraw comes after President Donald Trump said Sliwa “is not going to win,” hinting that his exit might benefit former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo against Zohran Mamdani, a radical leftist lawmaker Trump labeled a “communist.” Trump added bluntly, “I’d rather have a Democrat than a communist running New York.”
Sliwa fired back, insisting that Cuomo, not he, should step aside after losing the Democratic primary by 13 points. “You don’t win elections by hanging out in suites with your billionaire friends,” he quipped, blasting Cuomo as “the architect of New York’s no-cash bail disaster.”
But the race has taken on a darker ideological tone as Mamdani’s extremist views on Israel come under intense scrutiny. Mamdani, who has openly defended Hamas and refused to condemn the genocidal chant “globalize the intifada,” has drawn outrage from Jewish organizations.
He denounced Israel on October 8, 2023—just one day after Hamas’s barbaric massacre of Israeli civilians—and pledged to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he ever visits New York, citing a fictitious International Criminal Court warrant that holds no legal standing in the US.
Adding to the scandal, Mamdani rejected the IHRA’s working definition of antisemitism, aligning himself with global movements seeking to delegitimize Israel’s right to self-defense. His campaign was further tainted by his alliance with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a figure named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams abruptly dropped out of the race following alleged pressure from the White House aimed at uniting Democrats behind Cuomo to block Mamdani’s rise. Adams later endorsed Cuomo, while several Jewish organizations swiftly announced support for Cuomo as the only viable candidate capable of stopping the radical, anti-Israel fringe from seizing control of New York City.
As election day approaches, Sliwa’s defiance and Mamdani’s extremism have turned the NYC mayoral race into a defining battle for the city’s moral and ideological future — a fight over whether America’s largest Jewish community can feel safe again in its own city.
