Republican New York City mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa continued his salvo against Mayor Eric Adams (D) and doubled down on his choice to stay in the race for New York City mayor in a morning radio interview that aired Sunday amidst calls for candidates to unite behind a single opposition figure to Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive Democratic nominee.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Sliwa pledged on John Catsimatidis’s radio show, “Cats Roundtable” on WABC 770 AM. “I’m in it until November 4.”
Sliwa acknowledged that challenging the young democratic socialist, who rocketed to a primary victory on an affordability-focused platform and digital-heavy strategy, could be difficult.
“But there is salvation,” he said. “We have to go after the hipster millennials and Gen Zers. It’s the same group that Donald Trump appealed to.”
Above all, Sliwa blamed the rise of Mamdani on Adams’s time in office, which has been rocked by scandal, federal investigations and an indictment against the mayor himself.
“There is no Zohran Mamdani if Eric Adams had done a decent job,” Sliwa said. “He created the atmosphere so that somebody that nobody knew that was at one percent in the polls back in February could suddenly win a Democratic primary against an iconic figure like Andrew Cuomo.”
Sliwa was also the Republican nominee for mayor in 2021. He lost to Adams by nearly 40 points.
The Guardian Angels founder’s position in this year’s general election has been complicated by the campaign of Adams, who is running as an independent and has garnered the attention of both Republicans and the city’s business elites.
GOP megadonor Catsimatidis has bene invovled in an effort to line up wealthy donors behind Adams’s bid in the hopes of blocking Mamdani’s ascent, Politico reported.
Sliwa told the outlet in response to the news that he would not drop out “unless they figure out a way to put me in a pine box and bury me six feet under.”
“I look forward to working with you a few more times before you possibly become mayor,” Catsimatidis told Sliwa at the end of the show.
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