DAVID MARCUS: It's not Curtis Sliwa's job to save the Democrat Party from itself

The conventional wisdom in New York City’s mayoral race is that Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa should drop out so that the supposedly moderate independent — former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo — has a chance to beat the current Democratic candidate, socialist Zohran Mamdani.

Two things are clear. First, allowing the Marxist Mamdani to rule Gotham is a terrifying idea, what with his plans for homeless shelters on wheels, he calls free buses and social workers out on police calls, but second, this is a crisis completely created by the Democrat Party.

It was Democrats who changed the voting rules in New York City to benefit the far left. It was Democrats who couldn’t get former governor Cuomo enough votes in the primary. And it is Democrats who are failing to call out the threat posed by socialism.

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So, how is it possible that it falls on Curtis Sliwa, a mortal enemy of Cuomo, to sacrifice his own ambitions and dignity to save Cuomo from losing — for the second time — to a 32-year-old commie who has never had a real job?

If this is such an emergency that Sliwa must fall on his sword and abandon his priorities, then why haven’t House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, both from New York, had the courage to endorse Cuomo?

The two most powerful Democrats in Washington, D.C. get to play politics but the guy in the beret with all the cats who has been protecting his city as a Guardian Angel since before Zany Zohran was born must be principled?

Fuggetaboutit.

In 2017, Cuomo signed the ‘Raise the Age" bill protecting 16- and 17-year-olds who commit violent crimes from being charged as adults. 

*In 2019, he enacted bail reform ending cash bail for nonviolent felonies. That same year, he added gender identity as a protected category under New York’s human rights and hate speech laws.

Then came COVID-19, when Cuomo oversaw the deaths of thousands of seniors in nursing homes, allowed raids on Jewish outdoor funerals, and went along with school closures that Gotham’s kids are still struggling to overcome.

That’s not even counting "Handsy Andy’s" 2021 resignation amid sexual misconduct allegations.

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All of these far-left positions were opposed by Sliwa. Had he been in charge since 2020, New York City would look a lot different — and a lot better — than it does today.

If Cuomo wants the 15% of the vote Sliwa commands, he’ll have to earn it. So far, he hasn’t.

Cuomo could have chosen the path of lonely Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who has called out the wacky excesses of the far-left in his party and even had the decency to praise Trump’s Middle East diplomacy and the good sense to oppose his own party on the government shutdown.

Maybe if John Fetterman was the moderate alternative to become Hizzoner then it might make sense for Sliwa to debase himself by dropping out, but for Cuomo — who helped create the Mamdanis of the world? Not going to happen.

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It’s perfectly rational for a conservative New Yorker to say Mamdani is such a threat that they must hold their nose and vote Cuomo. But it’s just as rational to believe electing Cuomo is a Band-Aid on a bullet wound — or a slower free bus to oblivion.

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani defended New York Attorney General Letitia James during a press conference Oct. 10, 2025, after James was indicted by a grand jury in Virginia.  (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)

It's a neat little trick by the Democrats, as long as they make sure that a communist is on the ballot in our major cities, then every Republican has to vote for the quote, unquote moderate — in this case, Cuomo.

There’s a strong argument to be made here that if Sliwa and GOP voters bail out Cuomo and Democrats, the party will learn nothing and continue its leftward lurch toward the land of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.

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I have spoken to people close to Sliwa, and when I start to ask them what it would take for Curtis to… they won’t even let me finish, angrily saying, "nothing, nothing, nothing could make him drop out of this race."

Curtis Sliwa is under no obligation to save the Democratic Party from itself, especially while its feckless leaders cower in fear before Zany Zohran.

Back in 1977 when Sliwa started the Guardian Angels, a safe subway system must have seemed like a distant dream. He lived to see it achieved — and then he lived to see it fall apart.

Curtis Sliwa is the Republican nominee for mayor, and unless Andrew Cuomo makes some serious concessions to conservative New York voters –  fast — then those voters won’t vote for him even if Sliwa tells them to.
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Curtis Sliwa cannot and will not save the Democrat Party. Only Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and, yes, Andrew Cuomo can. But so far, all three lack the courage to make the stand they demand of Curtis.

So, I’llI say it again. Fuggetaboutit.

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