adminCurtis Sliwa stood his ground Monday on Rob Schmitt Tonight, telling New Yorkers point-blank that he will not bow out of the mayoral race and that “I know I can win.” The veteran Guardian Angels founder framed his campaign as a grassroots law-and-order insurgency against both a socialist nominee and a recycled political insider, insisting major-party candidates do not drop out for independents.
Pressure from wealthy kingmakers to clear the field has grown by the day, with billionaires like John Catsimatidis publicly urging Sliwa to withdraw so former Gov. Andrew Cuomo could consolidate anti-socialist votes. Sliwa pushed back hard, accusing the elites of trying to manufacture outcomes and saying he will let the voters decide rather than take orders from power brokers.
The polling math these fat-cat strategists point to is real: AARP and Gotham polling show Zohran Mamdani with a sizable lead in a three-way race, but that lead narrows dramatically in a head-to-head match with Cuomo if Sliwa were to vanish. Yet polls are snapshots of how people feel at a moment in time, not divine decrees, and Sliwa rightly reminded audiences that energy, turnout, and who actually gets out the vote on election day matter most.
Sliwa didn’t mince words about Cuomo, calling out the former governor’s record on public safety and nursing-home policies — reminders that many New Yorkers have not forgotten. From a conservative perspective, this is a clear choice: do we reward a political insider with a clouded past, or do we back a loud, unapologetic law-and-order candidate who walks the neighborhoods and fights on the streets?
The real question facing patriotic, hardworking New Yorkers is whether they will tolerate backroom deals meant to coronate an establishment figure over the will of voters who want safer streets and common-sense governance. Sliwa’s refusal to be bought off or sidelined is a welcome act of principle in an era when the GOP too often caves to the wealthy and well-connected rather than stand for conviction.
With early voting kicking off and Election Day looming on November 4, this race is far from over and every vote will count — especially from conservatives tired of watching their city be handed over to radical experiments. If you believe New York deserves a mayor who puts law and order, small business, and everyday families first, now is the time to turn that belief into action and prove that principled fighters like Curtis Sliwa can win against the machine.
