Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for New York mayor, believes that the polarizing candidates targeting Democratic voters could swing the numbers in his favor
Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for New York mayor, believes that the polarizing candidates targeting Democratic voters could swing the numbers in his favor
The red beret-wearing Guardian Angels founder running as the Republican mayoral candidate in true-blue New York -- who says he has a "love-hate" relationship with Donald Trump -- told AFP any effort by the president to sway the election is "not democracy."
Curtis Sliwa -- who created the city's volunteer anti-crime group in 1979 -- is the focus of swirling reports that Trump is trying to clear the field for left-wing frontrunner Zohran Mamdani's closest rival, Democratic former state governor Andrew Cuomo.
Those reports suggest Trump, a New York native who made his fortune in real estate in the Big Apple, is considering handing government jobs to Sliwa and sitting mayor Eric Adams to remove them from contention.
"I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one-on-one, and I think that's a race that could be won," Trump said this week of New York's mayoral election on November 4.
But the 71-year-old Sliwa, who survived an apparent mob assassination bid in 1992, is adamant he is staying in the race to win and has not spoken to Trump.
"That's not democracy," he said of Trump's reported meddling.Â
Trump is a weak spot for Republicans in an overwhelmingly Democratic city that has repeatedly rejected the property developer turned populist politician at the polls.
"We've had a love-hate relationship. We've differed, we've agreed," Sliwa, as ever wearing the Angels' classic red beret, said outside a public school in Queens on the first day back for students as drivers hooted and waved at him approvingly.
"I'm (sometimes) going to have to take a stand that's in opposition to President Trump, and then try to negotiate something that is going to benefit New York because he controls the purse strings to so many of the projects," said Sliwa.
"So it's a fine balancing act."
Adams came out swinging Friday, appearing at a hastily organized press conference after a New York Times report said the Trump administration was considering him to be its envoy to Saudi Arabia.
"I am in this race, (the) only one that can beat Mamdani," he said.
While The New York Post said the scandal-tainted Adams would meet with White House officials to discuss a role next week, the mayor insisted "those reports are wrong."
"I am running," he said, wearing a polo shirt emblazoned with the word "mayor."
Cuomo, who lost the Democratic race to be the party's mayoral candidate to Mamdani in a major upset and is running as an independent, said "what Eric Adams chooses to do is up to Eric Adams. What Curtis Sliwa chooses to do is up to Curtis Sliwa."
- 'Crime crisis' -
One area where Sliwa departs from Trump's hardline policies is on immigration, favoring efforts to integrate migrants by teaching them English and preparing them for citizenship rather than the president's all-out drive to deport undocumented residents.
"When you start raiding the backs of restaurants or the hospitality industry, and there are people who would be living in neighborhoods like this, who may not have legal status, are you going to pull them out? Are you going to deport them back?" Sliwa asked.Â
"Because you won't have any restaurants, you won't have hotels operating."
Sliwa does take a hard line on crime that is more in line with Trump's own zero tolerance approach -- even though official statistics show violent crime in the city is at historic lows.
"(Mamdani's) Achilles' heel is public safety... we're now in a crime crisis. We have gang shootings. We have blood flowing in parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx, and a 69-year-old grandmother was cut down by gang gunfire -- and he had no answers for that," said Sliwa.
Mamdani, a leftist who has become a leading figure of opposition to Trump and a frequent target of the president, declined multiple interview requests.
Despite the former McDonald's manager's plain-spoken style and tough-on-crime image, Sliwa has a soft spot for animals.
"I can't tell you how that crosses over an enormous Maginot Line of different political ideologies -- especially among women," he said, having personally rescued numerous cats.
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