Curtis Sliwa doesn't hold back on his thoughts for New York City as he vies for mayor's office
From his ruby-red beret and quintessential one-liners to his outspoken attitude on the streets and kind words about his cats, Curtis Sliwa has been a standout figure in New York City for decades.
The 71-year-old Republican mayoral nominee told ABC News' Linsey Davis that that experience not only sets him apart from his opponents, state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but also resonates strongly with voters.
"I'm the only real New Yorker running in this race. The others, they've had a cup of coffee here, and then they've gone to other places, which is fine. But Curtis Sliwa, if you even ask my adversaries, they'll say he's the real New Yorker, the real New Yorker," said Sliwa, who was also the Republican candidate for mayor in 2021, losing to current Democratic incumbent Eric Adams, who is not running for reelection.
Although he is trailing in the polls and has been pressed by President Donald Trump and some Republicans to bow out, Sliwa has been steadfast in his campaigning, hitting the streets and making his pitch about improving safety for New Yorkers.
It has been Sliwa's sole crusade since he was 24, when he founded The Guardian Angels, a non-profit crime prevention organization. When it was launched in the 1970s, he and other volunteers patrolled the Bronx when the city's crime rates were soaring.
"There were no cops, there were fiscal cutbacks. New York City was on the brink of going Chapter 11. I was a night manager at McDonald's in the Bronx, which was burning down, which had more gangs sometimes than cops," he said.
The group quickly expanded to all five boroughs and eventually went global.
Although Sliwa said the city has changed for the better since the '70s, he said there are still serious issues with crime that he contends were not addressed by the last two Democratic mayors.
"I call it a crime crisis. We live in a city where we lock up toothpaste and we don't lock up criminals. I mean, it's embarrassing when people come and visit us and they say, 'Curtis, I tried to get a tube of toothpaste. I got to wait 20 minutes.' Everything's locked up. You don't seem to lock up your criminals," he said.
Sliwa was critical of both of his opponents' policies and their attacks on him. Cuomo has argued that he is the candidate with the most experience in public office.
The Republican nominee slammed Cuomo's record, citing criminal justice reform acts enacted while he was governor and his resignation from office due to investigations into sexual harassment. Cuomo denied the allegations.
"He was a disgraced governor," Sliwa said. "So he has so much experience. He has so many negative things attributed to him that we would have to fill up a New York City public library with all of his failures."
Mamdani has led his campaign with a focus on affordability and pushed forward proposals that would freeze the rent for rent-stabilized apartments and provide free buses and universal child care.
Sliwa joked that you could fit Mamdani's "entire resume on a cocktail napkin," and argued that he doesn't connect with working-class blue collar New Yorkers.
"The reality will hit very quick that he doesn't have access to money for all of his programs -- free bus fare, obviously, freeze the rent, and the main thing, universal child care. Child care is desperately needed, but it's not gonna be universal child care," Sliwa said.
Sliwa contended that Mamdani's bold proposals are the reason why Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding if the assemblyman wins the election.
Sliwa said he would have a more cordial relationship with Trump.
"I get elected, I sit down, whoever Donald Trump assigns, and I sit. Let's negotiate. He loves that. When you say 'negotiate' to Donald Trump, it's like the best thing you could ever say to Donald Trump," he said.
The feeling, however, has not been mutual as Trump and some Republicans pushed Sliwa to leave the race, to no avail. Sliwa acknowledged that he's not a MAGA Republican and is open to disagreeing with the president on issues, such as sending National Guard troops into cities.
However, he distinguished himself from the top 1% who he argued is backing his opponents.
"I am a populist, blue-collar, working-class candidate. I'm not the candidate of billionaires," he said.
When it comes to fair criticisms about himself, Sliwa said acknowledged that he can be a bit of "an entertainer," harking back to his time as a talk radio host, but contended there was nothing wrong with his energy.
"You don't have to be so serious all the time that it seems like you're giving a tutorial about the issues of the day. You can do both. But you have to speak the language of the common woman, the common man. You can't talk over them. You have to talk to them -- and that's what I do," Sliwa said.
The candidate also said he was not ashamed about his passion for animal care and the jokes that come with that.
Sliwa has had as many as 17 cats living with him in his studio apartment, which he said started when his wife began taking in rescue cats from city shelters during the pandemic.
"As Mahatma Gandhi said, a society that does not take care of its animals, does not take care of its people," he said. "I love animals, I know most Americans do."
