Republicans pressuring Sliwa to get out of race to let Cuomo take on Mamdani

The race for mayor of New York City is starting to get a little interesting.

Mamdani still holds a monster lead, but the main field has been reduced by one.

Now, Republicans are trying to pressure Curtis Sliwa, the GOP candidate, to drop out of the race, which would be a game-changer in terms of giving Cuomo a legit shot to beat Mamdani.

Adams Is Out

The first piece to this puzzle is already in place, with NYC Mayor Eric Adams announcing that he was dropping out of the race.

Adams was in third or fourth place in most polls, so he had no real shot, even though his bravado told a different story.

Adams has yet to endorse anyone, but the general consensus is that if he really wants to see Mamdani stopped, he will throw his support behind Cuomo.

If we look at recent polling, if Cuomo can snatch up most of Adams’ supporters, it would get him down to about 10 points, which makes this race far more interesting.

Getting Radical

Mamdani just announced a new policy, and it was a bit of a risk with Adams out of the race.

He announced that he was going to end a “gifted” program for young students that was very popular with parents. Once this was announced, parents were very vocal about not supporting this move by Mamdani, and Cuomo took advantage of it.

He stated, “That program is the one program that allows extraordinary students to actually excel.”

He continued, “You take away gifted and talented programs, the one possibility that your child might get a really first-class education in public schools goes with it.”

Get Out

Reports broke this week that the Giuliani camp, which still carries weight in New York City, was getting behind Cuomo, snubbing Curtis Sliwa in the process.

Joe Lhota, Giuliani’s former deputy mayor, stated, "It’s a choice between a proven manager, a socialist, and a fruit loop. Of course I’m going to be with Andrew.”

There were several others in Giulian’s camp who also endorsed Cuomo, and I don’t think that happens without Trump offering his take on the race. Point being, the GOP is now snubbing its primary winner and siding with the candidate who has the most realistic chance of beating Mamdani.

To this point, Sliwa has resisted dropping out, but the reality is that he holds just enough votes that if he stays in, Mamdani is a double-digit winner of the race. If he drops, this could be a coin flip if the majority of those voters move over to Cuomo. But there is one problem… If Sliwa drops out, he needs to do it soon because early voting starts on October 26. If she stays past that date, sadly, Mamdani gets an easy win.