On Mamdani, Cuomo, and Sliwa
| It’s off-year election day in America! In twenty-two states, a variety of local ballot measures, school board seats, and municipal offices are being put to the vote, including, most prominently, mayor of New York City. This year’s campaign is a three-way race among former governor Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary by 130,000 votes; perennial Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and local radio staple; and the Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani, a New York State Assemblymember who would be, at thirty-four, the youngest mayor since 1889, when thirty-one-year-old Hugh John Grant was elected mayor of Manhattan and the Bronx (the five boroughs of New York were not consolidated into one city until 1898). And how do New York’s candidates stack up? Read below for some of the Review’s recent articles about Mamdani, Sliwa, and Cuomo. “Sliwa peppers his sonorous speech with obscure anecdotes from the city’s political history and a rich array of New Yorkisms both familiar and fading: ‘stunad,’ ‘fugazi,’ ‘tuchus,’ ‘homeboy,’ ‘bullfeathers,’ ‘selling wolf tickets.’ He does not hold back from the outré while campaigning, doing things like rallying outside City Hall with a poster of the emaciated corpse of a carriage horse or getting on the radio and discussing the powerful smell that emanates from his signature woolen red beret.” “This is the coalition Mamdani hopes to build—people who love New York City but struggle to keep living here. His top-line proposals for making the city cheaper are straightforward: freeze rent for rent-stabilized tenants, provide free childcare with a universal daycare program, and make the buses free (and run better). In response to his critics, who decry his platform as unrealistic, he points to often-neglected moments in the city’s recent history: the successes of his bus pilot program, for instance, or the fact that de Blasio froze the rent himself several times and created universal pre-K in just a few short years.” During his final day in office, Cuomo broadcast a “farewell” address that seemed designed to position him for another run for governor. Bitter in tone, with a barely suppressed rage, it had all the trappings of a campaign speech. He talked directly to voters again, this time affecting an almost conspiratorial fellowship. He credited New Yorkers for his accomplishments; he was no more than the vessel of their wishes for a higher minimum wage, for a ban on assault weapons, for LGBTQ equality. “I went to you,” he repeated in a stiff, passionate, staccato rhythm, “and you did it. You made the right decision.”
—October 7, 2021 To understand how Zohran Mamdani swept New York’s mayoral primary, it helps to know why the city’s tenants went on the offensive against real estate. —July 22, 2025 The business community also freaked out about Bill de Blasio starting back in 2013—and what happened in NYC during his two terms? Money was made! There will be a five-alarm freakout from now until well into Mamdani’s first term (and beyond), but winning the Democratic primary by 12 points with Trump in the White House means you are going to be mayor of New York City, even if you’re a thirty-three-year-old Muslim socialist with millions being spent to smear you. Them’s the breaks. Anyone who doesn’t see this right now is in denial, and some time into burning another pile of cash on negative ads, they’ll probably see the light. It’s not going to work.
—July 5, 2025 Image from Sunday Night Movies by Leanne Shapton, 2013 To find love for yourself, or to place a gift personals ad for a loved one, take advantage of our limited-time special offer. Special Offer
Subscribe for just $1 an issue and receive a FREE 2026 calendar You are receiving this message because you signed up
for e-mail newsletters from The New York Review. The New York Review of Books
207 East 32nd Street, New York, NY 10016-6305 |
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario