Republican Curtis Sliwa warns NYC becoming cautionary tale in mayor bid

New York City’s decline has a familiar ring to it, says Curtis Sliwa, straight out of Hollywood.

“It’s escaping New York again,” the Republican mayoral candidate told Fox News Digital, warning that progressive mismanagement, high taxes and rising crime are turning the nation’s largest city into a cautionary tale.

Sliwa — who was born in New York City, founded the Guardian Angels in 1979 and says he would “die in this city” — is the current underdog in the race for mayor. Recently released Quinnipiac University poll Queens Democratic Assemblyman Zahran Mamdani was found to be leading with 46% of likely voters supporting him, followed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo at 33% and Sliwa at 15%.

“Maybe we’re looking at a sequel,” Saliwa said, citing the 1981 dystopian classic. “Such a massive migration of people out because we don’t have the money to support the social service systems that democratic socialists like Zahran Mamdani and AOC and others want to basically control in New York City to be providers, not producers.”

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He added: “The economy is in a state of sharp decline.” “It was a huge movement of stocks and investments from New York City… to Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Texas and Tennessee.”

Data backs up some of Sliwa’s warnings, showing that New York City’s population declined about 4.5% between 2020 and 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, as residents moved to less expensive states including Florida and Texas.

“They gave every reason in the world to kick people out the door,” he added.

The lone Republican candidate offers a frank assessment in his comprehensive diagnosis of New York City’s decline, proposing a plan to retain and focus separately on economic relief for the city’s younger generations.

“My program is improve, don’t move,” Saliwa said. “We have to create an economy here where the private sector will survive because it provides most of the jobs.”

“We will give them a five-year tax break on their income taxes,” he said, referring to alumni who live and work in the Empire State. “You can’t live the American dream, buy a car, buy a house. So the next thing you’re looking forward to is being hired into a different position… We have a government that has a bloated budget of $118 billion… I’m the only one of the three candidates running for mayor who says we’ve got to cut taxes, we’ve got to cut the costs of government, we’ve got to keep our millennials around.”[s] And Gen Zers.”

“We can cut just $10 billion in waste at the top,” Sliwa continued, criticizing “vice chancellors and department heads that no one knows, and no one ever sees.”

Sliwa has built a career by showing up where government sometimes fails, and his conservative fiscal pivot links public safety with fiscal recovery.

“You can’t have a good quality of life unless you have safety, and we need at least 7,000 more police officers,” he explained. “The city of fear exists in the subway, especially for women. They don’t feel comfortable. They are exposed to sexual harassment… [Women] They are the number one members of our workforce in New York City.”

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“If we could achieve public safety, everything else would fall into line,” Saliwa said. “But we are neglecting that, and in fact we have become a city famous all over the world for locking up its toothpaste and not locking up criminals.”

It also aims to protect small businesses, which have openly stated that New York City has become too expensive and bureaucratic to thrive.

“Small businesses are never given their due,” Saliwa said. “They employ a million people across the five boroughs.”

“We have what’s called congestion pricing. It needs to be eliminated… Other cities will follow by taxing working-class workers who have to come to work in their cars… It’s nothing more than trying to make up for budget imbalances.”

“I operate on Republican principles — to be fiscally prudent to cut waste and cut taxes.”

Neither Mamdani nor Cuomo’s campaigns responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

According to their public campaign platforms, Mamdani emphasizes housing affordability, expanding transportation access and social investment, while Cuomo has called for a centrist return focused on fiscal discipline and increased police funding.

Although New York had leaned blue for decades, Sliwa claimed that a Red-led state government was not impossible. He also shared a message for those who feel the city has lost the energy and opportunity that once defined it.

“That’s why I’m working hard to get a lot of votes in this mayoral election, so that next year Elise Stefanik can unseat Kathy Hochul of Albany… and it will mimic exactly what happened in 1993,” he said. “We had no chaos, no corruption, and the quality of life was good,” [a] Good economy.”

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But New York City has not elected a Republican mayor since Michael Bloomberg’s 2005 reelection — and no candidate running solely as a Republican has won since Rudy Giuliani left office in 2001.

“The only thing people know about me is that I’ve been a part of New York City for 46 years… The ‘C’ in Curtis stands for consistency… In New York City, it has to be an integration of not just what government can do, but what volunteers can do to save this city that I love… I’m the only true New Yorker running in this race.”

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