Why Not Curtis?

Fraser Seitel

Contrary to popular wisdom, there’s no reason that Curtis Sliwa can’t slay the socialist dragon and become the next mayor of New York City.

Oh sure, most polls have the Republican septuagenarian Guardian Angels founder trailing 33-year-old Democrat—and AOC-acolyte—Zohran Mamdani somewhere between 75 percent and 25 percent. And it’s true that 63 percent of NYC registered voters are Democrats. And a healthy portion of New Yorkers consider Curtis a publicity-seeking, red-beret-ed buffoon. But …

The fact remains that Curtis Sliwa is eminently more trustworthy and ethical than the two disgraced former Democrats-turned Independents—Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams—running against him. And he's also eminently more knowledgeable and capable than the upstart leftist Mamdani, who throttled Cuomo and Adams in the Democratic primary.

In a Democratic party bereft of ideas, poor on personalities and scraping rock bottom in political popularity, Mamdani is the new heart throb. But, like his role model Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mamdani appears to be little more than a shiny, empty vessel who holds the potential to do great harm to New York.

Indeed, it’s not an understatement to suggest that Curtis Sliwa may be the only hope to save the world’s greatest city from once again confronting the kind of operational and financial mismanagement it confronted 50 years ago, when it teetered on the edge of municipal bankruptcy.

If the mayoral election were held today, of course, Mamdani would crush Curtis. So, how can Sliwa possibly make up the ground he needs to win the day in November? Here’s the public relations formula he might consider.

Seize the money

The sad, irrefutable fact in 2025 is that U.S. political victories, to every citizen’s great dismay, depend on cash, or crypto if you prefer. Curtis Sliwa has neither. He's the most poorly financed candidate in the mayoral race. And he can’t win if he doesn’t quickly change that reality.

To do it, he must first convince NYC's powerful corporate leaders—beginning with JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon, Blackrock’s Larry Fink and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg—to support his campaign with public endorsements and serious cash.

The corporate elite was burned in the primary by heavily backing loser Cuomo. And while they no doubt fear that a Mamdani administration might be even worse than the anti-business, painfully inept de Blasio administration that preceded Adams, they're still reluctant to support Sliwa. And they won’t ante up until Curtis convinces the moneyed class that he’s a viable candidate.

To do that, he needs to …

Clean up his act

Despite the fact that he's been running for mayor since 2020, Sliwa is still seen as a bit of a “flake” by many. But it's undeniable that Curtis is unique.

For one thing, he's a lifetime resident of Brooklyn, Bronx and Manhattan who never sheds his red beret. For another, since 1977, he's led a posse of vigilantes fighting street crime, first in New York City and now in 130 cities and 14 countries. He was once targeted for death by crime boss John Gotti, barely surviving an assassination attempt in 1992. He's been married four times, is a prostate cancer survivor and has been a perpetual voice on local conservative radio for three decades. Indeed, he was so dedicated to his job—or perhaps so impoverished!—he often slept overnight at the studio.

Sliwa is also, hands down, the most knowledgeable candidate in the race about New York City, its neighborhoods, people, subways and just everything else. And he knows more than anyone else running against him what New York needs to fix its problems and realize its potential. That’s the expertise he needs to demonstrate both to the corporate titans he needs for money and the mainstream media with which he desperately needs to engage.

Tone it down on the animals

Sliwa’s current wife is an animal advocate, which pretty much makes Curtis an animal advocate. Nothing wrong with that. But Sliwa has made animal rights a cornerstone of his campaign, calling for an end to “kill shelters” and Central Park horse-drawn carriages. He even showed up in Queens to hunt down a crazy who lit a dog on fire.

While all of these pro-animal projects are exemplary, Curtis needs to tone down the initiative. First, it makes needless enemies, like the powerful Transport Workers Union, which represents the carriage drivers. Second—and more importantly—the extreme focus on animal rights tends, rightly or wrongly, to feed the “Curtis as nut” narrative that's his largest impediment in drawing major support.

Much better would be to shift focus to other priorities like building back NYC small businesses, partnering with NYC big business, making subways more affordable and safer for strap-hangers, supporting the police in fighting crime, building up the outer boroughs that he knows so well, vehemently opposing bias to any group and declaring war on City Hall corruption.

These, coupled with his unique NYC background and expertise, are the kinds of priorities that will help separate Sliwa from his mayoral adversaries, particularly Mamdani.

Lose the beret

Finally, there's the matter of the red beret.

Sliwa wears it constantly, he says, to celebrate the men and women who protect the public each day as members of his Guardian Angels. He has vowed that when he wins, if he wins, he will remove it as mayor.

No, too late.

The beret, like the ferocious support for animals, helps define the candidate as “unserious.” Clearly, it shouldn’t. But among the billionaires who count, it does. And it hurts Sliwa’s chances of winning.

So, just as earlier in the campaign, he substituted a business suit for his ubiquitous Guardian Angels uniform, so too must Curtis now make the symbolic switch and lose the beret.

Stated simply, Curtis Sliwa is the only candidate for mayor who isn’t a novice, a phony or a crook. If he gets serious about who he is, what he stands for and what he’ll do, he can make up ground quickly. And if he truly is in it to win it, if he follows this kind of public relations plan, anything is possible.

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Fraser P. Seitel has been a communications consultant, author and teacher for 40 years. He is author of the Pearson text “The Practice of Public Relations,” now in its 14th edition, and co-author of “Rethinking Reputation" and "Idea Wise.” He may be reached directly at [email protected].