New York City is home to the wildest artists and most disciplined financiers. While they may seem totally different, they are all looking for one major thing: opportunity. There are three candidates: Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani, and Curtis Sliwa (listed in last name alphabetical order). In this article, I will break down each candidate, their motives, how they could succeed, and how they could fail. I will also discuss how these candidates may affect the Leman community. After reading the article, I encourage YOU to VOTE in our mock election (link at bottom of article).
There are many topics that these candidates plan on addressing: safety, housing, public transportation, taxes, education, and more. Though there is some overlap between the plans, there are also some drastically different viewpoints, a result of the candidates’ drastically different backgrounds. Cuomo was previously a democrat but after losing the democratic primary selection is running as an independent candidate. Mamdani, who is running as a democrat, identifies as a democratic socialist, and is part of the Democratic Socialist of America. Sliwa is a lifelong republican who ran for mayor in 2021.
Experience
The topic of experience has come up many times throughout the mayoral debates.
Andrew Cuomo, 67, was formerly the governor of New York City and previously served as United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. His father, Mario Cuomo, also served as governor of New York. While highly experienced, Cuomo has faced countless accusations of sexual assault and curroption, which ultimately caused him to step down as Governor in 2021. He describes them as "politically motivated attacks”. While some cases have been dropped, some are still under investigation.
Zohran Mamdani, 34, has worked for various political campaigns and organizations, and has been a New York State Assemblyman for four years, representing Astoria, Queens. He has faced strong scrutiny for not having an established job and being supported by his parents —a successful Columbia professor father and Oscar-nominated filmmaker mother— with claims that he does not represent the true working class he is fighting for. However, Mamdani argues that he still is part of the working class and trying to make a difference in NYC.
Curtis Sliwa, 71, is a talk show host and founder of the Guardian Angels, a non-profit dedicated to fighting crime in New York City and around the world. Sliwa has dedicated his life to this organization, although the true extent of its impact on safety has been questioned by many.
Safety
One of the hottest topics of the election is the city's plan to combat crime. One idea all the candidates want to avoid is having Trump send the National Guard, which he has done in multiple other cities. Cuomo and Sliwa both plan to increase the NYPD, which Mayor Eric Adams has implemented during his term and has proved beneficial to decrease crime. Mamdani believes that while the NYPD plays a crucial role in our city, the increased use of social workers in non-threatening situations, such as mental health crises, would be beneficial over the NYPD. This has faced scrutiny from opposers, who claim it will be dangerous for the social workers if the situation escalates.
Immigration
Another major topic of this debate is plans for illegal immigration. All candidates have condemned Trump for deporting immigrants without due process, although the mayor ultimately has little impact on the immigration policies implemented, as they fall under federal jurisdiction. Cuomo has not proposed any set solutions on how to handle illegal immigration in NYC, although he has expressed that he does not support ICE and wants to protect immigrants (not clear if just legal or also illegal). Mamdani hopes to make NYC a sanctuary city, where illegal immigrants are welcome, although there is no clear way to implement this. He also hopes to use funding to increase the amount of defense lawyers in immigration courts, although there are seemingly no current arguments that could stop a court from deporting an immigrant who entered the country illegally. Sliwa has expressed disdain over illegal immigrants, and faced strong criticism after attacking a man in NYC on live television, falsely claiming he was an immigrant. However, he said that he does not agree with Trump’s policies on deportation and only supports deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, not ones who are following the law.
Housing
Affordable housing is a topic of concern for candidates and their supporters. All candidates agree that affordable housing needs to be increased, although like with most topics, they have very different ways of approaching this issue. For Cuomo, he wants to increase funding for NYCHA (NYC’s affordable housing), making the living conditions better for low-income families. He also wants to increase housing for all levels of income. This has faced criticism because many luxury buildings, like the Brooklyn Tower, are too expensive for anyone to afford, while there is not enough housing for medium and low income families. One of Mamdani’s biggest running points is a rent freeze, while putting higher regulations on landlords. This has been controversial because rent freezes can actually discourage landlords from investing in their properties. Sliwa takes an opposite approach, and wants to encourage landlords to create better housing conditions by screening tenants and protecting them from squatters. He also wants to convert vacant corporate buildings into apartments.
Taxes
All of these policies, from increasing defense lawyers for illegal immigrants, to hiring more NYPD, to building affordable housing, would greatly affect the city’s budget. Taxes are the main way to pay for these initiatives. Cuomo plans to stop income taxes on tips, decrease taxes for low-income households, and increase taxes for mansions. Mamdani, who is planning on spending the most money, has the most drastic tax change, increasing taxes for anyone making more than $1 Million dollars a year, which is a considerable amount as the city with the most billionaires. He also hopes to increase corporate taxes, which he claims will raise $5 Billion. It is highly debatable whether or not his tax increases will support his funding. Finally, Sliwa hopes to cap property taxes and decrease business taxes to alleviate the tax burden of everyone, but especially low income families and small businesses owners.
Trump
As the Saturday Night Live skit this weekend made parody of, a huge overlying question is how Donald Trump will react to the mayor's policy. None of the candidates support him, but it seems like Trump has the most tolerance for Cuomo or Sliwa. As for Mamdani, their views could not be more different. Trump said “Zohran Mamdani, who is running for Mayor, will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party,” a sarcastic statement insinuating Mamdani’s poor performance.
As former Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in an Instagram post endorsing Cuomo, “Being Mayor of New York City is the second toughest job in America, and the next mayor will face immense challenges.”
If you are interested in learning more about the candidates’ policies, I recommend looking at their websites, as well as reading different perspectives on different news sites.
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