Sipu Jha
This week’s Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live featured a rather off-field joke. Michael Che said: “Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for mayor and the world’s only white panther, has been endorsed by Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani only likes him because his poll numbers are between nine and eleven.”The joke about Sliwa was a reference to his distinctive headgear — not a spoiler for the upcoming Avengers movie (where one rumour claims that Ryan Gosling will play T’Challa’s white son and a Black Panther from another timeline). But it served as a reminder of how sidelined Sliwa has been between the Zohran wave and Cuomo’s attempted comeback
Sliwa, 69, isn’t new to the rodeo. He founded the Guardian Angels in 1979 — a street-patrol crew born in the crime-ravaged Bronx — and spun it into a decades-long persona as a radio firebrand, neighbourhood vigilante, and walking emblem of New York grit. He stood for mayor in 2021 and lost heavily to Eric Adams, but never really left the trail. Now he’s back — still a Republican, still loud, still proudly fringe — and if the polls are right, still stuck in third place.But for a man dismissed as a sideshow, Sliwa refuses to fade.
His Pitch: Law, Order, and Rats
Sliwa’s 2025 campaign is unapologetic throwback populism — NYPD blue, sanitation green, and subway grime. He’s promising 7,000 more police officers, a return to “intrusive” policing tactics from before 2010, and enough transit patrols to put fare dodgers on alert. His message is blunt: New York’s gone soft, and he’s the man to restore order.He talks about crime, yes — but also rats. Literal ones. His quality-of-life agenda is classic broken-windows thinking: clamp down on noise, illegal street trading, graffiti, litter, and, indeed, rodents. He sees cleanliness and safety as two sides of the same coin — and says New York needs a mayor who isn’t afraid to “get dirty” to get the job done.On housing, Sliwa takes aim at “overdevelopment” and the City of Yes zoning reforms. He wants to restore power to local communities, revive thousands of derelict rent-controlled flats, and protect middle-income families from being priced out by overseas investors and luxury schemes.His economic plan is old-school conservative: cut corporation tax, reduce regulation for small businesses, and encourage street-level enterprise. Add in his perennial concern for animal welfare (he’s still running on his “Protect Animals” line), and you get the full Sliwa blend — gritty, eccentric, borough-first populism.
The Reception: Cult Hero or Political Relic?
To much of the media establishment, Sliwa is a leftover. A throwback. A man in a red beret reliving battles from a bygone city. But online, particularly among Gen Z, he’s found a bizarre new life. On TikTok, he’s a meme: scolding e-bike riders, roasting fare-dodgers, and ranting against “TikTok zombies” in a style part preacher, part pub ranter.But his appeal hasn’t come without controversy. He’s been accused of xenophobic and Islamophobic rhetoric — including a baseless claim during a debate that rival Zohran Mamdani supported “global jihad.” His Guardian Angels have been criticised for vigilante-style behaviour, most infamously when they pinned down a man in the Bronx whom Sliwa wrongly accused of shoplifting. The man was innocent. Sliwa didn’t apologise.And yet, he continues — campaigning on foot, door to door, carriage to carriage. No consultants. No branding team. Just the beret, the bellow, and a belief that New York’s silent majority still wants someone like him.
The Maths Doesn’t Favour Him
Sliwa’s base is small but fervent — mainly Republicans, conservative independents, and outer-borough homeowners fed up with crime, noise, and council taxes. He’s got the backing of all five local Republican organisations, plus the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Elise Stefanik. But Republican registration in the city sits just above 10%, and Sliwa’s poll numbers reflect that — stuck in the low to mid teens, trailing far behind Mamdani and Cuomo.Strategists don’t see him as a spoiler or kingmaker — more a persistent fixture. Even among his fans, many would shift to Cuomo if he weren’t on the ballot. His ceiling, politically speaking, seems firmly fixed.
Final Word
Curtis Sliwa isn’t likely to win. He probably knows it. But he’s there. On the platforms. In the streets. In the neighbourhoods where politics feels less like an argument over policy and more like a plea for basic dignity. Where people want clean streets, safe transport, and a mayor who might actually pick up the phone.He’s not the front-runner. He’s not the future. But in a race defined by Cuomo’s comeback and Mamdani’s momentum, he remains: the red-bereted constant, still standing, still shouting, still convinced that New York hasn’t quite forgotten him.
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