The stakes for the city we love and for our loved ones who live there have never been higher.
The largest city in America is on the cusp of electing as mayor a candidate with no executive experience to manage the $116 billion budget of the largest city in America, which employs 350,000 people. We must vote for the only candidate who can legitimately defeat him. We are left with only one choice.
You must vote for Andrew Cuomo.
Polls once suggested Mamdani was unstoppable. Yet recent head-to-head data tells a different story: Cuomo can win. But this hinges on one brutal reality—Curtis Sliwa must either bow out or, at the very least, not receive any of your critical votes.
The numbers, no matter how you slice them, offer Sliwa zero path to victory. This makes his refusal to withdraw not just disappointing, but a selfish betrayal of the city he claims to love.
While we like to vote for a favorite candidate, this election allows no such indulgences. The contrast between Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani is stark and inescapable. One is a former governor, who understands how to manage government and navigate red tape to get things done. Mamdani is a 34-year-old rookie who has failed to attend 80% of the votes as an Assembly member.
In this election, a vote for Sliwa equates to a vote for Mamdani — a man whose rhetoric and policies defy the American dream; a dream based on a capitalist and hard-working ethos; a dream that lives in direct contrast to Mamdani’s socialist and economically reckless policies.
As New Yorkers and activists who lived through 9/11, we can only imagine what it would be like to have a novice managing an emergency on his block, let alone a citywide crisis.
We cannot afford to cling to party loyalty or an ideal candidate. Sliwa’s voters must choose reason over delusion and practicality over fantasy. Vote for Cuomo, the candidate who can beat Mamdani. A vote for Cuomo is a vote to secure the future of New York.
Samantha Ettus is an American bestselling author, speaker, TV contributor, activist, and podcaster. Aliza Licht is an American marketing expert and author who specializes in personal brand advising, social media and fashion.
