This isn’t an endorsement. None is necessary. Even a third grader can see what’s at stake in New York City’s mayoral election. This is now a two-candidate race between Zohran Mamdani (D) and Andrew Cuomo. The opportunity is now. The urgency is real.
Curtis Sliwa (R) is probably a decent candidate anywhere else. But this is New York. He’s a Republican in a Democratic stronghold, and he doesn’t enjoy the support of President Trump — meaning his narrow pathway is closed. Sliwa means well, but he can’t win.
So we are left with a stark choice, and the stakes could not be higher.
New York is about to hand the keys to City Hall to a man whose greatest skill is manipulating algorithms. Mamdani has built a digital propaganda machine that would make any authoritarian proud. He runs on viral moments and manufactured outrage, not results. That might work for influencers, but it’s a recipe for disaster when you’re running a city of over 8 million people.
New York is not ready for his radical experiment. He would dismantle the city’s cultural fabric that has taken 250 years to build. Worse, he doesn’t have the experience. You can’t just go from riding in a plane to flying a 787. He’s too young, too raw, and too naïve about what makes this city work.
And unlike every mayor before him, he’ll never have to face real accountability — his social media army has been trained to attack critics, not question their leader.
Mamdani seems like a decent guy, but his policies would raise taxes, make our streets less safe, decimate New York’s economic base and drive out businesses. He is on the record as anti-NYPD, a harsh critic of Israel, and he has floated the abolition of private property.
He is far too comfortable in the company of antisemites and he won’t back away from his own calls, using the language of terrorism, to “globalize the intifada. He is bankrolled by a radical network that doesn’t believe in America or the freedoms that made this country great.
That’s not just bad politics — it’s dangerous. Lock your doors, New Yorkers.
His proposals — rent freezes, free buses, city-owned groceries, 200,000 new government housing units on top of the New York City Housing Authority’s more than 177,000 — would supposedly be funded by tax hikes on millionaires and corporations. But this will just drive them all to Florida, leaving the bill for the middle class.
Mamdani’s followers don’t understand what the New York City Housing Authority is. They don’t understand municipal bonds. They’ll vote for revolution because it got 4 million views.
Being mayor isn’t a Tik Tok video. It means solving real problems: crime, housing, homelessness, jobs. It means managing a budget bigger than that of most states. The state of New York already faces a $3 billion deficit, and our economic base is packing its bags. Viral moments won’t replace serious solutions. By the time his followers realize the rent freeze destroyed housing construction, the algorithm will have moved on.
Andrew Cuomo paid his price. Nobody’s perfect. He faced the consequences. But he’s done the job. He has governed through crises, kept the economy growing and balanced budgets.
On housing — the issue New Yorkers care about most — he has unmatched experience: governor, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, nonprofit housing leader. He has the skills to deliver real solutions, not empty promises. Three times, New Yorkers elected him governor. That matters.
You don’t have to like or forgive Cuomo, but this is about preventing disaster. You can hold your nose, cast your vote and go back to criticizing him tomorrow. That’s how democracy works when the alternative is unthinkable.
At some point, Sliwa will likely step aside. But even if he doesn’t, the real choice is clear: A proven leader who has navigated crises and delivered results, or a digital demagogue who has built a cult of personality disguised as a movement.
And it turns out, more and more New Yorkers are agreeing. Even people who can’t stand Cuomo are quietly saying they’ll vote for him because the stakes are too high. That’s when you know this is real — despite the polls, Cuomo can win.
This is urgent. If you are a citizen of this city, this election matters to you. Sober up, look at the facts — just the facts — and use your common sense and get out and vote. Because if you don’t, what you’ll be left with isn’t just bad governance. It’s an experiment in viral authoritarianism.
By the time the algorithm moves on to the next trend, the damage will be permanent. And what you’ll have lost — accountability, institutions, democratic norms — you won’t get back for a generation.
Earle Mack is a former United States ambassador to Finland.
