Prime aides and associates of former Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani are backing Andrew Cuomo over GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa for mayor, The Submit has realized.
Joe Lhota, the Republican candidate for mayor in 2013 who beforehand was a deputy mayor beneath Giuliani, informed The Submit he’s supporting Cuomo.
He additionally served as then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s MTA chief.
“It’s a alternative between a confirmed supervisor, a socialist and a fruit loop,” mentioned Lhota, who has since switched his get together affiliation from Republican to Democrat.
“After all I’m going to be with Andrew.”
Anthony Carbonetti, a Republican who served as Giuliani’s chief of employees at Metropolis Corridor and was a senior advisor to his 2008 presidential marketing campaign, additionally mentioned he’s pushing Cuomo.
For any likelihood to defeat Democratic nominee and front-runner Zohran Mamdani, Cuomo, operating as an impartial, must siphon votes from Sliwa.
“Curtis is a superb New Yorker. However the numbers aren’t there for him to win,” Carbonetti informed The Submit.
He mentioned he supported Sliwa 4 years in the past, however the stakes are too excessive now with democratic socialist Mamdani the favourite to guide America’s largest metropolis.
Sliwa, he mentioned, can solely play spoiler.
“I don’t need a socialist in command of a $116 billion metropolis finances,” Carbonetti mentioned.
He mentioned Mamdani’s proposed fare free bus program will flip the automobiles into “cell homeless shelters.”
In the meantime, former GOP US Lawyer Basic Mike Mukasey beneath then-President George Bush , and a longtime Giuliani pal, endorsed Cuomo in an op-ed posted posted on-line by the Staten Island Advance Thursday .
Mukasey mentioned he’s been a loyal Republican voter for 40 years — however this election is totally different.
“The primary rule for Republicans should be that our metropolis shouldn’t be put prone to irreversible injury, which it might be if Mamdani is elected,” Mukasey mentioned in his column.
“The second rule is that we should act on the perfect info we now have in order to comply with the primary rule. That info says that Cuomo is essentially the most viable various to Mamdani, significantly after Adams has withdrawn,” he mentioned, referring to Mayor Eric Adams asserting this week he’s not looking for re-election.
The maneuvering comes at a time when President Trump himself has dumped on his get together’s nominee, Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder.
“Look, I’m a Republican, however Curtis is just not precisely prime time,” Trump mentioned on “Fox & Pals” final month.
He mentioned Cuomo would have a greater shot than Sliwa at defeating “communist” Mamdani in a head-to-head contest.
The Sliwa marketing campaign dismissed help from Giuliani’s community for Cuomo.
“Joe Lhota has been a Democrat since 2016. He labored for Andrew Cuomo,” mentioned Sliwa marketing campaign adviser Rob Cole.
“Massive deal,” he mentioned.
Giuliani, 81, mayor from 1994-2001, and who has served as a private lawyer to Trump, has not backed a horse within the race for mayor but, his spokesman mentioned.
Latest polls present Democratic nominee Mamdani with about a 20-point lead over Cuomo, operating on the impartial “Combat and Ship” poll line, with Sliwa coming in a distant third. However Mamdani is getting lower than 50% of the vote.
There was no normal election survey launched but since Adams introduced his exit from the race.
