NEW YORK — Mayoral contender Curtis Sliwa won the Republican primary on Tuesday in the race to replace Bill de Blasio.
Sliwa beat businessman Fernando Mateo. He’ll face off against the winner of the Democratic Primary and any additional third-party candidates in the general election on Nov. 2.
For years, Sliwa has been known as head of the Guardian Angels, an anti-crime group. He’s said he’ll bring back stop and frisk and a plainclothes anti-crime unit, which was disbanded in June of 2020. Sliwa’s also called for greater police presence on subways and buses.
Sliwa credited his supporters in a victory speech, especially the Staten Island Republican Party, who endorsed him early on in the primary. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani stood at Sliwa’s side for the speech, whom Sliwa also thanked. Giuliani at times received raucous applause from the crowd.
Mateo conceded Tuesday evening, but did not endorse Sliwa. He said the city “will not survive eight more years of Democrats.”
NYC Primary Day: Election results for mayoral races, comptroller, Manhattan DA and more
If elected, Sliwa will have to work in a majority Democratic city and state.
“I will be an adversary of [Gov.] Andrew Cuomo because he needs to go,” Sliwa previously told PIX11.
He also has big changes in mind for the city’s schools. Sliwa said he’d eliminate critical race theory in schools; he’s said he doesn’t want white students being taught that they have white privilege. Instead, he’d want more civics classes.
“They’re going to be doing the National Anthem as I did,” he previously said.
He’s slammed the Department of Education as a “bureaucracy” that sucks up all the money.
Sliwa also has plans to address the issue of homelessness in the city. More than 50,000 people were homeless in the city at the end of 2020, according to city data.
He’s pointed to “empty space in upstate New York” as a solution.
“They’d be more than happy to take our money so that we can rehab the homeless men and women and repatriate them into the city once they’re able to handle a job and pay for their own bills,” he previously said.
Many Republicans in the city shifted their loyalties this past year, with more than 800,000 changing their allegiance to Independent or Democratic affiliations. That’s where Sliwa hopes to find much of his support in the November election.
As of Tuesday evening, it remained unclear which Democratic mayoral hopeful Sliwa would face off with in November. Below are the latest results.
