Join us for a riveting discussion centered on the New York City mayoral elections, where three prominent challengers vie for victory against candidate Mamdani. With Andrew Cuomo entering the race as an independent, our hosts unpack the potential consequences of vote-splitting among the competitors. Explore their predictions, criticisms, and hopes for the city’s future leadership. The episode also celebrates Curtis Sliwa’s legacy, reflecting on his transformational role with the Guardian Angels and his unique brand of politics. Through entertaining anecdotes and thoughtful discussions, our hosts reveal the intricate balance of power, personality, and principles that define this race. Beyond
And everybody goes, who cares who the mayor of New York is? It’s really important. It’s the biggest city in America. It’s hugely visible. And yesterday, Andrew Cuomo said, I’m getting back in, running as an independent. And I’m going to tell you, that is bad news for Mr. Mamdani, because now he’s got three guys running against him, all have some degree of skin in the game. You’ve got Eric Adams, you’ve got Andrew Cuomo, and you’ve got Curtis Sliwa. And there’s no runoff. The winner, plurality wins, somebody could win this with 35%. Curtis got 28 when he ran sort of head-to-head against Eric Adams four years ago. It’s not out of the question. Andrew Cuomo getting in, I don’t think Andrew’s going to win. I don’t think, I don’t know. I think it’s bad news for Mamdani. It might be good news for Curtis Sliwa. And so, you know, hey, so I offer you that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yep. I see it completely opposite. I think you’re 100% wrong. You’re dead wrong. And let me tell you why. Because all of the analysts, and listen, you could be smarter than all of them, but everybody says all this does is split the vote and give Mamdani a path into the mayoral’s office. Because you’re going to have three guys who are going to split apart the vote.
SPEAKER 02 :
There’s a Mamdani vote and a non-Mamdani vote. Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. I mean, there’s no way this helps him. There isn’t any way. In fact, I’m a little shocked at your perspective. If you’ve got Cuomo pulling 15% or 20%, Curtis pulling 15% or 20%, Eric Adams pulling 15% or 20%, how do you think that beats Mom Donnie? Then all he needs is 31%. He’s going to win it with 30-some percent. That’s Mom Donnie.
SPEAKER 02 :
know that it’s him? You don’t know that it’s him? In November. In something about November. It’s a long time. A lot of the blue may come off of his rose. I hope it does.
SPEAKER 03 :
Look, there to me is a parallel between the New York City mayor’s race and the Epstein story, and let me tell you what it is. The only way we screw ourselves is when we screw ourselves. Now, I mean, look at the media now running with Epstein, and they’re just loving this.
SPEAKER 02 :
Definitely.
SPEAKER 03 :
Kim Jeffrey’s all about it. They’re torn. MAGA’s tearing themselves apart. Axios, the siege mentality. It’s the first time that Trump has gotten a revolt and they’re tearing. It’s the first time since Trump came down the escalator that MAGA is turning on him. Look at him go. Look at him go. Again, self-inflicted wound on our part. We’re doing this to ourselves. In New York, if the egos… of Eric Adams and Chris Cuomo and my friend Curtis, and he is my friend, and I had him on the show yesterday. Look, in a perfect world, Curtis Sliwa is Giuliani 2.0. I mean, he’s the best thing that could possibly happen in New York. Are you kidding me? A law and order guy? He knows every inch of New York City, is founder of the Guardian Angels. When I interviewed him yesterday, he reminded me of the Underbelly Tour that he gave me the first night I took over at WABC. He took me under his wing. Curtis Lewa took me under his wing and said, Mike Gallagher, you’re the new kid on the block here at WABC. You just sort of ostensibly replaced Bob Grant, which were big shoes for Phil. But that was my big gig right at WABC, and Curtis was a fixture there at the time. He was the perennial fill-in talk show host for every shift. In fact, this is not a joke, he used to sleep on the floor under his desk in a cubicle, and when somebody was out, he would pop up and go in and do a talk show. I watched him in a dead sleep get woken up, walk into the studio, and start talking like he didn’t miss a beat. This guy’s a machine. Wow.
SPEAKER 02 :
I make myself available for a bunch of shows. I ain’t sleeping in the building waiting for the opportunity to… You’re a piker compared to Curtis Lewa.
SPEAKER 03 :
But so he was Mr. WABC. So my first day, he said, Mike Gallagher, I’m going to take you to the Guardian Angels… underbelly tour of New York we were in Harlem we went to the Bronx and I mean the Bronx at 10 o’clock at night I mean it was and he’s got the bright red beret and I’m thinking we’re going down any minute now
SPEAKER 02 :
the guardian angels were the guardian angels were the beret wearing force led by curtis what it wasn’t it wasn’t a message that said the cops aren’t enough or you know not at all it was it was very it’s like listen we’re going to be the eyes and ears we know you guys can’t be everywhere but the guardian angels were on the subways in the neighborhoods there to sometimes call the police or there to sometimes intervene in some non-lethal way to just make
SPEAKER 03 :
Beloved by most New Yorkers. Even though everybody knows Curtis is a rock-ribbed conservative, they still love the idea of helping the police. And look, I think he sleeps with that red beret on. I almost had the guts to ask him yesterday in the interview, if you lost the beret, you think you’d go up 10 points? But I couldn’t do it.
SPEAKER 02 :
You told me that a couple of weeks ago. I couldn’t do it. That’s his brand. That’s his brand. I know. I know. I know.
SPEAKER 03 :
And he’s all about the brand. He’s very good about branding. In fact, now he’s walking around with a Curtis for NYC mayor jacket on. So he knows how to brand. So anyway, and he reminded me, we were, and here’s the crazy part about that night where I got to go to the, we went to White Castle and got, you know, what do you call them, gut busters, sliders, gut bombs. I mean, and people are, hey, Curtis, yo, Curtis. And I’m thinking, and I got a tour. And that night, TWA Flight 800 went down off the coast of Long Island. And he and I raced back to the radio station, and we both worked into the wee hours of the morning with that coverage. That was the night that that all happened. That was my initiation to WABC. And Curtis yesterday said one of the kindest things that I’ve heard. I mean, look, I don’t get a lot of kudos. I don’t ask for them. I don’t pat myself on the back. We haven’t even mentioned that I’m number nine on this year’s Talkers Magazine heavy hundred list. We don’t want to even mention that. I mean, who’s keeping track? I’m number nine. But, look, Curtis said, I watched you in action, Mike Gallagher, that night, and I saw you to be the broadcaster that you are. You’re as good as anybody in the business. And he just gave me a lot of real nice compliments. And so, look, he’d be a fantastic mayor, but he’s not going anywhere. He’s a Republican in a blue, blue, blue city. And the conventional wisdom is – and I think you said it, if I’m not mistaken, a few weeks ago – Good luck, Curtis, with that. That ain’t going to happen. So, here’s what Cuomo proposed. By September, let’s look at where the…
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
Three of us are in the polling. Oh. And whoever is second and third drop out and coalesce behind the person who’s leading in the polling so that it’s a one-on-one.
SPEAKER 02 :
Or if it’s Mamdani still leading in the polling, whoever is first among the non-Mamdani people.
SPEAKER 03 :
I don’t know why you keep bringing that up. Mamdani is the nominee, Mark. What are you talking about?
SPEAKER 02 :
The primaries are over. We’re done.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right, it’s a general election between Mamdani and anyone else. So of the three challengers of Eric Adams, Cuomo, or Curtis, let’s coalesce. Look, that’s the only chance New York’s got, because if they don’t, they’re going to split the vote. And you’re saying, I mean, if you look at the math, Mamdani doesn’t need that much if all three of them peel off enough votes to split. Do you think that’ll be?
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s probably not going to be Curtis. Probably not going to be Curtis.
SPEAKER 03 :
Mark, I don’t think any of their egos are going to let him do that.
SPEAKER 02 :
They’re not going to back down. But just as a thought exercise, between Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo, who do you think will have more pullovers?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, or Curtis Lee. In a perfect world, it would be Curtis.
SPEAKER 02 :
So the world’s not perfect, and it is New York. So might it be? Do you think it’s Andrew Cuomo’s idea, right? And I think it’s based on the belief that he thinks he’ll be second in the polls. It’ll be Mom Donnie, Cuomo, and then Eric and Curtis. And he’ll say, look, those of you who are below me, get out so that it can be just me against Mom Donnie, and then I got a chance.
SPEAKER 03 :
If one of those guys is challenging Mamdani, I think one of them will win. If two or three of them are challenging him, Mamdani is going to win. Again, it’s going to be a self-inflicted wound because egos are going to get in the way. And Cuomo has as big an ego as anybody in the universe. He declared yesterday he’s running as an independent. I’m into it. And it was a lackluster, lifeless message. Who cares?
SPEAKER 02 :
To use your very sound premise, your sort of connection between self-inflicted wounds and needless or unfortunate conflict in what should be a time of harmony and energy for MAGA, you’re 100% right, and that’s part of what grieves me a little bit. But it’s not like these people are wrong. The folks who are clamoring for more accountability, clamoring? I mean, there ain’t going to be no client list, guys. Sorry. But for something, just give us something. Throw us a bone, man. They’re not wrong. And so what are you, what are we telling those folks? See, that’s a good question.
SPEAKER 03 :
Because I’ve got people pulling me, and you’re probably getting the same thing. I get text messages saying, please stop talking about Epstein. Get over it. Please move on. We’ve got big wins at the Supreme Court. Don’t look now. The court is letting Trump do what he wants to do with the Department of Education, which is well overdue. huge win there, all kinds of wins, all kinds of accomplishments, and we’re missing it because everybody’s obsessing about Epstein. But you and I are of the mindset that I’m not going to shut down the way people feel or what they want to talk about. I can’t do it. Everybody’s talking about the Epstein thing. And your analysis today, and again, I was listening to you, the old Howard Franklin monologue, the old Howard Franklin Bridge, Mark Davis monologue.
SPEAKER 02 :
I take Mike across Tampa Bay every day.
SPEAKER 03 :
You take me, and boy, you ought to see what they’re doing to that thing. They’re blowing up spans, and they’re doing new construction, and it looks like something out of another movie. But I’m listening to you, and I’m thinking, Mark is spot on. I mean, you’re right. You have a right to be frustrated, because this is going to not have a satisfying conclusion. And the reason we’re frustrated is that we’ve got so many satisfying conclusions. Look at the border. He got the border sealed in a matter of hours. Okay. Just like that. The economy is turning around. The stock market is soaring. We are respected again on the world stage. But there’s not going to be an easy resolution to this. You’re so right. If they had any dirt on Trump, this whole narrative that Trump’s probably on the list, baloney. They would have used it. Any Republican. Everybody was hanging out with Epstein in the 90s. Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, and Oprah. They were all hanging out with the guy. So that’s not enough. But again, people keep saying to me, but Mike… If there are all these terrible, terrible girls that were victimized, how do you let all those men get away with it? Well, you shouldn’t. But here’s a weird question that nobody seems to be asking. Well, some do. Why aren’t any of the victims coming forward saying he did this to me or he did that to me? I know, I know, yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Nobody.
SPEAKER 03 :
There’s not one.
SPEAKER 02 :
What’s up with that? These are all women now. After decades of navigating this, easy to say, hard to do. Easy for us to say. Well, yeah. And then your life gets ruined. Then your life gets blown up. How many flippant victims are we supposed to have? We should be able to fill a football stadium with them. So the story is told. It would seem that there would be a handful who would be willing to say. And I’ll tell you, they would be met with empathy. Huge appreciation. And somebody stepping forward to say, I was one of those young girls, and here are six guys who did things to me.
SPEAKER 03 :
That would be unbelievably terrible. It’s all unfortunate. And let me tell you the most unfortunate thing of all. Don’t shoot the messenger. Don’t get mad at Mike. Blame Mark when I say the following. When I say, it’s going to blow over. It’s going to blow over. It’s going to blow over. I give it a week, maybe a couple weeks, but it’s going to blow over. And that makes people crazy when I say that. Did I hear you say you’re totally right? Of course you’re totally right. Okay, I blame Mark Davis for this point of view. Direct all correspondence to Mark Davis at Mark Davis.
SPEAKER 02 :
Definition of blowing over. we’re gonna move on there’s they’re the vast majority well some the mass the vast some folks won’t the people that want the clicks and they want the and and look they’re not wrong you’re right in the in the media influencers clickbait world but i also mean some good-hearted people who love you and love me and and think we’re just not talked off enough about this or just you know if we if we were We don’t care. We’re hypocrites. I know. We’re ambivalent about child sex abuse. I love that one.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, that’s a good one.
SPEAKER 02 :
They’re just frustrated. They’re frustrated. And I get it.
SPEAKER 03 :
basis i know bob france filling in first they got this morning said look at look at all the cover-ups from the auto pen to biden’s very condition to comey and clapper to who shot trump and why and you know but that’s but that’s not a donald trump affectation correct that’s not that it does not come from trump so to trust the guy he got he’s got information that we don’t have he’s saying move on he’s saying don’t let’s not blow this thing up last thing because we’re late
SPEAKER 02 :
What do you mean? He’s got information that we don’t have. I mean, I think you’re generally right about that most days. It’s true most days he’s president. But what does he know that we are not allowed to know?
SPEAKER 03 :
Huh? How do we know when we don’t know? How do I know? You know, if you don’t know, you don’t know. I mean, that’s the point. I know what I don’t know. I do know that everyone should blame Mark Davis for saying we’re going to move on.
SPEAKER 02 :
At Mark Davis at X. I’m moving on from this segment right now.
