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With two weeks until Election Day, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa have landed on unlikely common ground: rejecting billionaire influence in the New York City mayoral election.
Two billionaires, Red Apple Media CEO John Catsimatidis and hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman, are calling on Sliwa to drop out of the mayoral race in order to clear a pathway to victory for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an Independent candidate.
“The billionaires can conspire to pick their candidate,” Sliwa said during a press conference in Manhattan on Monday. “I trust the people. They will make the decision. I will not drop out.”
BILL ACKMAN JUMPS INTO NYC MAYORAL FIGHT, SAYS SLIWA MUST DROP OR ‘WE ARE TOAST’
New York City mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa speaks to reporters in Manhattan on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, with two weeks until Election Day. (Fox News Digital/Deirdre Heavey)
Several blocks downtown at his own press conference Monday morning, Mamdani admitted his surprise to agree with Sliwa.
“I never thought I would say this, but here we are, where the only candidates who agree that billionaires shouldn’t control the future of this city are the Republican nominee and the Democratic nominee,” Mamdani said.
Catsimatidis, who is also the CEO of WABC Radio, publicly urged Sliwa to drop out of the race on Monday. Sliwa has long hosted a radio program on WABC but is on leave while he runs for mayor.
“Curtis would make the best mayor of all the candidates … but Curtis has to realize that he should love New York more than anything else,” he said. “It certainly looks like Curtis should pull out right now.”
“I’m not dropping out,” Sliwa reaffirmed to reporters on Monday while responding to Catsimatidis’ plea.
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New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani fields reporter questions in Manhattan on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (Fox News Digital/Deirdre Heavey)
A recent Fox News survey of the mayoral race, conducted Oct. 10–14, asked voters about their second-choice candidate. If both Adams and Sliwa are out, the results show Mamdani keeping a significant lead, even as support for Cuomo increases.
With Sliwa out, the poll found Mamdani would pick up 50% compared to 37% to Cuomo.
Yet, Cuomo on Monday said that when New Yorkers realize that Sliwa dropping out would create a head-to-head matchup with Mamdani, “they’ll discard the spoiler Curtis Sliwa and rally behind Cuomo to save the city.”
When asked who bears responsibility if Mamdani is elected mayor, Sliwa told Fox News Digital on Monday, “We blame Andrew Cuomo.”
“I would suggest to Andrew Cuomo, stop this nonsense. You are the one who is responsible for Zohran Mamdani. You got beaten mightily in a Democratic primary,” Sliwa said when asked about Cuomo calling him a “spoiler.”
Mamdani on Sunday responded to a viral clip of Sliwa reiterating that he will stay in the race, despite pleas from billionaires, like Ackman.
“It’s genuinely positive for our democracy that there’s another candidate in this race who believes NYC voters should pick their next mayor, not billionaires who mostly live somewhere else,” Mamdani said in the post.
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Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, left, speaks while participating in a mayoral debate with Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, right, and independent candidate former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (not pictured), Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, Pool)
Ackman and Catsimatidis are among those billionaires arguing that a vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani.
“Like that Ackman, out in Chappaqua, what does he know about New York City?” Sliwa questioned on Monday, telling reporters that billionaires “have paved the way for Zohran Mamdani because every time they fail, it makes it easier for Zohran Mamdani to campaign.”
“They should stay out of it, focus on Wall Street, hedge funds. They know nothing about the streets, as clearly evidenced by their panic,” Sliwa said, urging billionaires to “let the people decide.”
“Billionaires should be ashamed of themselves for interfering with this election. I call it election interference. Let the people decide. That’s the way I was raised. That’s the way everybody was raised. Nobody was ever told the billionaires were going to pick the person who wins an election.”
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Mamdani agreed with his Republican opponent on Monday, arguing that New Yorkers “no matter what they think about our politics, want to make their own decisions, and that is one place where Curtis and I agree, which is that it’s time for New Yorkers to make this decision, not for billionaire donors to decide who gets to run this city.”
“To have a candidate spending all his time pleading with another candidate to get, it shows that he doesn’t have much to share with New Yorkers himself,” Mamdani said of Cuomo.
Fox News Digital reached out to Cuomo for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
