Fiorello LaGuardia

New York City Mayoralty Race In Tumult!

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New York City, the largest city in America, will elect its 111th Mayor in its history in November.

In a “wild and woolly” race, we have professed Democratic Socialist and Shiite Muslim Queens County State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, 33 years old, way ahead of former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, present NYC Mayor Eric Adams, and Republican Guardian Angels Founder Curtis Sliwa.

While there is concern about Mamdani’s Socialist leanings and his Shiite Muslim religion, he is seen as winning no matter who stays in the race or drops out.

Sliwa certainly has ZERO chance of being elected Mayor, as there is no appetite to elect a Republican to the Mayoralty in the time of Donald Trump.

Sliwa is no Fiorello LaGuardia, John Lindsey, Rudy Giuliani, or Michael Bloomberg, all affiliated with the Republican Party in the past hundred years of Mayoral history.

Adams has become the only sitting Mayor to be indicted, and then, seemingly, given a pass by Donald Trump as long as he does not interfere with ICE Raids. The corruption in his administration of so many aides, along with his own personal corruption, is mind boggling.

At the same time, Andrew Cuomo has a corrupt background as well, forcing him to resign as NY Governor in 2021 on sexual harassment accusations.

So polls indicate despite concerns about Mamdani’s background and experience and his youth, he is extremely likely to win the election, despite police unions against him, the Jewish community uneasy, and the African American community being disinterested in him.

Mamdani has drawn support particularly from young voters, and Latino, Asian American, and white liberal voters, who see him as a refreshing change from corrupt leadership of Adams and Cuomo.

Mamdani has over 40 percent in the polls, and if any of his opponents drop out of the race, he rises to the mid to high 40s.

It is not a requirement for any candidate for Mayor or any public office in America to win a majority of the popular vote, as many Presidents have not done so, as well as Governors and Senators historically.

So it is likely that Mamdani will become the 111th Mayor!

And Mamdani will face the hostile President Trump, who has spoken of sending the National Guard into NYC, and even of deporting Mamdani, who was born in Uganda where he lived to age 5, then in South Africa until age 7, and then moved to New York City.

Both his parents are of Indian descent, with his mother being Hindu and his father being Muslim.

Mario Cuomo, Progressive Warrior In Tradition Of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hubert H. Humphrey, And Fiorello LaGuardia!

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Mario Cuomo’s death on New Year’s Day took some attention away, momentarily, from the greatness of this man, a progressive warrior in the tradition of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Hubert H. Humphrey, in a later generation, and with an ethnic tinge as with Fiorello LaGuardia!

Cuomo, an Italian American, was the first prominent white ethnic politician since LaGuardia to promote the liberal-progressive cause, and to be considered a serious Presidential candidate, other than John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy, both Irish Catholic ethnics.

Cuomo spoke up for change and reform, at the height of the ascendancy of Ronald Reagan, who worked to undermine the New Deal of FDR and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1980s.

Cuomo worked to ban assault weapons and promote gun control; worked for legal abortion rights to be upheld; promoted the first mandatory seat belt law in cars nationally; vetoed the death penalty; and reformed the state courts to promote diversity. He served longer in office than any New York Governor, except Nelson Rockefeller.

Cuomo stood up for the middle class, working people, women, and minorities, a battle which continues decades later, but was the focus of Cuomo, who would have made a great Supreme Court Justice or President. He was, himself, from a struggling immigrant family, and understood the plight of those of similar background.

It seems clear that had Cuomo sought the Presidency in 1992, we would not have had Bill Clinton as President, and there would be no Hillary Clinton being considered today for the Presidency.

One Of The Last True Liberals, Mario Cuomo, Passes From The Scene On New Year’s Day!

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Former three term New York Governor Mario Cuomo, one of the last true liberals in American politics, passed from the scene yesterday, New Year’s Day, just as his son, Andrew Cuomo, was inaugurated for his own second term as Governor of New York.

Mario Cuomo was a dynamic, charismatic, inspiring political figure, who flirted with the idea of running for President in 1988 and 1992, but ended up not running. He also was the front runner for a Supreme Court nomination by President Bill Clinton in 1993, but turned it down, in favor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and ran, instead, for a fourth term as Governor, but losing to George Pataki in 1994.

Cuomo was, without any question, the second greatest Italian American political figure in American history, only surpassed by New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia (1934-1945), and he will be much missed, as he was a rarity in politics–a truly decent, principled politician who cared about the poor and the oppressed of all races, both in New York and nationwide!