Inside the campaign to find a new Republican to run against Mamdani -- and why it could be Mayor Adams

https://nypost.com/2025/06/26/business/inside-the-campaign-to-find-a-new-republican-to-run-against-mamdani/

Prominent donors are gunning to get Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa a job in the Trump Administration in hopes of pushing him out of New York City’s mayoral race, sources told me. The aim is to open up the GOP nomination — and the nearly 30% of the vote someone running in that lane is expected to get — for current mayor Eric Adams.

At present, the mayor is running for re-election as an independent — sandwiched in between Sliwa on the right and Zohran Mamdani on the (ultra-far) left. My sources said Adams, who recently struck a deal with the Trump Administration to clear himself of charges leveled by the DOJ, is open to running as a Republican, but it hinges on a rather complicated chain of events.

Sliwa would have to leave the state to open up the slot, and then Republican borough leaders would need to anoint Adams.

It is unclear what kind of job could woo Sliwa to Washington. As of now, my sources said he remains hell bent on staying in the race even if it means spoiling it for Adams and ushering in a socialist. (Adams and Sliwa did not respond to requests for comment.)