Former Governor George Pataki says if New York Democrats move any further left, a Republican could win next year’s New York City mayoral election.
Pataki, who was the last Republican to hold statewide office when he left Albany in 2007, suggested Sunday that Republicans’ chances of victory would be significantly improved if a left-leaning progressive like City Comptroller Brad Lander beat moderate incumbent Mayor Eric Adams in next June’s Democratic primary.
“I know Mayor Adams will be challenged. [Comptroller] Brad Lander has already announced he is running for mayor.” “It’s a very personal story,” Pataki said on 770 WABC’s “The Cats Roundtable.” Radio program.
“He’s far-left, just like de Blasio,” the three-term governor said of Lander and former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Pataki noted that for 20 years, from 1994 to 2013, Republican Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg controlled City Hall, winning a combined five consecutive elections.
“Let’s not forget, Republicans can win in New York. Bloomberg was in power for 12 years, Giuliani was in power for eight years,” Pataki told host John Catsimatidis.
“This city has been better off because we had a sensible, centrist Republican mayor,” the former governor argued. “I’m worried that a far-left Democrat will win the primary and make things even worse.”
Pataki also criticized disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has not ruled out running for mayor, and pointed to Cuomo’s approval of the state’s controversial cashless bail law.
“Anti-bail laws are something Andrew Cuomo has rammed through the Legislature to tie the hands of people who want to put criminals behind bars,” said Pataki, who defeated Cuomo’s father, the late Gov. Mario Cuomo, in 1994.
“Everybody points to statistics that say crime is going down. If you take the subway or walk the streets, you can see that’s not true,” Pataki said.
Giuliani, a popular former prosecutor, defeated Democratic incumbent David Dinkins in 1993, citing concerns about crime in part.
Billionaire businessman Bloomberg was first elected president in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center.
Still, taking back the mayor’s office from the Democrats will be a tough task for a Republican without the advantages of Bloomberg’s personal wealth or Giuliani’s crime-fighting record.
Mr Bloomberg’s successor, the left-leaning Mr de Blasio, was easily re-elected to a second term in 2017.
Meanwhile, Adams, the former police officer, will face off in his own Democratic primary against several candidates, including Lander, former city Comptroller Scott Stringer and state Sen. Zellnor Miley.
New York Republican Party sources on Sunday agreed with Pataki that the party’s chances of retaking City Hall would improve if Adams lost the primary to a rival from the left, but they said it first needs a credible candidate.
“I agree with Pataki, but we need horses,” said one Republican official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, Pataki, who served as governor during and after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, initially blasted the federal government for agreeing to plea deals with three Sept. 11 suspects, including the alleged mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin quickly reversed a shocking decision approved by his subordinates on Friday that spared Mohammed and two alleged accomplices the death penalty.
Pataki said such a potential plea deal “creates significant risks.”
“This is also true with regard to terrorism. [that] “We’re not going to get stronger,” he said.
“Contrast our soft, indecisive approach to terrorists with Israel, who just recently killed the head of Hezbollah and one of the heads of Hamas,” the former governor said. “They’re not going to tolerate terrorism. They’re going to stand up to terrorism. We’ve compromised with terrorism too often, and that’s why … our country is in so much danger today.”
