Curtis Sliwa: New York Mayoral Candidate, Vigilante, and…Animal Rights Hero?

The former vigilante running as the Republican nominee for Mayor of New York City deserves national recognition for protecting the lives of those unable to speak for themselves.

Credit: Associated Press

The 2025 New York City Mayoral election has garnered significant national media attention after the surprise victory of socialist Zohran Mamdani in the city’s Democratic mayoral primary. Mamdani’s chief opponent, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, remains in the race as an independent. Despite consistently outpolling the incumbent mayor Eric Adams, who dropped out of the race in late September, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa has often been dismissed in national discussions of the race. Sliwa’s background is unusual—and fascinating. He is a moderate Republican best known for founding the vigilante anti-crime group the Guardian Angels during the 1980s spike in New York crime. However, his commitment to the welfare of animals sets him apart from the pack of candidates and makes him New Yorkers’ best choice for mayor.

Curtis Sliwa is not only running as the Republican nominee for Mayor of New York City; he is also taking advantage of New York State’s election law, which allows candidates to appear on multiple ballot lines if they gather enough signatures. This system, known as fusion voting, has enabled issue-focused groups to thrive. Sliwa has pioneered the “Protect Animals” ballot line, for which he will appear as the nominee this November. The effort is unsurprising to those who have followed his career; he’s been involved in animal adoption advocacy with the Guardian Angels, and he and his wife host the “Animal Welfare Hour” on New York’s WABC radio. Those who value animal rights and the protection of mankind’s furry and feathered friends should know that few politicians in America have been as outspoken about the issue as Curtis Sliwa. 

In the past, Sliwa has been mocked for owning 16 cats in the 2,000 square foot apartment he and his wife Nancy share near Central Park. These attacks are deeply unfair. Sliwa has devoted extensive effort to hosting rescue cats in need of a home. Some of these efforts are temporary and the cats later go on to more permanent owners. He is known for taking meticulous care of the animals, so much so that the New York Times reported that he changes their litter thrice daily such that the apartment bears no odor at all. It is an unfortunate reflection on the state of media that these immense acts of compassion have been caricatured as if Sliwa were some sort of maniac. 

Sliwa’s recognition of the brutality of the American factory farming system has led him to become vegetarian. He is known to aspire to be a vegan. However, Sliwa’s stance on animal rights goes beyond a personal distaste for factory farming and a fondness for cats; his commitment has been a consistent theme throughout his mayoral campaign platform.

Sliwa is alone among the candidates in having put together a comprehensive platform on animal rights issues. Amongst his proposals is the formation of a full fledged Department of Animal Welfare. The new Department would include a “hotline where people can call [to report] animal cruelty tips, illegal backyard breeding tips, [and] other animal related crimes” and would maintain a registry of all convicted animal abusers similar to a sex-offender registry. The agency would be able to “dispatch agents who would have peace officer status to investigate these reports.”

Sliwa has promised to lobby against the sale of furs in New York, although it is unclear whether this would entail a complete ban. He has also proposed a program for pet owners modelled after SNAP—colloquially known as “food stamps”—where the city will cover up to $1,000 in care expenses for all who rescue a pet. Sliwa has even floated a GPS system to make tracking lost cats and dogs simpler. He hopes to have the Department of Animal Welfare oversee the formation of managed feline colonies to control the population of stray cats. This would allow strays to be checked for disease, spayed or neutered, and protected from abuse. Meanwhile, the city would use them to effectively control New York’s rat and mouse population.

The over 1,000 animals in New York’s shelter system have experienced tragic overcrowding to the point of suspension of new arrivals. Sliwa has stood alone in denouncing this overcrowding and the suspension it caused. He has called for cancelling a billion dollars worth of city contracts with exploitative shelters. All future contracts would require shelters to be no-kill and offer free spay and neuter services. 

A media obsessed with covering Andrew Cuomo’s long and horrific record of sexual harassment, bribery allegations against Eric Adams, and allegations of anti-semitism against Zohran Mamdani has allowed the compassion of Curtis Sliwa to go relatively unnoticed. For those across the nation who care about animal protection, his campaign stands as a beacon of hope, showing how these issues can transcend party lines in politics.