Photo: AFP
After months of denying the inevitable, Election Day finally arrived in New York and gave the city its first socialist mayor. Zohran Mamdani easily held off Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent, while Curtis Sliwa finished a distant third. Combined with Jack Ciattarelli’s loss to Mikie Sherrill in the New Jersey gubernatorial race in New Jersey, it made for a crushing blow for the Republican party in the Tri-State area. The entire New York City Council was also up for grabs. City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (R-19) defended her seat in Queens, but, as she explained on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program, it was a very long night for Republicans in general, especially in New York City.
Paladino gave a blunt assessment of the evening for host Larry Mendte: “Last night was an absolute, absolute disaster. Listening to this guy speak at his podium, pounding his chest like he’s the next coming of Jesus, kind of made me sick to my stomach, and I think it made a lot of New Yorkers sick to their stomach. Also, my colleague Kristine Marmarato, being the first Republican elected to the Bronx since the 1980’s, she lost her seat last night. That was a really tough blow. And we were hoping to pick up a seat in District 30, here is Queens- we did not. It was a blowout.”
Paladino isn’t giving up the fight, but like a fighter in the eleventh round, she admits it’s hard to reach back and find the inner strength to win an election: “People are getting battle weary. We are tired, because everything we want, we have to fight like hell for… (Next year) we have a Governor’s race, gonna, like, back itself right up to this, and everybody wants to get really enthusiastic. And we understand the importance of getting rid of (Kathy) Hochul… (but) how many more times are we gonna get on and try to boost everybody up?”
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