By Mark Swanson | Tuesday, 04 November 2025 10:33 PM EST
Newsmax political analyst Rob Astorino rejected claims that Republican Curtis Sliwa acted as a spoiler in New York City’s mayoral race, arguing that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s loss to democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani stemmed from left-wing voter turnout rather than right-wing vote-splitting.
Speaking on “Greg Kelly Reports,” Astorino stated that Democrats were “energized” while Republicans stayed home, a pattern often seen when President Donald Trump is not on the ballot. He dismissed calculations suggesting Cuomo’s 42% and Sliwa’s 8% could have tied Mamdani, asserting, “You can’t think of it that way, because Cuomo probably got as many Republican votes as he would have.”
Astorino explained that Sliwa’s 8% represented “solid, dyed-in-the-wool Republicans that would never vote for [Cuomo] anyway,” adding that even if some voters shifted, “it wouldn’t all go to Cuomo.” He concluded, “Sliwa is not the spoiler. Andrew Cuomo couldn’t get to where he needed to get, and the energy is on the far left.”
Astorino credited Mamdani’s victory to “an army of volunteers” and grassroots mobilization, noting that “Cuomo had a ton of money, but he didn’t have the foot soldiers — and that’s what cost him this race.”
