September 30, 2025 • 7 mins
Joe Borelli speaks with Mendte in the Morning about the NYC Mayoral race and what Curtis Sliwa needs to do if he wants a chance at winning.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's get to Joe Burrelli, Managing director of chart Well
Strategy Group and former Minority leader of the New York
City Council. He's with us every Tuesday at this same time. Joe,
are you a Jets fan?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I mean, I'm more of a Giants fan. But it's
almost beyond saving the Jets this year, unfortunately. You know,
the Jets are going to be Jets no matter where
they are, true.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So you're excited about Jackson Dart.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I mean we saw some promise there, we saw a spark.
So yeah, I mean, there's not much left to go
on other than the prospect of Jackson Dart. So we'll see.
We'll see how the season goes good. My brother in
law is a die hard Bills fan, so obviously the
Bills have been good for many many years now, and
my family has just become Bills fans. And in the
(00:49):
process we watch them on Sundays, you know, Sunday dinners
and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You can't blame them, really, can you.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, you know, my kids are growing up in a
narrow where the Bills are a great team. And then
Uncle Tommy's a big fan, so we've been having fun.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Yeah, We're not going to hold that against you or
your kids. It's you know, sometimes you just have to
go with the winners. There were a lot of Chicago
Bulls fans back a couple of decades ago, and there
was a good reason for that too. Let's talk about
I'm trying to talk about anything but the mayor's race.
You can tell at this point because it's looking really,
really bad. You know, I know we got a couple
(01:28):
of months ago. I know you've tried to talk me
off the ledge before. Andrew Cuomo getting out of the
race made me feel a little bit better. But I'm
not sure we're there yet, do you. I guess we
have to wait for the new polls to come out, right,
That's what we have to wait for.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I think you are going to see Andrew Cuomo get
some momentum, right. This announcement by Eric Adams isn't coming
in a vacuum. So I'm assuming there will be groups,
There will be people, there will be market makers, elected
officials who will now suddenly either come out and endorse
Andrew Cuomo or they might even recycle some endorsements, you know,
(02:06):
people who endorsed him for the primary that have been
kind of quiet recently, they might do another round of
endorsements for him. He's going to need to and he's
going to try to take back some of the momentum
by Mamdanni. There's also been a renewed focus on looking
into who Zoa in macdonnie is and what he stands
for and what he said over the years. And we're
(02:26):
seeing that now, you know, on some of the insider
political blogs that cover New York state politics, but also
the tabloids. You know, the tabloids are given Zoa in
a little bit of a hard time now, and deservedly so.
This is a guy who took the crazy side of
almost every piece of legislation and opany and if someone
just took five minutes to go through his voting record
(02:49):
and his sponsorship record, they see that this is a
person who is far beyond the pale of what we're
ready to accept as a as a Democrat elected official
in New York.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Oh thank god, I'm so glad that somebody in the
media is finally taking them on, because it seemed like
there for a time that the media was part of
the Zorin Mamdani campaign. They fawned over this guy. I
was so disappointed with the New York media. But you're
saying that's starting to change.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, I think it is. I think reporters are finally
starting to dig in. You know, we saw the Post
do an exposed day of the family's estate in Uganda.
How it's being Airbnb and how you know, basically they're
making a huge profit off their multimillion dollar estate.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Oh that's wonderful because I don't see it happening. But
you said something that really made me feel good. And
it makes me feel good because I think that you
probably know things that you can't say because of your
position and because of who you talked to on a
daily basis. And you're saying that there is a movement
(03:56):
now afoot for support for Andrew Cuomo, and you believe,
and do you know this for a fact, that endorsements
are going to start coming out for him.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Look, I don't know it for a fact, but I
think it's certainly the Cuomo team plan from folks I
spoke to. Right, they are going to try to turn
off the heat right now, and they have to do
it by by by basically consolidating whatever force they can get.
They wanted Adams out right now that has happened. I
think that does two things. The endorsements are one thing.
(04:28):
I mentioned that, but it also frees up a lot
of money. And we heard, you know, from a billionaire
John Katz and Matitis you know, all but said he's
going to be backing Andrew Cuomo. So you're going to
see people like that who have a little bit of
money to burn. You're going to see the Cuomo superpack,
I think, really starting to up their spend. They're going
to make this a competitive race. They have five weeks.
(04:50):
Five weeks is a long time in politics. Five weeks
was more than enough time for mom Done to go
from about five percent to about you know, thirty five
forty percent whatever. He won the primary with a I
forgot off the top of my head what he got
in the first round. But five weeks was enough to
do that. So in theory it'll be enough for Andrew Clomo.
Is it hard? Yeah, because everyone already knows who Andrew
(05:11):
Cuomo is. They already have their opinions on Andrew Cuomo,
including myself. You know, I spent ten years bashing the guy,
and for good reason. I mean, this is a guy
who's responsible with so many problems we have today. But
there's plenty of people right there who just don't see
Curtis as a viable candidate. And by the way, I
gotta say this, Curtis is not getting out of the race.
(05:32):
He has the same five weeks. If he can turn
his campaign up and throttle it up in five weeks
and put himself as the second place contender where people
see him as a viable alternative, that I'd be happy
to vote for him too. I'm just not sure the
campaign can can make that change and make that progress
and that much time.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, Joe, I've been quoting you since you said it,
and I thought it was a brilliant line when you said,
I'm voting for whoever is in sad second place, and
you have stuck to that. So you're saying, if Curtis
Lee was somehow can gain momentum and somehow pass Andrew Cuomo,
he's your guy until that moment. You wish him well,
(06:13):
but you're gonna vote for Cuomo.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, that's basically the point where at I mean, I
don't see a scenario where Curtis eeks ahead of Plomo.
That could happen. It's possible to happen. There's a lot
of negatives about Andrew Cuomo out there, so in theory
it is possible. I just don't you know. The pressure
to get out of the race almost becomes the story
end of itself. Right now. The story surrounding Curtis Leewa
(06:39):
is not what he wants to do, how he's going
to change the city. It's just oh, it's only a
matter of time. Oh. This one of his friends or
allies has also called on him to drop out. This
person has said he's a you know, a dead duck. Right.
That's the story of the of the SLIWA campaign right now,
and he's going to break that cycle. He's got to
figure out how to break that cycle.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, great point. Joe BURRELLI, managing direct your Chartwell Strategy
Group and former City Council minority leader, with us every
Tuesday in an O five. See you again on Tuesday, Joe,
thanks a lot, Thank
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You very much,
Let's get to Joe Burrelli, Managing director of chart Well
Strategy Group and former Minority leader of the New York
City Council. He's with us every Tuesday at this same time. Joe,
are you a Jets fan?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I mean, I'm more of a Giants fan. But it's
almost beyond saving the Jets this year, unfortunately. You know,
the Jets are going to be Jets no matter where
they are, true.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So you're excited about Jackson Dart.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I mean we saw some promise there, we saw a spark.
So yeah, I mean, there's not much left to go
on other than the prospect of Jackson Dart. So we'll see.
We'll see how the season goes good. My brother in
law is a die hard Bills fan, so obviously the
Bills have been good for many many years now, and
my family has just become Bills fans. And in the
(00:49):
process we watch them on Sundays, you know, Sunday dinners
and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You can't blame them, really, can you.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, you know, my kids are growing up in a
narrow where the Bills are a great team. And then
Uncle Tommy's a big fan, so we've been having fun.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Yeah, We're not going to hold that against you or
your kids. It's you know, sometimes you just have to
go with the winners. There were a lot of Chicago
Bulls fans back a couple of decades ago, and there
was a good reason for that too. Let's talk about
I'm trying to talk about anything but the mayor's race.
You can tell at this point because it's looking really,
really bad. You know, I know we got a couple
(01:28):
of months ago. I know you've tried to talk me
off the ledge before. Andrew Cuomo getting out of the
race made me feel a little bit better. But I'm
not sure we're there yet, do you. I guess we
have to wait for the new polls to come out, right,
That's what we have to wait for.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I think you are going to see Andrew Cuomo get
some momentum, right. This announcement by Eric Adams isn't coming
in a vacuum. So I'm assuming there will be groups,
There will be people, there will be market makers, elected
officials who will now suddenly either come out and endorse
Andrew Cuomo or they might even recycle some endorsements, you know,
(02:06):
people who endorsed him for the primary that have been
kind of quiet recently, they might do another round of
endorsements for him. He's going to need to and he's
going to try to take back some of the momentum
by Mamdanni. There's also been a renewed focus on looking
into who Zoa in macdonnie is and what he stands
for and what he said over the years. And we're
(02:26):
seeing that now, you know, on some of the insider
political blogs that cover New York state politics, but also
the tabloids. You know, the tabloids are given Zoa in
a little bit of a hard time now, and deservedly so.
This is a guy who took the crazy side of
almost every piece of legislation and opany and if someone
just took five minutes to go through his voting record
(02:49):
and his sponsorship record, they see that this is a
person who is far beyond the pale of what we're
ready to accept as a as a Democrat elected official
in New York.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Oh thank god, I'm so glad that somebody in the
media is finally taking them on, because it seemed like
there for a time that the media was part of
the Zorin Mamdani campaign. They fawned over this guy. I
was so disappointed with the New York media. But you're
saying that's starting to change.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, I think it is. I think reporters are finally
starting to dig in. You know, we saw the Post
do an exposed day of the family's estate in Uganda.
How it's being Airbnb and how you know, basically they're
making a huge profit off their multimillion dollar estate.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Oh that's wonderful because I don't see it happening. But
you said something that really made me feel good. And
it makes me feel good because I think that you
probably know things that you can't say because of your
position and because of who you talked to on a
daily basis. And you're saying that there is a movement
(03:56):
now afoot for support for Andrew Cuomo, and you believe,
and do you know this for a fact, that endorsements
are going to start coming out for him.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Look, I don't know it for a fact, but I
think it's certainly the Cuomo team plan from folks I
spoke to. Right, they are going to try to turn
off the heat right now, and they have to do
it by by by basically consolidating whatever force they can get.
They wanted Adams out right now that has happened. I
think that does two things. The endorsements are one thing.
(04:28):
I mentioned that, but it also frees up a lot
of money. And we heard, you know, from a billionaire
John Katz and Matitis you know, all but said he's
going to be backing Andrew Cuomo. So you're going to
see people like that who have a little bit of
money to burn. You're going to see the Cuomo superpack,
I think, really starting to up their spend. They're going
to make this a competitive race. They have five weeks.
(04:50):
Five weeks is a long time in politics. Five weeks
was more than enough time for mom Done to go
from about five percent to about you know, thirty five
forty percent whatever. He won the primary with a I
forgot off the top of my head what he got
in the first round. But five weeks was enough to
do that. So in theory it'll be enough for Andrew Clomo.
Is it hard? Yeah, because everyone already knows who Andrew
(05:11):
Cuomo is. They already have their opinions on Andrew Cuomo,
including myself. You know, I spent ten years bashing the guy,
and for good reason. I mean, this is a guy
who's responsible with so many problems we have today. But
there's plenty of people right there who just don't see
Curtis as a viable candidate. And by the way, I
gotta say this, Curtis is not getting out of the race.
(05:32):
He has the same five weeks. If he can turn
his campaign up and throttle it up in five weeks
and put himself as the second place contender where people
see him as a viable alternative, that I'd be happy
to vote for him too. I'm just not sure the
campaign can can make that change and make that progress
and that much time.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, Joe, I've been quoting you since you said it,
and I thought it was a brilliant line when you said,
I'm voting for whoever is in sad second place, and
you have stuck to that. So you're saying, if Curtis
Lee was somehow can gain momentum and somehow pass Andrew Cuomo,
he's your guy until that moment. You wish him well,
(06:13):
but you're gonna vote for Cuomo.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, that's basically the point where at I mean, I
don't see a scenario where Curtis eeks ahead of Plomo.
That could happen. It's possible to happen. There's a lot
of negatives about Andrew Cuomo out there, so in theory
it is possible. I just don't you know. The pressure
to get out of the race almost becomes the story
end of itself. Right now. The story surrounding Curtis Leewa
(06:39):
is not what he wants to do, how he's going
to change the city. It's just oh, it's only a
matter of time. Oh. This one of his friends or
allies has also called on him to drop out. This
person has said he's a you know, a dead duck. Right.
That's the story of the of the SLIWA campaign right now,
and he's going to break that cycle. He's got to
figure out how to break that cycle.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, great point. Joe BURRELLI, managing direct your Chartwell Strategy
Group and former City Council minority leader, with us every
Tuesday in an O five. See you again on Tuesday, Joe,
thanks a lot, Thank
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You very much,
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