Another participant in Newsmax’s meltdowns over New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has been Dick Morris. He used a July 18 column to bash Mamdani and tout a competitor, Cuftis Sliwa:
Zohran Mamdani is now suddenly vulnerable in his bid to become New York City’s first overtly socialist mayor. The latest polling from the Harris X firm, suggests a race essentially tied among Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Republican candidate Curtis Silwa.
According to Harris X, Mamdani (26%) is tied with Cuomo (23%) and Silwa (22%), all within the margin of error.
[…]While conventional wisdom holds that a Republican cannot win in New York City, the three-way fracturing of the Democratic vote among Mamdani, Cuomo, and Adams now makes a Silwa victory a possibility.
[…]In the publicly funded race, Silwa is not likely to face the financial problems that normally hobble Republican candidates.
His background as a crime fighter, the founder of the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit crime prevention organization, make him an attractive candidate in a race where crime is the leading issue.
[…]Mamdani’s campaign has centered around socialist proposals such as free bus fares, no rent increases, legalized sex work, and a ban on immigration law enforcement in Gotham.
While the Democratic base can still rally to Mamdani, his antagonism of the Jewish vote makes it less likely.
Sliwa can win.
That was followed by a Newsmax TV appearance that day to fret that no other candidate could beat him, except maybe Sliwa:
The New York City mayor’s race has Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old Muslim born in Uganda, leading the establishment candidate Andrew Cuomo in what some observers see as a battle for the soul of the modern Democratic Party. A self labelled “democratic socialist,” Mamdani will now face two independent candidates in Cuomo and current mayor Eric Adams as well as Republican Curtis Sliwa in the general election in November. Presidential adviser Dick Morris told Newsmax on Friday that Cuomo’s past “makes it very hard for him to get elected.”
“The communist [Mamdani] has lost 14 points and he’s gone from 40% of the vote in first place to a three-way tie at 26% of the vote. And Curtis Sliwa, the Republican has gained 8 points. Cuomo dropped 1. Adams gained 2. But the big changes were Silwa going up and Mamdani going down,” Morris said during an appearance on “Rob Schmitt Tonight.”
Morris hyped Sliwa again in a July 19 TV hit:
Republican Curtis Sliwa could pull out a surprise win in the New York City mayoral race, considering the potential of a split vote between three Democrats looming, Dick Morris, an adviser to President Donald Trump, told Newsmax on Saturday.
And as for Democrat nominee Zohran Mamdani, “he’s losing,” Morris told Newsmax’s “The Count.” “He’s yesterday’s news.”
Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist and assemblyman, has “lost 14 points” in polling after winning the primary in an upset victory over his main competition, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, said Morris.
Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels organization, meanwhile, “has gained eight points and closed the gap of 22 points,” he added.
Morris made sure to trash Mamdani further:
But if Mamdani wins, that would send a signal nationally that the Democratic Party is now the Socialist Party, said Morris.
“It might even be constructive because nobody would vote for it,” he said. “There’s a history that we’ve talked about before on the show that when Democrats lose elections, they tend to move to the left, not to the center, but to the left.”
A Mamdani win, Morris added, would not only be a “graveyard situation for New York” but it would be a “real blow to the Democratic Party.”
Morris followed up with an Aug. 22 column fretting once again that Mamdani might win:
The most recent poll by Gotham Polling shows that New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mandami’s negative ratings are rising but that his vote share is not yet dropping.
Mandami still wins 42% of the vote, leading the field though his negative ratings have almost doubled from the high 30s to 47% the exact same level as his positives.
As voters learn the truth about Mandami, they come to see him negatively but still intend to vote for him because there is nobody else.
And, of course, there was more Sliwa-fluffing:
Cuomo can’t move up.
His negatives are too strong and neither can current mayor Eric Adams.
But . . . Sliwa can move up.
Only his party is holding him back and, given the negatives on the other three candidates, being a Republican shouldn’t be fatal.
[…]So who’s left?
Curtis Sliwa.
Ultimately New York Democrats need to forgive him, as well as his party.
He’s pro abortion rights and no mouthpiece for Trump. His crime fighting credentials are impeccable. LaGuardia, Lindsay, and Giuliani governed well despite their party and so would Sliwa.
Morris’ column included a disclaimer that “The following opinion column does not constitute an endorsement, or a recommendation against, any political candidate currently campaigning for elected office, on the part of Newsmax.”