Sliwa Alleges Donors with Cuomo Ties Tried to Bribe Him to Exit Mayoral Race, Vows to Stay the Course

By: Justin Winograd

With just weeks remaining until New Yorkers cast their ballots in what has already become one of the most unpredictable mayoral races in decades, the contest took another dramatic twist on Thursday when Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa publicly claimed that wealthy donors, allegedly aligned with former Governor Andrew Cuomo, have tried to “bribe” him out of the race. The accusations, reported by The New York Post, have thrown yet another layer of intrigue into a campaign season already dominated by infighting, shifting alliances, and speculation about backroom deals.

At a press conference outside City Hall, Sliwa — the outspoken founder of the Guardian Angels and longtime fixture of New York civic life — said he has been repeatedly approached with lucrative job offers in exchange for suspending his campaign. These offers, he claimed, were orchestrated by individuals sympathetic to Cuomo, who is positioning himself as the establishment alternative to socialist frontrunner Zohran Mamdani.

“There’s no price that can get me out of this race, no amount of money, no bribe,” Sliwa declared, according to the information provided in The New York Post report. “And again, if anybody comes forward on behalf of Andrew Cuomo or anybody else, it will be recorded, and it will be brought to the proper authorities.”

The Republican candidate insisted he has been contacted no fewer than seven times by intermediaries — the most recent call coming just one day earlier — offering him millions of dollars to take a position as a security director either abroad or within the tri-state area. Sliwa told The Post that the offers were not framed as charity or campaign contributions but as direct inducements to quit the race.

“They said you can use the money for your Guardian Angels program or your wife’s animal rescue program,” Sliwa explained in his interview with The New York Post. “You can be the security director and make a few million dollars each year, but you would have to drop out. It sounds very unethical; it could be bribery. And I said, ‘I think you should stop calling.’”

The alleged offers, Sliwa charged, came from figures acting on behalf of Cuomo’s supporters. According to the report in The New York Post, the logic behind such overtures is straightforward: polls suggest Cuomo is best positioned to prevent Mamdani, the Queens assemblyman and self-described socialist, from taking City Hall. With Mayor Eric Adams politically weakened and Sliwa siphoning votes on the right, donors reportedly view consolidating support behind Cuomo as the only way to block Mamdani’s ascent.

Yet Cuomo’s camp swiftly and aggressively pushed back. A spokesperson for the former governor called Sliwa a “liar” and a “fraudster,” while Cuomo himself, in a Bloomberg interview earlier Thursday, dismissed the allegations as “all malarkey.”

“You have to take Sliwa with a grain of salt,” Cuomo remarked. “He is a known con-man.”

Mayor Eric Adams, who remains formally in the race despite his campaign’s conspicuous lack of activity in recent weeks, also sought to discredit Sliwa’s claims. Speaking to reporters, Adams accused his Republican rival of fabricating the allegations for political gain.

“Listen, the only fact about Curtis Sliwa is that Curtis Sliwa is a liar,” Adams said, in comments cited in The New York Post report. Adams himself has faced political turbulence, including corruption charges that were later dropped by the Trump administration. The mayor’s silence on the campaign trail — with no major events held for over a week — has fueled speculation that his bid is all but suspended, though he has not made a formal announcement.

The Post also reported that speculation had swirled earlier this month around President Donald Trump, who was rumored to be considering offering Adams a position in his administration if the mayor exited the race. Those rumors appear to have collapsed in recent days, in part because Sliwa has refused to budge. With Sliwa unwilling to drop out, insiders told The New York Post, the alleged political maneuverings designed to clear the field for Cuomo have fizzled.

For Adams, the fading prospect of a role in Washington only calls attention to his uncertain political standing. For Sliwa, it provides further ammunition to argue that his candidacy is under siege from powerful players attempting to orchestrate the outcome behind closed doors.

Sliwa’s claims must be viewed in the context of his decades-long career as an anti-establishment crusader. As the founder of the Guardian Angels in 1979, he built his reputation on taking to the streets to fight crime when City Hall and the NYPD appeared powerless. His brash persona and willingness to buck political elites have long made him both a populist champion and a controversial figure.

Now, as The New York Post report observed, he is once again positioning himself as the outsider fighting against the entrenched political class. By alleging bribery attempts from Cuomo’s backers, Sliwa reinforces his image as the incorruptible candidate — the man who, in his words, cannot be bought.

Whether voters believe him is another matter. Cuomo’s allies insist that Sliwa is inventing stories to attract headlines and sympathy. Adams has echoed that line, painting the Republican as a habitual fabricator. Mamdani, for his part, has stayed largely above the fray, continuing to dominate polls as his opponents fight amongst themselves.

With Election Day looming, the stakes are enormous. As The New York Post reported, Mamdani remains the frontrunner, propelled by his grassroots base, his appeal to younger voters, and his unabashedly left-wing platform. For many establishment Democrats, his rise represents a nightmare scenario: the takeover of City Hall by a self-described socialist, with potentially sweeping consequences for New York’s political and economic future.

Cuomo’s late entry into the race was widely seen as an attempt to stave off that outcome, but his candidacy has reignited old controversies from his governorship and further fractured the Democratic vote. Adams’s near-silence has only deepened the confusion, while Sliwa’s fiery accusations have thrown gasoline on the fire.

The alleged bribery offers underscore just how desperate some donors and political insiders have become. If true, they suggest a willingness to bend — or break — ethical lines to engineer a two-man race between Cuomo and Mamdani. If false, as Cuomo and Adams contend, they reflect Sliwa’s knack for sensationalism and self-promotion.

For voters, the battle now is as much about credibility as it is about policy. Do New Yorkers trust Sliwa’s narrative of backroom bribery, or do they side with Cuomo and Adams in dismissing the claims as fiction?

What is clear is that Sliwa has successfully injected a new level of drama into the race. By going public with his allegations, he has forced Cuomo and Adams to respond — and ensured that, for at least another news cycle, he remains at the center of the mayoral conversation.

As The New York Post report emphasized, the allegations are nearly impossible to independently verify. Sliwa has declined to name names, and those allegedly making the calls remain in the shadows. Without hard evidence, the episode may remain just one more chapter in New York City’s long tradition of rough-and-tumble political theater.

The 2025 New York City mayoral race was always destined to be contentious, but the past week has illustrated just how chaotic it has become. Between Cuomo’s combative resurgence, Adams’s faltering campaign, Mamdani’s surge, and Sliwa’s accusations of bribery, voters are being asked to navigate a political landscape defined more by personality clashes and accusations than by coherent policy debates.

As The New York Post report noted, Sliwa’s defiant message was as much about optics as substance: “Stop calling.” Whether it resonates as the stand of an incorruptible fighter or the bluster of a candidate desperate for relevance remains to be seen. What cannot be denied is that his words have once again reshaped the narrative of a mayoral contest already bursting with unpredictability.