GOP mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa on Wednesday blasted Democratic rival Eric Adams’ victory lap — after Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared the Brooklyn borough president the next mayor months ahead of the general election.
“The continued coronation for Eric Adams this time was done by Gov. Cuomo in Brooklyn in a location that I’ve spent a lot of time patrolling over the years on Nostrand Avenue,” the Guardian Angel founder said at a Manhattan press conference Wednesday denouncing his adversary’s “controversial” joint event at the Lenox Road Baptist Church.
“Let me let Andrew Cuomo and everyone else know he is not the mayor of New York, he is the Democratic nominee,” Sliwa said.
“But it’s like the victory lap continues, and there is no suggestion that there needs to be debates on these issues because we have real differences. Real differences as his general campaign continues,” Sliwa said.
Adams and Cuomo spoke to the press about gun violence with the governor declaring the Brooklyn borough president– who narrowly won the Democratic primary last week– “the next mayor of New York City.”
Adams also joined a gun violence summit with President Biden earlier this week– an event that did not include current Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Adams is heavily favored to win the November general election and become the largely Democratic city’s next mayor, but he still hasn’t been elected to the position by voters.
The governor was effusive in his praise for Adams, saying he had the “courage and competence’ to lead the Big Apple’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Adams was less complimentary of the governor.
During one of the Democratic primary debates Adams did not raise his hand when asked if he would like the governor’s support in his mayoral bid. When asked by a reporter about that stance Wednesday Adams said, “I didn’t get an endorsement today. The governor said he would work with me and I’m sure he would have worked with any mayor.”
A spokesman for the governor said Sliwa is “a politician trying to create hay during a serious emergency and I’m sure New Yorkers see right through that.” Cuomo has declared the city’s gun violence epidemic a “disaster emergency.”
Reps for Adams did not immediately return messages seeking comment.