Who is Curtis Sliwa and is he running for mayor of New York City?
GUARDIAN Angels founder Curtis Sliwa toppled businessman Fernando Mateo in New York City's Republican mayoral primary on June 22. Sliwa could face Eric Adams in the general election, but Adams holds only a slim lead in the city's battle of Democrats. Curtis Sliwa, who is running for mayor of New York City, is the founder and chief executive officer of the Guardian Angels. The non-profit Angels, launched in 1979 in the Big Apple, is "responsible for creating hundreds of safety patrols chapters throughout the United States and worldwide," according to the organization's website. In the mayoral race Sliwa has captured the Republican nomination, but will be considered the heavy underdog in the general election in November. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 7 to 1 in New York City. Sliwa's likely opponent is former police officer Eric Adams, who has the lead following the Democratic primary. Adams did not get enough votes to clinch the nomination. I know Eric, Im certainly going to take him to task," Sliwa told reporters the morning after the primary. 2 Curtis Sliwa in his younger days Credit: Getty  "Im going to ask him to join me in solidarity, if in fact he turns out to be the winner of the Democratic primary." Sliwa is a radio host who still wears his red Guardian Angels beret when he appears in public. He got an endorsement from former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani, who called him my great friend in a robocall to Republican voters. Sliwa promised a general election campaign focused on crime. This is going to be a campaign clearly in which I talk about cracking down on crime, supporting the police, refunding our heroes the police, hiring more police, taking the handcuffs off the police and putting it on the criminals, and restoring qualified immunity to the police so that they cant be personally sued, he said. Sliwa has ripped Adams for vowing to carry a gun instead of using police protection in certain circumstances, according to the New York Daily News. I dont carry a gun, Sliwa said, according to the newspaper. [He] shouldnt be carrying a gun if hes going to be mayor of the city of New York.  Adams campaign spokesman Evan Thies told the Daily News in a statement: "If and when Eric becomes the Democratic nominee, we greatly look forward to comparing Erics public safety record with Sliwas.