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“Hey Vickie, when are you running for mayor?”
For the last few months I’ve been hearing this at least once a week, and my answer is always the same: “When the GOP gets serious about New York.”
The last election saw a seismic political shift throughout the city — people turned out not only to support President Trump, but to send an unmistakable message of dissatisfaction to the Democratic monopoly that rules the state.
It was a shot across the bow of a political machine currently mired in some of the lowest approval ratings ever recorded.
But the real question is whether the Republican Party can capitalize, and on that the jury is still very much out.
The sad fact is, politics runs on money — and in New York City, Democrats have it and Republicans don’t. Simple as that.
I’m talking about the kind of third-party expenditures and infrastructure that not only make candidates competitive, but buy your party credibility in the minds of voters.
This is where Democrats have their real edge — a vast patronage network of unions, activist organs and of course nonprofits, all colluding to project a facade of inevitability so airtight that even Boss Tweed couldn’t have dreamt it at the height of Tammany Hall.
Meanwhile, Republicans struggle not only to win elections, but to recruit talented candidates in the first place.
We don’t have much of a pitch to offer: “Put your life and career on hold, subject yourself and your family to vicious attacks by vindictive leftists, without any kind of institutional support, infrastructure, media or funding. Oh and you’ll probably lose.”
So yeah, not great.
It’s a shame, because there are actual openings here. In the current political environment there’s no reason why the GOP couldn’t flip at least five more City Council seats as well as a handful of state senate and assembly seats.
We have a golden opportunity to boot Alvin Bragg, the despicable Soros DA who’s been a blight on our city since he took office four years ago, and replace him with Maud Maron, an attorney and parents’ rights activist who would restore common sense and justice to the office.
If the terror-loving antisemitic socialist Zohran Mamdani wins the Democrats’ ranked-choice primary, Curtis Sliwa is on deck to potentially deliver a massive upset in the mayor’s race.
And let’s not forget next year’s race for governor: Gov. Hochul has never been weaker. A strong Republican with a well-funded operation could crush her.
But none of this will happen without money.
Sliwa and Maron are badly underfunded and unprepared to mount the competitive campaign New Yorkers deserve. Republicans aren’t running any candidate at all in many council districts.
Where is the national and state GOP in all this?
Well, they checked out of NYC a long time ago, leaving us for dead — and taking data and fundraising infrastructure with them.
But we’re not dead. We just need an adrenaline shot to get off life support.
In the 2024 presidential race, we saw big donors get behind Donald Trump in a way we’ve never seen previously. Wealthy former Democrats from Elon Musk to Bill Ackman recognized the dangers of the woke leftist agenda and put their money on the line.
We need to ask them to do the same for us here in New York.
Ackman, a native New Yorker, understands what’s at stake. He’s been speaking out about the risks to our Jewish community in light of unprecedented antisemitic attacks — from radicals who now have their very own superstar mayoral candidate and several very supportive City Council members.
This isn’t going to be cheap.
We’re talking about an investment of $70 to $100 million — not just in contributions to individual candidates or propping up our county committees, but to build real infrastructure: candidate training, consulting networks, independent expenditure groups, activist patronage and more, to fight the Democrats’ machine on equal footing.
Voter activation is the key. Our major elections suffer from woefully low turnout — barely breaking 20%.
Do you think it’s because 80% of New Yorkers are so thrilled with how our city is run they don’t see a need to vote, or because they’re so disgusted and disillusioned with our monopoly politics they’ve simply given up?
Reaching these people and getting them engaged is not an impossible task. They came out for Trump.
With appropriate funding and competent campaign infrastructure, we can turn out even more of them, guaranteed. I’ve seen it up close.
When I flipped my Queens district red four years ago, I won by one percentage point. Two years later I won re-election in a 20-point landslide.
I know firsthand the appetite for change in this city. It’s everywhere and it’s palpable.
The voters are waiting for us; Republicans just have to do what’s necessary to reach them.
But we cannot do it alone. Now’s the time for the GOP donor class to take New York seriously.
If we build it, they will come.
Vickie Paladino is a Republican City Council member representing the 19th district in northern Queens.