New York City’s mayoral candidate Fernando Mateo said he believes Republicans “don’t have a chance to fight, a chance to win” in this year’s mayoral race, due to what he sees as ineptitude by Mayor Bill de Blasio and the governor Andrew Cuomo.
Mateo, a native of the Dominican Republic, has long served as head of the State Federation of Taxi Drivers and, more recently, assumed a leadership role in the Bodegas Association of America
“There is a turning point now, but we need to have the right Republican running for office,” the taxi and bodega advocate told Fox News on Saturday.
In the 2017 mayoral race, de Blasio won a second term with 66.17 percent of the vote. Republican Malliotakis, now serving in the House, won just 27.59 percent.
NYC PROBING HOW THE SERIAL METRO KILLER SLID THROUGH THE SYSTEM, BY BLASIO SAYS
“The guy hasn’t had a clue since he took office,” Mateo said of the city’s Democratic mayor. “He had no leadership, he was bullied and beaten by Cuomo. Cuomo was the governor and he was also the mayor.” The two Democrats in New York have a long-standing rivalry that exploded during the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, Mateo said Cuomo’s career in politics is “over” after revelations of his mismanagement of asylums.
He said he entered the race because Democratic candidates are “basically a continuation of de Blasio”.
“We don’t need this, our city is in ruins – crime is on the rise, our economy is underground now, we need to recover small businesses,” he said, noting that 80,000 had closed as a result of the pandemic.
“The first thing we need to do is to restore public safety. Nobody wants to be in a city that is not safe, ”he continued.
Mateo said he would add “thousands” of NYPD officers to the streets and work to restructure the city’s bail reform law.
Under New York City bail laws enacted last year, a series of “nonviolent” crimes are not eligible for bail, allowing those who allegedly commit crimes like theft, domestic violence cases and even second-degree murder. degree, walk free until your trial dates.
NYC TRAFFIC HEADS WANT TO TRIPLE THE NUMBER OF EXTRA COPS ON THE SUBWAY AFTER A-TRAIN RAMPAGE
“It is not helping those who commit minor crimes and deserve bail reform. This was not done in the right way, we opened prisons and left all armed criminals on the streets, ”said Mateo.
Mateo said he believed Cuomo’s career in politics “ended”. He said Cuomo had been “out of reach” during the pandemic, recalling when the governor begged wealthy New Yorkers to return to the city. “I’ll buy you a drink!” he told them in August. “First of all, there is no place to buy them a drink, because he closed everything, which is very hypocritical on his part,” said Mateo.
Mateo said Cuomo “deserves everything that is happening to him” with the storm he is facing in the nursing home scandal after closing deals that broke his strict restaurant protocol. “‘Why would you do that? People are fighting, don’t kick them while they’re down.”
“I believe his career in politics is over, over. When you can’t admit that you made a mistake that cost thousands of people their lives, it will follow you and pursue you for the rest of your career, for the rest of your life. his.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
Mateo will take on the Republican primaries in June against the founder of the crime-fighting organization, the Guardian Angels, Curtis Sliwa, and financier Sara Tirschwell. Sliwa and Tirschwell