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CityAndStateNY.com
But even as the lone Republican on the ballot, she has failed to win over all of the party’s few elected officials in the city. While Staten Island City Councilman Steven Matteo endorsed her candidacy early, fellow Staten Island City Councilman Joe Borelli, who declined to comment for this article, has been lukewarm on her candidacy, and wouldn’t name a single accomplishment of hers when asked by the Staten Island Advance. The other Republican in the City Council, Eric Ulrich of Queens, felt like Malliotakis’ socially conservative positions are too far outside of the mainstream in New York City. Malliotakis voted against legalizing same-sex marriage in 2011, and has voted against GENDA, a bill that would expand protections for transgender New Yorkers. She also voted against a bill that would block the state from ever prohibiting access to abortion services, and called on de Blasio to end his “sanctuary city” policy for undocumented immigrants. Malliotakis has since moderated some of her views, saying she regrets her vote on same-sex marriage, and that she would merely limit the existing sanctuary city policy, but Ulrich remains unconvinced. “I think that, while those views jibe pretty well for people in her district and on Staten Island, they don’t reflect the mainstream views of the majority of New Yorkers.” Ulrich cited the city’s demographics. “With a massive Democratic voter enrollment advantage, I don’t know that Nicole appeals to Democratic voters that elected Mike Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani,” he said. Instead of Malliotakis, Ulrich is backing Bo Dietl, the private eye and political gadfly who’s running an independent bid for mayor on the “Dump de Blasio” ballot line. Dietl, a showman who’s known for his direct language, has called on Malliotakis to drop out, fearing the two will split the anti-de Blasio vote. Malliotakis is also lagging in fundraising. As of Aug. 28, she had only raised under $500,000, but her campaign said it expects to qualify for matching funds at the next filing deadline, which would substantially increase her resources. Still, whatever she raises will be a pittance compared to the nearly $8 million raked in by de Blasio. She is also currently short of Dietl, whose nearly $900,000 in campaign contributions are expected to qualify him for the Oct. 10 debate hosted by the New York City Campaign Finance Board.
September 18, 2017
But Malliotakis’ biggest challenge is unseating an incumbent Democrat in one of the bluest cities in the country. Among active voters in New York City, Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 6 to 1. “Right now, it doesn’t seem like anybody has a chance to beat de Blasio, whether they’re a Republican or Democrat,” said Joseph P. Viteritti, a professor of public policy at Hunter College and author of a recent biography about de Blasio. And Malliotakis in particular has a tough case to make. “She’s got the baggage of Donald Trump to carry with her among a New York electorate,” he said, “which is a pretty heavy burden.” Viteritti said a Republican could only win the city if their name recognition were great enough to overcome party identity, but there, Malliotakis has struggled. A July 31 Quinnipiac University poll found that 78 percent of voters hadn’t heard enough about her to form an opinion. In a head-to-head matchup with the mayor, voters picked de Blasio 57 percent to 22 percent. But still, Malliotakis soldiers on with a crowded campaign schedule, trying to win over the 46 percent of voters who don’t think de Blasio deserves re-election. The weekend after Labor Day, she campaigned at seven events: at least one in each borough, with two in Manhattan and Queens. And she said she’s finding fans wherever she goes. “I thought Staten Island was disenchanted with this mayor? You should go to Queens.” Malliotakis lacks the easy charisma of Giuliani and the headline-grabbing spontaneity of Trump, but her campaign has landed some punches. She appeared on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” in September, tailoring her pitch to the national audience. “We are in a position to win this election and make de Blasio a one-term mayor and stop his plans to run for president in 2020,” she said. (De Blasio has denied any plans, despite rumors he was putting out feelers.) Malliotakis has seized on other headlines too, holding a press conference outside a subway station and calling on de Blasio to direct more city funding to the much-maligned subway system. After a New York Post story said de Blasio often took midday naps, she got some great photos offering the mayor a Red Bull. And she stood on the steps of City Hall with a clock counting up from the time that de Blasio first promised to provide a list of donors who did not receive favors.
The clock continues to run on her website, since the essay the mayor published didn’t name a single contributor or project. Malliotakis is looking to the last time a Republican defeated a Democratic incumbent, and borrowing from Giuliani’s 1993 playbook. She’s focusing heavily on quality-of-life issues, and constantly decrying the mayor’s poor management of the homeless population and lack of enforcement on “aggressive panhandlers.” Although crime overall is at a historic low in the city, Malliotakis often focuses on sex crimes in particular, which have gone up during de Blasio’s tenure – although some advocates attribute that to an increase in victims reporting those crimes. “It seems like the media and the mayor want to say we’re all safe, but you know, women, in the city, are not,” Malliotakis said. AT THE New York Caribbean Carnival Parade in Brooklyn, the Malliotakis campaign was looking more professional. Gone was the generic “Malliotakis for Mayor” banner from the Dominican Day Parade the previous month. A special “Caribbeans for Nicole Malliotakis for Mayor” banner took its place, festooned with flags of the region. Her team was bigger, joined by the Republican candidates for public advocate, J.C. Polanco, and comptroller, Michel Faulkner, as volunteers handed out posters to the crowd. Malliotakis was relatively quiet, mostly sticking to walking and waving, which she blamed on a cold. But her excitement was palpable whenever she saw a rare Cuban flag in the crowd, inevitably getting her to jog to the barricade and start a conversation. The parade, held every Labor Day, is the city’s biggest and probably the single best chance she’ll have to be seen by voters before Election Day. The Republican group was conservative even in marching, and lacked speakers blasting music that gives the parade its Caribbean flavor. A supporter did his best to excite the crowd, shouting into a loudspeaker, “Forget de Blasio!” and “Let’s give a woman a shot at City Hall!” Her group had once again been placed far behind de Blasio, and with two months to go until the election, her bid felt like just as much of a long shot as ever, but one thing had improved. As the 2017 Republican nominee for mayor of New York City passed the cameras, the officials and the stage, her name was announced to the crowd.
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