After the Nov. 4 election — which saw Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa soundly defeated even on Staten Island — GOP Chairman Michael Tannousis called the results a “victory.” Really?
I don’t see it that way. To me, it was a loss within a divided and distracted party.
More importantly, we now have a socialist in power because of the lack of judgment and leadership within the local GOP, which seems to think that ranting, raving, and cursing out anyone who disagrees is a winning formula. Hint: it’s not.
In what became the worst-kept secret on Staten Island, the Republican Party quietly abandoned the borough’s top Republican running for re-election — Borough President Vito Fossella.
Why? Because he had the courage to stand up to the “gang,” as many now call party leadership.
This group pushed out respected figures like Mary Reilly from the Executive Committee while continuing the bad habit of running friends and staffers regardless of ability or philosophy.
The Guy Molinari days of choosing the best person to represent the people are long gone. Today’s leadership seems more interested in holding power than doing what’s right for the party or Staten Islanders.
Just ask anyone interested in becoming a judicial candidate — they’ll tell you exactly which rings need to be kissed.
Speaking of judges: What should have been an easy win for Judge Remy Smith ended in defeat. Instead of supporting the entire Republican ticket, party leaders fixated on Sliwa — a perennial candidate whose campaign barely changes from one failed run to the next.
The results speak for themselves. Sliwa received about 30,000 votes on Staten Island — roughly 40,000 fewer than he did in 2021, and around 65,000 fewer than Borough President Fossella.
Sliwa even finished third, behind the socialist candidate, who received roughly 33,000 votes.
One Republican elected official, Frank Morano, even appeared to openly support the Democratic candidate for borough president. The party’s response? Silence.
Despite these deceitful efforts, Fossella still received the most votes of any candidate on the ballot — more than all three Republican City Council candidates combined.
Party leaders made the Sliwa campaign their top priority. Yet smarter Republican voters overwhelmingly rejected that advice because they knew the real priority was stopping a socialist from taking City Hall — and that Sliwa had no chance of winning.
That misplaced effort hurt strong Republican candidates down the line and revealed how out of touch party leadership has become with both its members and everyday Staten Islanders.
Now the local GOP seems convinced that ranked choice voting (RCV) is the only way to win citywide. That’s simply not true. Republicans like Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg both won New York City elections without RCV — Bloomberg did it three times.
The truth is, RCV has helped candidates like Zohran Mamdani secure victories within the Democratic Party, not Republicans. And who remains one of RCV’s biggest champions — the same system that helped elect Mamdani? Frank Morano.
Meanwhile, some Staten Island Republicans continue to back left-wing policies like “Universal Daylighting,” which would remove nearly 50,000 parking spaces across the borough. And who’s the only Staten Island elected official sponsoring that legislation? Frank Morano.
These misguided policies threaten to reshape the character of our neighborhoods. Combined with the sweeping “City of Yes” agenda, Staten Island’s unique identity is being chipped away — policy by policy.
If the GOP truly wants to represent this borough, it needs to stop congratulating itself and start rebuilding. The focus should be on supporting credible candidates, standing united, and addressing real local concerns.
Celebrating underperformance isn’t strategy — it’s denial.
Staten Island has always been proud of its independence, common sense, and community spirit. It’s time for the Republican Party here to reflect those same values — not lose sight of them.
(Christopher Campbell is a Staten Island resident.)
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