{"id":30480,"date":"2025-11-06T07:22:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T07:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/30480\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T07:22:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T07:22:06","slug":"staten-island-republican-elected-officials-on-mayor-elect-mamdani-a-hope-for-collaboration-and-a-message-our-borough-is-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/30480\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island Republican elected officials on Mayor-elect Mamdani: A hope for collaboration, and a message our borough is \u2018different\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — While Staten Island Republicans were celebrating various victories in local races<\/a> on Tuesday, their minds were also on how they can ensure that Staten Island\u2019s voice is heard by the incoming mayoral administration.<\/p>\n

The Advance\/SILive.com asked various local elected officials how they plan to work with Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who secured a historic victory Tuesday night<\/a> over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.<\/p>\n

Mamdani received more than 50% of the vote citywide despite the three-candidate field, winning four out of five boroughs, but only receiving 22.7% of the vote on Staten Island, which was less than half the 55.4% received by Cuomo and barely above the 21.3% received by Sliwa.<\/p>\n

Councilmember David Carr, a Republican who represents Mid-Island, said the fact that many Staten Islanders rejected Mamdani means the incoming mayor must work closely alongside local elected officials who have a greater understanding of the borough and its residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the mayor-elect needs to realize that when he comes into office in January that he didn\u2019t get a mandate from Staten Islanders. And I think that that means he needs to understand, approach us differently and that if he wants to govern successfully here, he needs to do so in collaboration with the folks on this Island who do have mandates to govern,\u201d said Carr.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have ideas, long-standing ideas about how to improve our quality of life, how to protect our neighborhoods, and if he\u2019s willing to work with us on those sorts of things, then we could have productive relationship. But if he\u2019s going to try to impose his vision, which is a radical vision, not in keeping with Staten Island values, then I think we\u2019re going to have a contentious relationship,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Frank Morano, a Republican who represents the South Shore, said how local elected officials work with the new mayor will depend on whether Mamdani continues to pursue the progressive platforms he ran on, which he said were unpopular with many Staten Islanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he pursues a path as mayor that\u2019s as radical as the one that he pursued as an activist and in the State Assembly, it\u2019s going to be very difficult. It\u2019s going to be difficult for us. It\u2019s going to be difficult for him. It\u2019s going to be difficult for the public. I\u2019m speaking specifically about public safety issues, issues related to zoning and issues related to the Jewish community in New York City,\u201d Morano said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a long history of mayors that campaign as one thing to get elected and then moderate a little bit once they\u2019re in office. My hope with Mayor Mamdani, and I think we\u2019ve seen a couple of signs of this with respect to his willingness to keep on the Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, my hope is that he\u2019ll moderate a bit and recognize that the rigors of running a large city government like New York don\u2019t necessarily match to the rhetoric of socialism. If he wants to pursue a rigid ideological path, we\u2019re going to be at loggerheads and we\u2019ll bring the fight to him enthusiastically,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m okay with a little benign neglect\u2019<\/p>\n

When asked about Mamdani\u2019s limited campaign efforts on Staten Island, the councilmember said he\u2019s \u201cokay with a little benign neglect,\u201d so long as the incoming mayor acknowledges the unique nature of the borough and caters his policies and initiatives to that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt concerns me in that he doesn\u2019t necessarily put our values, our issues, the things that are important to Staten Islanders, at the forefront of his agenda. However, if he\u2019s going to recognize that Staten Island has very different values than the rest of the city and allow carve outs on certain things that go forward with different citywide policies, then I\u2019m okay with a little benign neglect,\u201d said Morano.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he\u2019s going to give us a little bit of a break on this addiction to road diets and bike lanes, if he\u2019s going to give us a little bit of a break on different sanitation enforcement and fines for everything, if he\u2019s going to give us a little bit of a break in terms of shoving different types of affordable housing projects down the throats of communities where it\u2019s not really a good fit, then I\u2019ll take it. You don\u2019t have to visit, but I think it remains to be seen if we\u2019re going to fit into a citywide plan or if he\u2019s going to recognize that we really view what\u2019s going on in city government, including every aspect of city service, differently than how they view it in Astoria and Park Slope,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

\u2018We are the squeaky wheel\u2019<\/p>\n

Borough President Vito Fossella, a Republican who won reelection over Democratic challenger Michael Colombo, said he has long worked alongside politicians with vastly different beliefs and will continue to so long as Mamdani is doing right by Staten Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all my roles, whether the City Council, Congress or Borough President, I have always tried to work with anybody who wants to do the right thing for the people of Staten Island. That means presidents, governors, mayors, regardless of party. I think it\u2019s important to collaborate and get the job done. So I will continue that approach and work with anybody who wants to do good by Staten Island and fight anybody who wants to do bad by Staten Island,\u201d Fossella said.<\/p>\n

Assemblymember Michael Tannousis, a Republican who represents the East Shore and serves as chair of the Staten Island GOP, vowed that the Republican delegation will continue to fight for the best interests of Staten Islanders and oppose policies and initiatives that run counter to the beliefs of the borough.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to see what he does in regards to Staten Island. We are always going to fight. The Staten Island Republican Party and its elected officials will always fight for the people of Staten Island. We\u2019re going to observe how he treats Staten Island, what they do, what their policies are going to be, and we will be right there holding their feet to the fire each and every single day,\u201d Tannousis said.<\/p>\n

Assemblymember Michael Reilly, a Republican who represents the South Shore, took issue with Mamdani\u2019s minimal efforts here on Staten Island, but said he hopes the borough\u2019s elected officials can find some common ground with the new administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get very upset when candidates running for citywide or statewide office don\u2019t want to participate in the voters here on Staten Island. If you want to be the mayor of New York City, you want to be the mayor of every New Yorker, and when you don\u2019t include 500,000 people that are members of your community, your city, that\u2019s a loud voice that you\u2019re ignoring. We are the squeaky wheel. We are going to keep raising our voices and we\u2019ll continue doing that, and hopefully we can find some common ground on things that we can work on,\u201d Reilly said.<\/p>\n

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