A few days ago, I had the privilege of moderating a Townhall Forum that drew more than 1,400 attendees and reached millions more across the public airwaves. It was a dynamic, high-energy evening featuring two of my esteemed Salem Media colleagues—Hugh Hewitt and Mike Gallagher—alongside several other civic and media leaders. But as so often happens when Hugh and Mike share a stage, sparks flew.
The evening’s first question produced one of those quintessential Hugh Hewitt moments. In his trademark professorial style, he invoked his favorite mantle—“as a Buckley conservative”—and promptly announced that he was following the Buckley Rule: “Vote for the most conservative candidate who can win.” Then, with that glint of wry certainty in his eye, he added, “So, vote for Andrew Cuomo if you want to stop Zohran Mamdani.”
And just like that, the fireworks began.
Gallagher, never one to shy away from a little holy friction, pushed back with his own brand of common sense and conviction: “Vote your conscience and let God work it all out.”
The contrast could not have been starker—Hewitt’s clinical pragmatism versus Gallagher’s convictional faith. And that exchange perfectly distilled the agony of the 2025 New York City mayoral race, a contest that, in my 55 years, has vexed me more than any other.
Let’s start with Hewitt’s pick. Andrew Cuomo is nothing if not a household name. His brand recognition across New York State is unparalleled, and in a city that often confuses fame for leadership, that’s no small advantage. But Cuomo’s record is the stuff of nightmares.
He presided over one of the darkest chapters of the COVID pandemic, sending infected patients into nursing homes—a decision that contributed to the deaths of roughly 26,000 elderly New Yorkers. And yet, in the macabre ledger of Cuomo’s misdeeds, that may not even rank near the top. The bullying, the cover-ups, the arrogance that drips from every syllable he utters—these are not the qualities of a man New Yorkers should trust again with power.
He despises conservatives, mocks people of faith, and treats dissent as disloyalty. To call his 2025 campaign uninspired would be generous. It’s perhaps the most lifeless, self-absorbed, poorly executed campaign for public office I’ve ever seen.
Meanwhile, Curtis Sliwa has done what few candidates ever bother to do—he’s hit the pavement. He’s everywhere. Riding subways. Walking neighborhoods. Listening to shopkeepers, rabbis, cops, teachers, mothers, cabbies. He’s showing up.
He’s not reading polls or whispering with consultants about messaging. He’s formulating governance rooted in real experience, not theory. It’s a fresh slice of perspective—an insurgent campaign fueled by the energy of ordinary New Yorkers who are simply tired of being ignored.
And according to the latest public filings, Sliwa and Cuomo both have more cash on hand than Mamdani, meaning neither man is limping toward the finish line. In fact, Sliwa holds nearly a million dollars more than Mamdani as of the most recent disclosures—a not-insignificant gap in a city race where every mailer, ad buy, and digital spot counts.
Which brings us to Zohran Mamdani, the radical Assemblyman from Queens who has somehow managed to make AOC look like a moderate. Mamdani refuses to retract his vile rallying cry, “Globalize the Intifada.” Let’s be clear—that phrase is not about solidarity, it’s a battle cry for genocide.
This man wants to see Israel eradicated and, by extension, would put the 1 million Jews living in New York City at mortal risk under the guise of “justice.” His presence in this race is a stain on the city’s moral conscience.
That’s why so many conservatives, centrists, and even old-school liberals are panicking. And it’s why Hewitt’s call for pragmatism—“vote Cuomo to stop Mamdani”—is, on the surface, tempting.
But it’s also deeply misguided.
Hewitt likes to cloak this kind of thinking in the legend of William F. Buckley Jr., claiming Buckley’s “rule” was to back the most conservative candidate who can win. It sounds clever. It sounds mature. But it’s a selective retelling of history.
Yes, Buckley once made that statement in 1967—but the Buckleys didn’t live by it. In fact, William F. Buckley himself ran for Mayor of New York in 1965 as a third-party Conservative candidate—a long shot if there ever was one. And his brother James Buckley ran as a third-party candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1970—and won.
The Buckley family didn’t shrink from uphill fights; they ran into them when conviction demanded it. That’s not cold pragmatism. That’s moral courage.
And it’s why Hewitt’s invocation of “the Buckley Rule” to justify backing a disgraced Democrat like Cuomo feels like theological malpractice—more politics of surrender than politics of principle.
Donald Trump, for all his controversy, over-performed in New York in 2024, shocking pollsters who thought the state was unwinnable. That resurgence of right-leaning and independent energy should tell us something: the impossible isn’t quite as impossible as it used to be.
So in a race this vexing, my strong inclination—and thus my endorsement—is to side with Gallagher’s proposition: vote your conscience and let God work it out.
Who knows? Maybe God will ordain that Mamdani and Cuomo cannibalize the Democratic vote, while independents and Republicans rally around Sliwa for the win.
And in a city where elections are sometimes decided by barely 17 percent of registered voters, stranger things have certainly happened.
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