This is the reason interview with Nick Gillespie, a podcast where I do deep dive interviews

with the artists, entrepreneurs, oddballs, and politicians who are making the 21st century

more libertarian, or at least more interesting, by challenging old worn out ideas and orthodoxies. Before you do anything

else, please help make this podcast and all of reasons other shows better by filling out a short

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That link again is reason.com slash pod survey, P-O-D-S-U-R-B-E-E-Y.

Today's guest is Curtis Slewa, the Red Burray-Waring founder of New York City's Guardian Angels, who's now running for mayor as a Republican.

Slewa is a long shot, but he's in an unpredictable four-way race, and one recent poll showed him within the margin of error of winning.

My reason colleague Jesse Walker talks with Slewa about his opponent Zoran Mammani, Andrew Cuomo, and Eric Adams.

Slewa likens the ultra-progressive Moundani, currently leading most polls, to Coca-Cola, calling him the real thing when it comes to socialism.

And he says that Cuomo, who was forced from the governor's mansion due to sexual improprieties

and Adams, the beleaguered, almost forgotten incumbent, are Diet Coke versions of Momdani and

socialism. Sliwa also talks about his battles over zoning, crime, and community gardens,

his surprising takes on drugs and sanctuary cities, which are

what you might expect from a populist Republican, and what decades of street theater have taught

him about power. Here is the reason interview with Curtis Sleevo. So Curtis Slewa, thank you for

joining us. My pleasure, and let's not forget, the first ever independent line, Protect Animals,

No Killed Shelters.

That's coming up later in the interview, but yes, you're also running as the Protect Animals candidate.

So one reason it's been especially interesting to watch you running a political campaign is because

for a lot of your career, especially at the very beginning, you felt like an almost anti-political

...