The stunning win by Zohran Mamdani to become New York City’s next mayor has reignited some Republican politicians on Staten Island to call for the borough to secede from the rest of the city. And they’re tapping into decades of feeling slighted by the rest of the city as fuel for their movement.
“It’s only going to get louder,” says Staten Island Borough President of the growing sentiment. He points to the majority of the borough not voting for Mamdani, who is a Democratic Socialist. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent, won 55% of the vote in Staten Island as opposed to Mamdani, who got 23% of the vote. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa won 21%.
State Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo held a rally last month where attendees signed a “Staten Island Independence Declaration.” In his view, Mamdani’s win means the borough’s importance could be limited. “We are at war because the city seems to have values that we disagree with,” he said. “Some of the policies that fit in Manhattan don’t fit in Staten Island, and what they do in Queens and Brooklyn are what we don’t want to have here.”
Secession has been discussed in Staten Island before. The borough is predominately white, and is New York City’s least populous borough while having the second-highest median income behind Manhattan. The watershed moment was in 1993, when 63% of residents voted to leave in a non-binding referendum. The shock led then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani to make the Staten Island Ferry free, and to shut down the Fresh Kills Landfill to appease residents.
But economic questions, as well as proper political representation, could tamper the drive to secede. Experts point out that Staten Island doesn’t have a strong economic base to be independent. City Council member Frank Morano is pushing for a full economic study before any referendum is created. “I’m all for democracy, but what I’d like is democracy with data,” he said.
