With so much attention on the Democrats, many New Yorkers may not realize there's another mayoral contest Tuesday: the primary for the Republican nomination.

The race pits entrepreneur Fernando Mateo against Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, who was joined on the campaign trail Monday by perhaps his most potent weapon, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. 

Giuliani, who announced his endorsement earlier this month, heaped praise on Sliwa during a news conference aboard his campaign float.

What You Need To Know

  • Curtis Sliwa and Fernando Mateo are competing in the Republican mayoral primary

  • Rudy Giuliani has endorsed Sliwa, and joined him on the campaign trail Monday

  • Tuesday’s winner will face the Democratic nominee in the November general election
  • The Republican nominee faces long odds in a city where Republicans are outnumbered 6-to-1

“He’ll be a great mayor because he’ll solve the one problem that has to be solved, and this city can go right back to where it was. We have to solve the crime problem,” he said. “I think he was fighting crime when he was two years old.”

Sliwa has made public safety the centerpiece of his campaign, promising to “refund” the NYPD and add 3,000 officers to its ranks.

Making reference to the looting that occurred over several nights last summer, Giuliani said: "Did you see last year when those stores were broken into? The police were watching!” He added: “Do you think they'd be watching if Curtis Sliwa were mayor?"

Mateo, meanwhile, held a campaign rally at the Long Island Rail Road station in Bayside, Queens on Monday afternoon. Asked about Giuliani endorsing his opponent, he spoke to the camera, as if addressing Giuliani directly: "Rudy, you know that Curtis Sliwa is a never-Trumper. You're the attorney for President Trump. How could you do this?"

Mateo is a businessman who's also spent years as an advocate for livery drivers and bodega owners. 

"I've worked for this city for 30 years,” he said while addressing supporters. “And you know what, no candidate has done the work that I have for New York City."

Mateo met with Trump earlier this month, and though he wasn't endorsed by the former president, Mateo portrays himself as the true Republican in the race, noting Sliwa only registered as a Republican last year. 

But Sliwa has the backing of party leaders like supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the city’s lone Republican member of Congress, who was the Republican nominee for mayor in 2017.