“I feel like I’m back in 2013,” Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa told reporters on Thursday, reflecting on the sudden prominence of the debate over horse-drawn carriages (and charter schools ) in the 2025 New York City mayoral race this week.

The push by animal activists to ban the anachronistic carriage rides won former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s support when he was first running in 2013, but he failed to get the job done.

That movement, backed by the advocacy group New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets (NYCLASS), has a champion in outgoing Council Member Bob Holden, who sponsors legislation that would ban horse-drawn carriages. But the issue has failed to gain enough traction in the council and still faces heavy opposition from Transport Workers Union Local 100, which

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