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New York City has had Republican mayors for 16 years now. But Republican candidates without the notoriety of Rudolph Giuliani or the wealth of Michael Bloomberg have a much harder time in a city where registered Democrats still outnumber Republicans by at least 5-to-1. As WNYC’s Beth Fertig reports, the two Republicans running for Comptroller and Public Advocate are learning that first-hand.

REPORTER: Joe Mendola is having a rough day on the campaign trail. The Republican candidate for City Comptroller is about half an hour late for an appearance in Bensonhurst.

MENDOLA: I was at an event this morning in Staten Island. And I got a ride into Brooklyn. But unfortunately because the traffic was so heavy, my ride had another commitment that he had to get to so I was left off on Fourth Avenue.

REPORTER: Where he then caught a bus to Bensonhurst. Mendola doesn’t have a car, or a driver. Nor does he have any staffers. He spends his days crisscrossing the city on mass transit, with help from a few volunteers, telling voters that he is in fact running for City Comptroller.

After finally arriving at his event in Bensonhurst, the seniors playing Bingo in a church basement greet him politely.

MAN: Good luck to you.

REPORTER: But they don’t seem very knowledgeable about the election. Minnie DeRose stops him as he’s leaving.

DEROSE: I’m Republican I’ve never heard of you!

MENDOLA: Well now you’re heard of me.

DEROSE: Yeah! You have to show your face!

MENDOLA: We’re doing the best we can. The other side has all the money, that’s the problem. It’s a one party town.

REPORTER: Mendola knew he was taking on a big challenge when he decided to run for Comptroller – his first attempt at elective office. He switched parties from Democrat to Republican last year because he says he was angry about the federal stimulus program. The 47-year-old fiscal compliance officer believes he’s well suited to watch over pension funds and audit city agencies.

MENDOLA: I have management experience, supervisory experience, trading experience, experience picking brokers, picking investors, managing investments so that risk is minimized and risks can be abated. Doesn’t it make sense to hire somebody for the job that has relevant experience for the job as opposed to somebody that sat on city council for 8 years?

REPORTER: Mendola is referring to his opponent, Democrat John Liu. He believes Liu is tainted because he has the backing of labor unions and the Working Families Party.

MENDOLA: How can this guy be an objective decider of investments, an objective auditor of pensions, unions and welfare funds if he owes so much to so many. That to me represents more of the same.

REPORTER: But Mendola’s message has failed to catch fire. Neither he, nor the Republican running for Public Advocate, have raised much money. Nor have they gotten any help from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who’s running as a Republican and Independent. When the mayor was asked if he’d endorse them, he initially said quote, “nobody” was running against the Democrats.

BLOOMBERG: I just don’t know who they are I’ll have to take a look before I get there. But regardless I will not express myself publicly on any of the races where I have to work with the people afterwards.

REPORTER: Alex Zablocki didn’t take that remark personally. The 26-year-old Republican running for Public Advocate says it’s just politics.

ZABLOCKI: He went out of his way to basically say that nobody was running, which sounds to me a little scripted. So I’m thinking some consultants may have said those Republicans, make believe like they don't exist so we gain some favor with Democrats.

REPORTER: Zablocki is a native of Staten Island, where he works for Republican State Senator, Andrew Lanza.

ZABLOCKI: Hi, I'm Alex Zablocki running for Public Advocate. Good to meet you.

REPORTER: Outside the Manhattan terminal of the Staten Island ferry, Zablocki passes out campaign fliers while commuters hurry to work. Most keep going but a few seem to know his name from Staten Island politics. Sandy Carles, a Democrat, stops to engage the young Republican.

CARLES: Let me ask you, do you think it’s a right to have health care in this country? FDR would say that.

ZABLOCKI: FDR did say that absolutely.

CARLES: He really wanted that to happen.

ZABLOCKI: I think having health care available is a right. I don’t think having health insurance is a right, I think that should be a personal choice.

REPORTER: Zablocki thinks the Public Advocate should have the power to subpoena city agencies, to be a real independent voice. He’d also like to see neighborhood offices around the city.

REPORTER: Zablocki and Mendola are the first Republicans to run for City Comptroller and Public Advocate since 1997. No one bothered in the past two elections. One might think that would give their party something to rally around. But neither one was able to raise or spend the $25,000 minimum for broadcast debates with their opponents under the Campaign Finance Program. A candidate from the Rent is Too Damn High party raised more. Jason Weingartener, executive director of the New York County Republicans, says the party shared its phone lists.

WEINGARTNER: But I do know in this economy that fundraising has been down, and on top of that with all stuff that’s been going on nationally, where Republicans until recently haven’t been seen in the greatest of lights. It’s been a difficult fundraising environment across the board for Republicans.

REPORTERS: Zablocki wishes things were different. He plans to debate Democrat Bill De Blasio anyway in local forums the two campaigns are organizing. He says money alone shouldn’t determine who’s a serious candidate.

ZABLOCKI: Well, I think proof is in the pudding. A serious candidate is someone who wakes up at 5 a.m., comes out to the Staten Island Ferry and hands out a thousand pieces of literature and speaks to voters. A serious candidate is someone that goes early in the morning to the South Bronx or places like Harlem where Republicans haven’t gone in decades and talks to voters about issues that matter to them.

REPORTER: And this year, he says, Republicans had two candidates who helped pave the way regardless of what happens next month. For WNYC I’m Beth Fertig.