September 29, 2025 • 7 mins
JC Polanco speaks with Mendte in the Morning about the news of Eric Adams dropping out of the race and what this could mean for the rest of the field.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And last we spoke with J. C. Polonko, political analyst
and University of Mount Saint Vincent assistant professor and attorney.
He was saying, get used to saying, Mayor Zor and
Mom Donnie, it doesn't look like anything's gonna change if
everything stays the same as it is. Right now, he
(00:20):
is going to be the next mayor of the New
York City. Well, things have changed, things changed in a
big way. The current mayor has dropped out of the race.
So now I look to J. C. Polonco for new
hope that maybe maybe this is the way to stop
(00:40):
zorin Mam Donnie and the Mom Donnie train from taking
over the city.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
J C.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Polonco, you say, what.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Maybe, maybe there's a lot of maybees, Like maybe maybe
I'll wake up tomorrow and look like Josh Allen. Who knows, right,
I could be six five to twenty. I don't know.
I don't know a damn it. There we go with
the numbers again, you know. But the reality is this,
(01:10):
The fact is the calculus has changed. Now you have
the city mayor who made a tough decision in getting
out of the race, leaving behind the treasure trove of voters.
Sure's in the tingle digits and some of the polls,
but those voters are going to look somewhere else to vote.
Which one of these candidates is more in line with
Mayor Adams. Look may Adams for all of the you
(01:30):
know the things that we've been reading in the press,
you know the guilty in the Court of Public Opinion
verdict that has come out against Mayor Adams. The city
is much better off than when he found it. Crime
is lower, unemployment is lower, there's great job development in
New York City. There's no housing than ever before. So
he's going to leave that mark. Those voters are looking
for a home. And when you think about the candidates
(01:52):
that are left, if you're a Democrat, you know that
it's Andrew Como's your candidate. And sure there's going to
be some that are going to go to Mamdani. You're
gonna go somewhere, mister Stewak. But this is a this
is good news for former Governor Cuomo. The question becomes,
can he really galvanize as many of those guys as
possible to come and support him in November. It still
(02:13):
leaves him behind assemblymenmum Donni. So these next few weeks
are going to be very very important for former Governor
Cuomo to make a push into Democrats. He needs to
remind Democrats of wholl Assemblymenmuam Donni really is by focusing
and doing a contrast on this man's candidacy. Now, remember
your listeners are thinking about mister Steewak liciously was hoping
(02:33):
for the following I've spoken missus stevewell, he's been in
my program as well. Missus Slee was hoping for a
plurality of voters to support him. Now, how does this happen.
He's currently pulling it around fifteen to seventy percent. He's
raised an enormous amount of money. He's opening campaign offices
across the city. He is hoping that Democrats fight it
out and that they split the vote between Assemblymenmum Donnie
and Cuomo and Republicans stayed loyal to him, independence come
(02:55):
to him and he lives with a plurality. This is
becoming increasly difficult. So at the end of the day,
the next polls are going to matter. The next polls
are going to be critical for Missus Sewak if he's
in the low teens and mister Cuomo's is pulling very high.
There's gonna be a big push for him to drop
out of the race, which he has said he is not.
He considers dropping out to be a failure, a test
(03:16):
of his manhood. I know he doesn't want to drop off,
but there's gonna be a lot of pressure across the
city that we may have a socialist takeover of city
government if then posts come out and don't have them
at number two and he decides to stay.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Now I'm depressed again because the scenario you just laid
out seems implausible, especially the part where you say maybe
governor former governor Cuomo can galvanize voters. The word galvanized
and Andrew Cuomo don't see eye to eye. I can't
see that being used as a sentence to describe Andrew Cuomo.
(03:50):
I actually have been really disappointed jac in the campaign
he's running and the energy he puts into it. He
seems like he's lost his fastball. Do you agree.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I think that it's difficult for him to try in
the next couple of weeks to have a modern light
campaign that could go toe to toe with the subny
Milium Donnie on social media, especially when the press is
against the guy. But we've got to remember he is
dealing with running in as an independent in the city
where there are two out of every three voters as
(04:22):
a Democrat, and it appears to me that a lot
of the local presses run defense for a Semni milim
Donnie becomes increasingly difficult. Well, I mean galvanized, I mean
politics creates strange bedfellows, Larry. And if former Governor Cuomo
is able to remind Republicans that they can hold their
nose and support them so there's not a socialistic over
a city government, well that's that's that's something that some
(04:45):
Republicans are going to have to think about doing, especially
if they've If mister see what comes back in the
single digits, this is an opportunity for mister Cromo to
make some real effort to get Republicans, independents, and those
disaffected Democrats as uctually Adams voters to come to him.
So look, only he can do it. If he cannot
figure it out, he should drop out and let missus
(05:06):
Steveba try to figure it out. But this is the
issue that we're dealing with. About eleven percent of New
York City voters are Republicans. That's dismal. These are not
the old days. These are very new days where New
York City is more liberal than ever before, more Democrat
than ever before, but at the same time it's also
most unaffiliated than ever before. About one in five voters
in New York City is an independent like me. So
(05:27):
you have a lot of opportunities out here to connect
with independent voters and try to remind them that you
are going to be the anti socialist candidate. There's a
lot of contrast to make Assemimum Donnie lacks the qualifications
to be the CEO of New York City government. If
missus Slee or mister Crmo pressed on that hard, the
fact that you have a three hundred and fifty thousand employees,
(05:48):
a budget of one hundred and twenty billion dollars one
point one trillion dollars GDP, what in Assembly minimum Donnie's
records show that he has the experience to be the
CEO of New York City government. And where you're going
to come across this nothing fifty percent absence rate in
New York State Assembly three bills? What does that mean?
It means nothing to me. You have a staff before
what are we talking about. Yeah, TikTok sentation. Yeah, this
(06:11):
is going to be the message that he has to
bring in order to win in November. Both of them.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Well, now you gave me hope again. That was pretty good. Hey, listen,
I agree with you one thousand percent about the media.
They should be ashamed of themselves because they seem to
be working for Mom Donnie and they want him to
be mayor. And I don't think that's going to change.
And that's a tough thing to run against, to run
against or in Mom Donnie and to run against the
media and for some Now let's see what they do
(06:36):
with Andrew Cromo. It'll be really interesting to see what happens. J. C. Polanco,
political analyst and University of Mount Saint Vincent assistant professor
and an attorney. Always great. Look forward to seeing you
on TV. I saw you. I saw you out walking.
It was the first time I didn't see you behind
the desk. I saw you out walking doing an interview.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
You'll look great, you know. I try to tell people
that I'm just as tall as Josh Allen, so I
like to sit down during To me, some nobody sees
me standing all five foot eight of me. I liked it.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
It looked good. I thought it was excellent. Appreciate it.
Talk to you again soon.
And last we spoke with J. C. Polonko, political analyst
and University of Mount Saint Vincent assistant professor and attorney.
He was saying, get used to saying, Mayor Zor and
Mom Donnie, it doesn't look like anything's gonna change if
everything stays the same as it is. Right now, he
(00:20):
is going to be the next mayor of the New
York City. Well, things have changed, things changed in a
big way. The current mayor has dropped out of the race.
So now I look to J. C. Polonco for new
hope that maybe maybe this is the way to stop
(00:40):
zorin Mam Donnie and the Mom Donnie train from taking
over the city.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
J C.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Polonco, you say, what.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Maybe, maybe there's a lot of maybees, Like maybe maybe
I'll wake up tomorrow and look like Josh Allen. Who knows, right,
I could be six five to twenty. I don't know.
I don't know a damn it. There we go with
the numbers again, you know. But the reality is this,
(01:10):
The fact is the calculus has changed. Now you have
the city mayor who made a tough decision in getting
out of the race, leaving behind the treasure trove of voters.
Sure's in the tingle digits and some of the polls,
but those voters are going to look somewhere else to vote.
Which one of these candidates is more in line with
Mayor Adams. Look may Adams for all of the you
(01:30):
know the things that we've been reading in the press,
you know the guilty in the Court of Public Opinion
verdict that has come out against Mayor Adams. The city
is much better off than when he found it. Crime
is lower, unemployment is lower, there's great job development in
New York City. There's no housing than ever before. So
he's going to leave that mark. Those voters are looking
for a home. And when you think about the candidates
(01:52):
that are left, if you're a Democrat, you know that
it's Andrew Como's your candidate. And sure there's going to
be some that are going to go to Mamdani. You're
gonna go somewhere, mister Stewak. But this is a this
is good news for former Governor Cuomo. The question becomes,
can he really galvanize as many of those guys as
possible to come and support him in November. It still
(02:13):
leaves him behind assemblymenmum Donni. So these next few weeks
are going to be very very important for former Governor
Cuomo to make a push into Democrats. He needs to
remind Democrats of wholl Assemblymenmuam Donni really is by focusing
and doing a contrast on this man's candidacy. Now, remember
your listeners are thinking about mister Steewak liciously was hoping
(02:33):
for the following I've spoken missus stevewell, he's been in
my program as well. Missus Slee was hoping for a
plurality of voters to support him. Now, how does this happen.
He's currently pulling it around fifteen to seventy percent. He's
raised an enormous amount of money. He's opening campaign offices
across the city. He is hoping that Democrats fight it
out and that they split the vote between Assemblymenmum Donnie
and Cuomo and Republicans stayed loyal to him, independence come
(02:55):
to him and he lives with a plurality. This is
becoming increasly difficult. So at the end of the day,
the next polls are going to matter. The next polls
are going to be critical for Missus Sewak if he's
in the low teens and mister Cuomo's is pulling very high.
There's gonna be a big push for him to drop
out of the race, which he has said he is not.
He considers dropping out to be a failure, a test
(03:16):
of his manhood. I know he doesn't want to drop off,
but there's gonna be a lot of pressure across the
city that we may have a socialist takeover of city
government if then posts come out and don't have them
at number two and he decides to stay.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Now I'm depressed again because the scenario you just laid
out seems implausible, especially the part where you say maybe
governor former governor Cuomo can galvanize voters. The word galvanized
and Andrew Cuomo don't see eye to eye. I can't
see that being used as a sentence to describe Andrew Cuomo.
(03:50):
I actually have been really disappointed jac in the campaign
he's running and the energy he puts into it. He
seems like he's lost his fastball. Do you agree.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I think that it's difficult for him to try in
the next couple of weeks to have a modern light
campaign that could go toe to toe with the subny
Milium Donnie on social media, especially when the press is
against the guy. But we've got to remember he is
dealing with running in as an independent in the city
where there are two out of every three voters as
(04:22):
a Democrat, and it appears to me that a lot
of the local presses run defense for a Semni milim
Donnie becomes increasingly difficult. Well, I mean galvanized, I mean
politics creates strange bedfellows, Larry. And if former Governor Cuomo
is able to remind Republicans that they can hold their
nose and support them so there's not a socialistic over
a city government, well that's that's that's something that some
(04:45):
Republicans are going to have to think about doing, especially
if they've If mister see what comes back in the
single digits, this is an opportunity for mister Cromo to
make some real effort to get Republicans, independents, and those
disaffected Democrats as uctually Adams voters to come to him.
So look, only he can do it. If he cannot
figure it out, he should drop out and let missus
(05:06):
Steveba try to figure it out. But this is the
issue that we're dealing with. About eleven percent of New
York City voters are Republicans. That's dismal. These are not
the old days. These are very new days where New
York City is more liberal than ever before, more Democrat
than ever before, but at the same time it's also
most unaffiliated than ever before. About one in five voters
in New York City is an independent like me. So
(05:27):
you have a lot of opportunities out here to connect
with independent voters and try to remind them that you
are going to be the anti socialist candidate. There's a
lot of contrast to make Assemimum Donnie lacks the qualifications
to be the CEO of New York City government. If
missus Slee or mister Crmo pressed on that hard, the
fact that you have a three hundred and fifty thousand employees,
(05:48):
a budget of one hundred and twenty billion dollars one
point one trillion dollars GDP, what in Assembly minimum Donnie's
records show that he has the experience to be the
CEO of New York City government. And where you're going
to come across this nothing fifty percent absence rate in
New York State Assembly three bills? What does that mean?
It means nothing to me. You have a staff before
what are we talking about. Yeah, TikTok sentation. Yeah, this
(06:11):
is going to be the message that he has to
bring in order to win in November. Both of them.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Well, now you gave me hope again. That was pretty good. Hey, listen,
I agree with you one thousand percent about the media.
They should be ashamed of themselves because they seem to
be working for Mom Donnie and they want him to
be mayor. And I don't think that's going to change.
And that's a tough thing to run against, to run
against or in Mom Donnie and to run against the
media and for some Now let's see what they do
(06:36):
with Andrew Cromo. It'll be really interesting to see what happens. J. C. Polanco,
political analyst and University of Mount Saint Vincent assistant professor
and an attorney. Always great. Look forward to seeing you
on TV. I saw you. I saw you out walking.
It was the first time I didn't see you behind
the desk. I saw you out walking doing an interview.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
You'll look great, you know. I try to tell people
that I'm just as tall as Josh Allen, so I
like to sit down during To me, some nobody sees
me standing all five foot eight of me. I liked it.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
It looked good. I thought it was excellent. Appreciate it.
Talk to you again soon.
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