July 8, 2025 • 6 mins
J.C. Polanco talks with Mendte in the Morning to talk about the NYC Mayoral race as the candidates are calling for each other to drop out amidst low polling numbers against Zohran Mamdani.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So much is going on in the mayor's race and
to help straighten this all out and talk about what
could happen. JC Polonko is a political analyst and University
of Mount Saint Vincent Assistant of Professor, and he's also
an attorney. We've had him on several times. You see
him on TV almost all the time. You can it's
(00:20):
Polonko twenty four to seven. You can keep switching channels
and you see him somewhere. But Jac, thanks for taking
some time to talk with us today. I appreciate it.
So much going on in the mayor's race right now,
and everybody seems to be pushing the other one to
get out. Let me start with this, is it possible
for one of the other candidates to beat zorin mom
(00:43):
Danni without at least one of the major candidates dropping out?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Good morning, Thanks for having me. Larry love your show,
so listen. I think it's impossible. I think come he
get asked a great question, and keep thinking about the
mask a massing Larry, it's just not. It's just not
if you think about it. The last time we had
an independent win the minoralty was Mike Bloomberg. Mike Bloomberg
(01:11):
ran the Republican but left the Republican party and was
an independent, and he had three hundred million dollars, and
he knew as an incumbent that he had no shot
of winning the minorality without a major party line. So
he went to the mate, He went to the Republican
chairs and said, listen, I need your support. This is
what I'm going to do. And the Republican chair supported him,
and he ran with the Republican line and three hundred
(01:33):
million dollars and was able to win ap Currently, you
don't have that. You have an incumbent mayor without three
hundred million dollars and without any major party line, and
you have a couple of independent candidates running out there.
You know it thinks will change quickly. What we're seeing
is Mambani is gaining momentum. Suddenly, Mamdani is gaining strength.
He's having a lot of endorsements. People are now lining
(01:55):
up behind him. The Democrats are lightning up behind him.
There are three zo point five million Democrats in New
York City. Do you know how many Democrats came out
to vote just two weeks ago? One point one million? Larry,
do you know how many people came out to vote
in totally November of twenty twenty one, one point one million.
These Democrats are energized. They're like they're candidate, believe it
(02:18):
or not. They're lighting up. He's gaining momentum, he's getting
more money, he's getting more powerful, and he's getting more
likable with people. And what we're seeing is a perfect
storm for there to be a socialist mayor in New
York City. Why because you have so many independent candidates running,
you have a Republican candidate running on his own as well,
and that opposition that can stop on assembly minimum Donnie
(02:41):
is completely divided. So going into November, if the states
like this, I do just think a semi minimum Dannie
should be measuring the drapes to be carving out his staff.
You're going to have a socialist chancellor, socialist commissioner, socialists
everything you could imagine that many of your viewers are
concerned about. This is the reality. And the reason for
that is that this strategy of divided opposition is just
(03:03):
a complete disaster. It's never gonna work. And and and
I think we're running out of time.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Let's make you for a moment the omnipotent god of elections,
and you get to choose one candidate and everybody else
has to drop out to run against Mom Donnie.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Who is it. It's a tough one, it really, It's
a really tough one for me, Larry. I mean, honestly,
I'm a capitalist, and I'm a centrist and I'm an independent.
So the thirty dollars an hour rent freeze, decriminalization and
all of that stuff that some of you, Mandoni's pushing,
it doesn't exactly appeal to me at all, including the
government run grocery stores. So you're looking at these guys.
(03:44):
Mayor Adams is very very has very high unfavorables. He's
the incumbent and that makes him very powerful. And if
you take a look at crime dropping, there's some good
issues that the that the mayor can run on, but
the unfavorables are just so high, and a lot of
the stems from the indictments that he had to deal
with the fact that he made well it appeared he
(04:06):
made an agreement with the White House regarding immigration, and
that didn't bode well for this left leaning CenTra left city.
It just didn't look good at all. So he has
very high unfavorables. And then you take a look at
former Governor Andrew Como, who was doing so well all
this time. He has no indictments. There's some allegations of
sexual harassment, there's no indictments there. And if you take
a look at the polls, he has the highest numbers
(04:30):
leading into this election. So you would think, as mathematically,
you would say, okay, so the Independence and mottersha line
behind the former governor. But then they'll say, listen, he
lost already, so he's going in beat up. But in
Independence that it get a chance to vote. And then
let's not forget. You have Curtis Leewell, who is on
the Republican line, a major party line. He walks in
(04:51):
there with at least twenty percent of the vote, let's
say eighteen to twenty percent of the vote, very popular.
We've known him since we were kids. He's someone that
we all no he's in a household name. Can he
compete in this environment? And the reality is he's going nowhere.
He's not going to drop out unless the president nominates
him to something, unless he moves out of New York.
(05:11):
There's no way that he can leave the line. That's
another legality that your viewers should be aware of. So
without a major party line, Larry, it's impossible. I see
it as an impossibility. Without a major party line, without
Andrew Crmo having courteously with supporting him, and May You're
Adams supporting him, it's never going to happen. This is
just a faith complete. I don't feel that there's any
chance of withithstanding the juggernaut that's about to happen to us,
(05:34):
and nothing is rocking assembling mimimum Donnie, no allegation about Sat.
It just emboldens him, the SAT grades. I don't know
who thinks this is going to help the moderate. I
don't know who thinks whether he's black African American, that's
not working. Any support that he has right now. You
got to focus on the issues, the fact that he's
a socialist. Thirty dollars an hour minimum wage with decriminalization,
(05:58):
French freeze is gonna hurt and pop landlords. You got
to focus on the issues, not on the fact that
he's Muslim, or the fact that he's Ugandan, or the
fact that Sat who cares about.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
That right, that gets more support, jac that gets some
more support. He becomes a martyr. You're attacking him, You're
you're absolutely correct, you are absolutely correct. Stick to the issues.
They're your friend in this race because what he's talking
about is never going to work. Jac we're at a time.
You're always great. I hope you have to have you
back several times during this election. Thanks again, Thank you, Larry.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Have a great day.
So much is going on in the mayor's race and
to help straighten this all out and talk about what
could happen. JC Polonko is a political analyst and University
of Mount Saint Vincent Assistant of Professor, and he's also
an attorney. We've had him on several times. You see
him on TV almost all the time. You can it's
(00:20):
Polonko twenty four to seven. You can keep switching channels
and you see him somewhere. But Jac, thanks for taking
some time to talk with us today. I appreciate it.
So much going on in the mayor's race right now,
and everybody seems to be pushing the other one to
get out. Let me start with this, is it possible
for one of the other candidates to beat zorin mom
(00:43):
Danni without at least one of the major candidates dropping out?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Good morning, Thanks for having me. Larry love your show,
so listen. I think it's impossible. I think come he
get asked a great question, and keep thinking about the
mask a massing Larry, it's just not. It's just not
if you think about it. The last time we had
an independent win the minoralty was Mike Bloomberg. Mike Bloomberg
(01:11):
ran the Republican but left the Republican party and was
an independent, and he had three hundred million dollars, and
he knew as an incumbent that he had no shot
of winning the minorality without a major party line. So
he went to the mate, He went to the Republican
chairs and said, listen, I need your support. This is
what I'm going to do. And the Republican chair supported him,
and he ran with the Republican line and three hundred
(01:33):
million dollars and was able to win ap Currently, you
don't have that. You have an incumbent mayor without three
hundred million dollars and without any major party line, and
you have a couple of independent candidates running out there.
You know it thinks will change quickly. What we're seeing
is Mambani is gaining momentum. Suddenly, Mamdani is gaining strength.
He's having a lot of endorsements. People are now lining
(01:55):
up behind him. The Democrats are lightning up behind him.
There are three zo point five million Democrats in New
York City. Do you know how many Democrats came out
to vote just two weeks ago? One point one million? Larry,
do you know how many people came out to vote
in totally November of twenty twenty one, one point one million.
These Democrats are energized. They're like they're candidate, believe it
(02:18):
or not. They're lighting up. He's gaining momentum, he's getting
more money, he's getting more powerful, and he's getting more
likable with people. And what we're seeing is a perfect
storm for there to be a socialist mayor in New
York City. Why because you have so many independent candidates running,
you have a Republican candidate running on his own as well,
and that opposition that can stop on assembly minimum Donnie
(02:41):
is completely divided. So going into November, if the states
like this, I do just think a semi minimum Dannie
should be measuring the drapes to be carving out his staff.
You're going to have a socialist chancellor, socialist commissioner, socialists
everything you could imagine that many of your viewers are
concerned about. This is the reality. And the reason for
that is that this strategy of divided opposition is just
(03:03):
a complete disaster. It's never gonna work. And and and
I think we're running out of time.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Let's make you for a moment the omnipotent god of elections,
and you get to choose one candidate and everybody else
has to drop out to run against Mom Donnie.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Who is it. It's a tough one, it really, It's
a really tough one for me, Larry. I mean, honestly,
I'm a capitalist, and I'm a centrist and I'm an independent.
So the thirty dollars an hour rent freeze, decriminalization and
all of that stuff that some of you, Mandoni's pushing,
it doesn't exactly appeal to me at all, including the
government run grocery stores. So you're looking at these guys.
(03:44):
Mayor Adams is very very has very high unfavorables. He's
the incumbent and that makes him very powerful. And if
you take a look at crime dropping, there's some good
issues that the that the mayor can run on, but
the unfavorables are just so high, and a lot of
the stems from the indictments that he had to deal
with the fact that he made well it appeared he
(04:06):
made an agreement with the White House regarding immigration, and
that didn't bode well for this left leaning CenTra left city.
It just didn't look good at all. So he has
very high unfavorables. And then you take a look at
former Governor Andrew Como, who was doing so well all
this time. He has no indictments. There's some allegations of
sexual harassment, there's no indictments there. And if you take
a look at the polls, he has the highest numbers
(04:30):
leading into this election. So you would think, as mathematically,
you would say, okay, so the Independence and mottersha line
behind the former governor. But then they'll say, listen, he
lost already, so he's going in beat up. But in
Independence that it get a chance to vote. And then
let's not forget. You have Curtis Leewell, who is on
the Republican line, a major party line. He walks in
(04:51):
there with at least twenty percent of the vote, let's
say eighteen to twenty percent of the vote, very popular.
We've known him since we were kids. He's someone that
we all no he's in a household name. Can he
compete in this environment? And the reality is he's going nowhere.
He's not going to drop out unless the president nominates
him to something, unless he moves out of New York.
(05:11):
There's no way that he can leave the line. That's
another legality that your viewers should be aware of. So
without a major party line, Larry, it's impossible. I see
it as an impossibility. Without a major party line, without
Andrew Crmo having courteously with supporting him, and May You're
Adams supporting him, it's never going to happen. This is
just a faith complete. I don't feel that there's any
chance of withithstanding the juggernaut that's about to happen to us,
(05:34):
and nothing is rocking assembling mimimum Donnie, no allegation about Sat.
It just emboldens him, the SAT grades. I don't know
who thinks this is going to help the moderate. I
don't know who thinks whether he's black African American, that's
not working. Any support that he has right now. You
got to focus on the issues, the fact that he's
a socialist. Thirty dollars an hour minimum wage with decriminalization,
(05:58):
French freeze is gonna hurt and pop landlords. You got
to focus on the issues, not on the fact that
he's Muslim, or the fact that he's Ugandan, or the
fact that Sat who cares about.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
That right, that gets more support, jac that gets some
more support. He becomes a martyr. You're attacking him, You're
you're absolutely correct, you are absolutely correct. Stick to the issues.
They're your friend in this race because what he's talking
about is never going to work. Jac we're at a time.
You're always great. I hope you have to have you
back several times during this election. Thanks again, Thank you, Larry.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Have a great day.
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