September 9, 2025 • 6 mins
Mendte in the Morning talks to Joe Borelli about the NYC Mayors race and Trump’s influence on the election.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now let's talk to Joe Burrelli, managing director of the
Chartwell Strategy Group and former Minoriti leader of the New
York City Council. He's with us every Tuesday at this time, Joe,
I want to talk about the mayor's race again, and
this time I specifically want to talk about Curtis leiwa
(00:20):
because as I look at the other three, I'm looking
at them and saying I don't want any of them.
But everyone tells me Curtis Lee what does not have
a shot in this first of all, mainly because he's
a Republican. Convince me otherwise do you think he could win?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Look? Yeah, you have some perceptive friends. Because the difficulty
Curtis does face is that he's on the Republican line,
which traditionally has only gotten twenty eight percent at a
max since the era of Mike Bloomberg. So it is
an uphill battle for him. It's an uphill battle for
anyone who's on the republic line. If it was Nicole
(00:59):
mal attack us, if it was you know, Donald Trump Junior,
if it was Joe Burrelli, it would be an uphill
battle to be on the Democrat on the Republican line. Again,
the thing that sets this year apart from others is
that you don't need a majority, You only need a
plurality to win. Curtis, in theory, could win with thirty five,
(01:20):
thirty six, thirty seven percent of the vote, which is
only you know, only a seven to ten percent rise
in the poll numbers. That's within the realm of possibility.
If Adams gets out of the race, I think it
becomes tougher for Curtis to win, you know, it just
it just makes that number that he needs to go up.
(01:41):
And I do think I saw Clomo talking about this
on a TV program that there is really only two
people in the race at this point. There are two
via I think he used the word viable candidate. There's
two viable candidates. And I think the public is going
to come to that realization as the clock winds down.
(02:02):
And then if you're me, I think I told you this.
If you're me, You're gonna pick who's ever in second place.
You're gonna hold your nose if you have to. You're
gonna let bygones be bygones and say, you know what,
as bad as I may find Andrew Cuomo, it's still
better than the alternative.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
You know what the interesting thing is about Curtis too,
even though he's a Republican. One of the knocks on
Eric Adams, I shouldn't say a knock. It is one
of the reasons that so many people in New York
aren't going to vote for him is because they have
tied him to Donald Trump. And Donald Trump seems to
be the biggest issue for the Democrats across the country
and certainly here in New York City. Curtis Lee, well,
(02:39):
you can't tie to Donald Trump even though he's a Republican.
Those two have had a dislike for each other for
a long long time. Maybe that'll help him night.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
But look, if Curtis starts moving ahead in the polls
and presents a challenge from Momdani, they will shroud him
with Donald Trump, just like they at anyone else. I mean,
it's a valid attack line, and it's an attack line
that's working, I think against Andrew Cuomo. We saw Andrew
Cuomo getting some momentum over the last two weeks, and
(03:11):
that was kind of you know, it stopped as soon
as this plot or alleged plot to get Adams out
of the race came to light. It didn't help Andrew
Cuomo that Donald Trump maybe was helping Eric Adams. It
didn't help them at all. Look, look, Donald Trump is
not popular with Democrats, and the enrollment in New York
(03:31):
City is six to one Democrats to enrollment. So just
in theory, for every one person that loves Donald Trump,
six people dislike him in this city. And we saw that.
I mean, Donald Trump got over five hundred thousand votes
in the presidential election, which is you know, a record
recently of Republicans. However, the Democratic nominee, I think got
(03:52):
something like two million. So just you know, we have
to play apples to apples.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
The way it looks right now is that zorin Mom
Donnie is going to win. What does Donald Trump do then?
If zorin Mam Donnie wins, what do you think his
move will be? Because He's not just going to sit there,
He's going to react.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Well, hopefully the Trump family has been investing in you know,
residential properties, are of them where they could develop and
sell to fleeing New Yorkers like myself. It's going to
be the same fight between him and Brandon Johnson as
it'll be with the Zora and Mamdanni and again, Mam
Donnie is Mamdannie will be the bigger target because the
(04:32):
Mayor of New York is the mayor of the country's
largest city, and New York news is national news. New
York problems get nationalized, New York politicians get national attention.
They become the boogeymen in campaign ads. We saw that
with AOC in her first reelection year, right, she surprised everyone.
(04:53):
She won, sure enough, two years later she was the
one on other people's campaign mailers when they were bashing Democrats.
You know, broadly speaking, Mamdani will be the same foil.
He'll be the same he'll be the same person, He'll
be the same boogeyman on all the campaign ads. So
it's going to really nationalize New York politics. And I
(05:13):
think the Trump campaign and Speaker Johnson and Majority Leader
of Thoon would be wise to have their campaign people
link Mamdanni to all these other races around the country
going forward.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I think you're right. I think law and order is
going to be a big issue now because of Donald
Trump really pushing the Democrats to accept help in them
refusing and they're on the wrong side. I believe on
this issue again. We'll see if it raises its ugly
head here. I hope not because it means that there'd
be an increase in crime, but I certainly hope not. So.
(05:46):
So let's talk about something that's near and dear to
your heart, the City Council. Any chance of the Republicans
picking up seats there?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah, I mean there's a seat in Queens, it's held
by Bob Holden. There's an opportunity there to pick up
one seat. Put our number at seven. I thought I
was impressive by bringing the number up from like two
to six. If we can get a seventh seat, that
would be really a good addition. That would, you know,
start taking us down into the numbers where we can't
(06:15):
override the mayor's veto. Obviously that's much more important when
you have a mayor that was willing to push back
on the council like Adams Mom Donnie would not have
that same dynamic, but still you want to have the
most representation for moderates, for conservatives in the council. Sony,
any opportunity we can to pick up that Bob Holten
(06:37):
seat in like MasSpec, Queens, it would be a good day.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Joe Burrelli, Managing director of Chartwell Strategy Group and former
City Council minority leader, with us every Tuesday at eight
oh five. Always enjoy it, Joe, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Thank you
Now let's talk to Joe Burrelli, managing director of the
Chartwell Strategy Group and former Minoriti leader of the New
York City Council. He's with us every Tuesday at this time, Joe,
I want to talk about the mayor's race again, and
this time I specifically want to talk about Curtis leiwa
(00:20):
because as I look at the other three, I'm looking
at them and saying I don't want any of them.
But everyone tells me Curtis Lee what does not have
a shot in this first of all, mainly because he's
a Republican. Convince me otherwise do you think he could win?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Look? Yeah, you have some perceptive friends. Because the difficulty
Curtis does face is that he's on the Republican line,
which traditionally has only gotten twenty eight percent at a
max since the era of Mike Bloomberg. So it is
an uphill battle for him. It's an uphill battle for
anyone who's on the republic line. If it was Nicole
(00:59):
mal attack us, if it was you know, Donald Trump Junior,
if it was Joe Burrelli, it would be an uphill
battle to be on the Democrat on the Republican line. Again,
the thing that sets this year apart from others is
that you don't need a majority, You only need a
plurality to win. Curtis, in theory, could win with thirty five,
(01:20):
thirty six, thirty seven percent of the vote, which is
only you know, only a seven to ten percent rise
in the poll numbers. That's within the realm of possibility.
If Adams gets out of the race, I think it
becomes tougher for Curtis to win, you know, it just
it just makes that number that he needs to go up.
(01:41):
And I do think I saw Clomo talking about this
on a TV program that there is really only two
people in the race at this point. There are two
via I think he used the word viable candidate. There's
two viable candidates. And I think the public is going
to come to that realization as the clock winds down.
(02:02):
And then if you're me, I think I told you this.
If you're me, You're gonna pick who's ever in second place.
You're gonna hold your nose if you have to. You're
gonna let bygones be bygones and say, you know what,
as bad as I may find Andrew Cuomo, it's still
better than the alternative.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
You know what the interesting thing is about Curtis too,
even though he's a Republican. One of the knocks on
Eric Adams, I shouldn't say a knock. It is one
of the reasons that so many people in New York
aren't going to vote for him is because they have
tied him to Donald Trump. And Donald Trump seems to
be the biggest issue for the Democrats across the country
and certainly here in New York City. Curtis Lee, well,
(02:39):
you can't tie to Donald Trump even though he's a Republican.
Those two have had a dislike for each other for
a long long time. Maybe that'll help him night.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
But look, if Curtis starts moving ahead in the polls
and presents a challenge from Momdani, they will shroud him
with Donald Trump, just like they at anyone else. I mean,
it's a valid attack line, and it's an attack line
that's working, I think against Andrew Cuomo. We saw Andrew
Cuomo getting some momentum over the last two weeks, and
(03:11):
that was kind of you know, it stopped as soon
as this plot or alleged plot to get Adams out
of the race came to light. It didn't help Andrew
Cuomo that Donald Trump maybe was helping Eric Adams. It
didn't help them at all. Look, look, Donald Trump is
not popular with Democrats, and the enrollment in New York
(03:31):
City is six to one Democrats to enrollment. So just
in theory, for every one person that loves Donald Trump,
six people dislike him in this city. And we saw that.
I mean, Donald Trump got over five hundred thousand votes
in the presidential election, which is you know, a record
recently of Republicans. However, the Democratic nominee, I think got
(03:52):
something like two million. So just you know, we have
to play apples to apples.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
The way it looks right now is that zorin Mom
Donnie is going to win. What does Donald Trump do then?
If zorin Mam Donnie wins, what do you think his
move will be? Because He's not just going to sit there,
He's going to react.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Well, hopefully the Trump family has been investing in you know,
residential properties, are of them where they could develop and
sell to fleeing New Yorkers like myself. It's going to
be the same fight between him and Brandon Johnson as
it'll be with the Zora and Mamdanni and again, Mam
Donnie is Mamdannie will be the bigger target because the
(04:32):
Mayor of New York is the mayor of the country's
largest city, and New York news is national news. New
York problems get nationalized, New York politicians get national attention.
They become the boogeymen in campaign ads. We saw that
with AOC in her first reelection year, right, she surprised everyone.
(04:53):
She won, sure enough, two years later she was the
one on other people's campaign mailers when they were bashing Democrats.
You know, broadly speaking, Mamdani will be the same foil.
He'll be the same he'll be the same person, He'll
be the same boogeyman on all the campaign ads. So
it's going to really nationalize New York politics. And I
(05:13):
think the Trump campaign and Speaker Johnson and Majority Leader
of Thoon would be wise to have their campaign people
link Mamdanni to all these other races around the country
going forward.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I think you're right. I think law and order is
going to be a big issue now because of Donald
Trump really pushing the Democrats to accept help in them
refusing and they're on the wrong side. I believe on
this issue again. We'll see if it raises its ugly
head here. I hope not because it means that there'd
be an increase in crime, but I certainly hope not. So.
(05:46):
So let's talk about something that's near and dear to
your heart, the City Council. Any chance of the Republicans
picking up seats there?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah, I mean there's a seat in Queens, it's held
by Bob Holden. There's an opportunity there to pick up
one seat. Put our number at seven. I thought I
was impressive by bringing the number up from like two
to six. If we can get a seventh seat, that
would be really a good addition. That would, you know,
start taking us down into the numbers where we can't
(06:15):
override the mayor's veto. Obviously that's much more important when
you have a mayor that was willing to push back
on the council like Adams Mom Donnie would not have
that same dynamic, but still you want to have the
most representation for moderates, for conservatives in the council. Sony,
any opportunity we can to pick up that Bob Holten
(06:37):
seat in like MasSpec, Queens, it would be a good day.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Joe Burrelli, Managing director of Chartwell Strategy Group and former
City Council minority leader, with us every Tuesday at eight
oh five. Always enjoy it, Joe, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Thank you
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