The Brian Lehrer Show
Brian Lehrer leads the conversation about what matters most now in local and national politics, our own communities and our lives.
Episodes
Christina Greer, associate professor of political science at Fordham University, co-host of the podcast FAQNYC, and the author of How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams (Cambridge University Press, 2024), offers an analysis of the results of the New York City mayoral race and what's next for the city's new mayor.
Gothamist and WNYC reporter Elizabeth Kim offers analysis of the New York City mayoral race results, plus Ethar El-Katatney, editor-in-chief of Documented, shares Documented's reporting on the mayoral race from the perspective of different immigrant communities in the city.
Mike Hayes, WNYC/Gothamist reporter covering the New Jersey governor's race and the author of The Secret Files: Bill De Blasio, The NYPD, and the Broken Promises of Police Reform (Kingston Imperial, 2023), talks about the results of New Jersey's contentious governor's race.
Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey governor-elect, talks about her big win and what comes next for New Jersey's next governor.
Susan Page, USA Today Washington bureau chief and the author of several books, including The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters (Simon & Schuster, 2024) and the forthcoming The Queen and Her Presidents (Harper, April 2026), talks about what the New York City mayoral results might mean for Democrats moving forward, and offers analysis of election results in Virginia, New Jersey, and California.
Markus Schmidt, senior Virginia politics reporter and deputy editor at The Virginia Mercury, breaks down the latest on Virginia's gubernatorial race on election day, where Democratic nominee and former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger has maintained a lead in polls since very early in the race over Republican nominee Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears.
Nancy Solomon, host of the “Ask Governor Murphy” monthly call-in show, talks about the Election Day news in the New Jersey governor's race, and listeners call for an informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific exit poll.
Brigid Bergin, WNYC's senior political correspondent, offers analysis of what the early vote numbers might mean for the New York City mayoral race, and more news from the campaign trail on Election Day. Plus, Zohran Mamdani, New York State assembly member (D, D-36, Queens) and the Democratic nominee for mayor, Andrew Cuomo, former governor of New York and independent candidate for mayor of New York City, and Curtis Sliwa, Republic...
U.S. Representative James Clyburn (D, SC 6), recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and author of The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation (Hachette, 2025), tells the story of the first eight Black members of Congress during Reconstruction, and the gap that followed up until his election in 1992.
Event: On Leadership, Legacy, and Democracy: Jim Clyburn in Conversation with...
Catherine Rampell, anchor at MSNBC and economics editor at The Bulwark, talks about the latest economic news, including on President Trump's tariffs and China, inflation numbers, SNAP benefits and more.
Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic and the author of the memoir, The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports (Random House, 2025), talks about why he runs and joins listeners in sharing stories from Sunday's NYC Marathon.
A. J. Jacobs, host of the "Hello Puzzlers" podcast, essayist, and the author of The Year of Living Biblically, The Know-It-All, It's All Relative and his latest, The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning (Crown, 2024), reports back on how AI is already woven into daily life with another take on being a "human guinea pig," going 48 hours without using AI.
Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.
ACA Open Enrollment Starting (First) | 30 Issues in 30 Days: NYC's Overdose Prevention Centers (Starts at 34:26) | Your Newsy Halloween Costumes (Starts at 1:07:42 )
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Ahead of Halloween weekend, listeners call in to share their costumes based on news and current events.
Ken Burns, documentary filmmaker and co-director of "The American Revolution," and Sarah Botstein, co-director of "The American Revolution," talk about their new, 12-hour docuseries premiering on PBS on November 16th, which is being released ahead of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, in July 2026.
Eric Blanc, assistant professor of Labor Studies at Rutgers University, author of several books including We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big (University of California Press, 2025), and writer of the Substack newsletter Labor Politics, and Michael Aronson, Daily News editorial page editor, debate the mayoral candidates' ability to fulfill their campaign promises, given that many w...
John Heinis, reporter for the Hudson County View talks about the Jersey City mayoral race, where seven candidates are running in the nonpartisan election and if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes, the top two vote-getters will move on to a run-off election in early December.
Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of Health Initiatives at the Community Service Society and co-founder of the Health Care for All New York Campaign, talks about what people can expect with next year's health insurance costs and how the government shutdown over ACA subsidies will affect open enrollment.
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Nikita Biryukov, reporter who covers state government and politics for the New Jersey Monitor, talks about the latest in New Jersey elections news, including early voting turnout, how Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump are weighing in on the gubernatorial race and Justice Department election monitoring for Passaic County.
Jessie Gómez, reporter at Chalkbeat Newark covering Newark Public Schools, discusses the New Jersey gubernatorial candidates' visions for public education in the state—and how they intend to fund the schools.
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