Max Politics

Max Politics

Max Politics is a New York politics podcast hosted by journalist Ben Max featuring in-depth interviews with elected and appointed officials, candidates, advocates, and others about New York City and State politics and policy. Produced at New York Law School and its Center for New York Law. Get in touch: benmax25@gmail.com -------- Intro/outro music is Live-It by Ketsa. source (Free Music Archive) and license type (CC BY-NC-ND)

Episodes

Mike Gianaris on the Mayoral Primary, Mamdani's Record, & What Comes Next for New York Democrats

June 27, 2025 • 50 mins
Michael Gianaris, the State Senate Deputy Leader and head of Senate Democrats' campaign efforts, joined the show to discuss his fellow Queens legislator — Zohran Mamdani — winning the Democratic primary for Mayor, Mamdani's record in the Legislature (including on issues where they partnered like public transit), and how Democrats should respond to Mamdani's success. (Ep 515)
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Mara Gay on the Mayoral Primary, the Democratic Establishment, & What Comes Next

June 26, 2025 • 51 mins
Mara Gay — an opinion writer at The New York Times, a former member of The Times' Editorial Board, and a longtime New York journalist who has covered New York and national politics — joined the show to discuss Zohran Mamdani's victory in the Democratic primary for Mayor, the flaws in the Democratic establishment, the role of the Times, and what comes next. (Ep 314)
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Susan Kang on the DSA, the Mamdani Campaign, & the Mayoral Race

June 23, 2025 • 70 mins
Susan Kang — a political science professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, member of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, and longtime New York political activist — joined the show to discuss the DSA, the Zohran Mamdani mayoral campaign, and the broader political landscape. (Ep 513)
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Adrienne Adams on Her Campaign for Mayor

June 22, 2025 • 41 mins
Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker running for mayor in the June 2025 Democratic primary, joined the show to discuss her campaign, cross-endorsements, ranked-choice voting, and more. (Ep 512)
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What the NYC Democratic Primary Electorate Will Look Like, with Evan Roth Smith & Michael Lange

June 20, 2025 • 67 mins
Pollster Evan Roth Smith and analyst Michael Lange joined the show to discuss what the Democratic primary electorate in the race for Mayor will look like, including key variables at play along age, gender, racial, ethnic, borough, and other lines, what initial early voting data tells us, and other key factors at play in the race as it approaches primary day. Smith is a founding partner at the political consultancy Slingshot Strateg...
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Howard Wolfson & Amit Singh Bagga on The New York Times and the 2025 Race for Mayor

June 18, 2025 • 64 mins
Howard Wolfson and Amit Singh Bagga — two political strategists, former city government officials, and members of The New York Times' 'The Choice' opinion panel — joined the show to discuss their experience as part of the Times' mayoral race assessment, the state of the race with a week until primary day, their thoughts on individual candidates, and more. (Ep 510)
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Brad Lander on His Campaign for Mayor

June 17, 2025 • 57 mins
Brad Lander, the city comptroller running for mayor in the June 2025 Democratic primary, joined the show to discuss his mayoral campaign, cross-endorsement with Zohran Mamdani, and more. (Ep 509)
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Analyzing the Second Democratic Mayoral Debate, with Harry Siegel

June 13, 2025 • 53 mins
Harry Siegel — co-host of the FAQ NYC podcast, an editor at The City, and a columnist at The Daily News and Vital City — joined the show to analyze the second televised Democratic mayoral primary debate. Just after the debate among 7 "leading candidates" that aired on NY1 TV and WNYC radio, Siegel joined host Ben Max to discuss how the candidates performed, the most interesting moments, and how the debate fits into the state of the...
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Black Voters and the 2025 Mayoral Race, with L Joy Williams

June 12, 2025 • 65 mins
L Joy Williams — president of the NAACP New York State Conference, a political strategist, and host of Sunday Civics — joined the show to discuss the future of the NAACP in New York, the priorities of Black New Yorkers, the role of Black voters in the 2025 New York City mayoral race, and more. (Ep 507)
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Ana Maria Archila on the Working Families Party's Mayoral Race Push

June 11, 2025 • 66 mins
Ana Maria Archila, co-director of the New York Working Families Party, joined the show to discuss the WFP's mayoral candidate rankings, the push to elect Zohran Mamdani as mayor, ranked-choice voting strategies, and more. (Ep 506)
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Scott Stringer on His Campaign for Mayor

June 6, 2025 • 52 mins
Scott Stringer, a former New York City Comptroller and Democratic candidate for Mayor in the June 2025 primary, joined the show to discuss his campaign for Mayor and the state of the race with just over two weeks until primary day, June 24. (Ep 505)
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Analyzing the First Democratic Mayoral Debate, with Bob Hardt

June 5, 2025 • 41 mins
Bob Hardt of Spectrum News NY1 joined the show to analyze the first of two official televised debates in the Democratic primary for mayor. Hardt, the New York political director for Spectrum News, and host Ben Max talked right after the 9 qualifying Democratic candidates left the stage in the Wednesday June 4 2025 debate that was hosted by NBC, Telemundo, Politico, and other partners. (Ep 504)
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Manhattan Borough President Debate: Democratic Primary

June 4, 2025 • 85 mins
A debate among the three Democratic candidates for Manhattan Borough President: Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Keith Powers, and Calvin Sun. The debate was hosted on June 3 — exactly three weeks to primary day — at New York Law School by its Center for New York City and State Law, and moderated by Max Politics host Ben Max, who is also the Center's program director. (Ep 503)
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Mayoral Primary Preview with FAQ NYC & Kathryn Garcia

May 29, 2025 • 112 mins
The hosts of the FAQ NYC podcast - Christina Greer, Harry Siegel, and Katie Honan - joined host Ben Max for a big 2025 New York City mayoral primary election preview at New York Law School on May 29 in front of a live audience. They were joined by 2021 Democratic primary runner-up Kathryn Garcia for the first 30 minutes of the program, then the four hosts talked about the 2025 mayoral race and took a bunch of great questions and co...
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Kathy Wylde on How New York City's Doing, the 2025 Mayor's Race, & Morewav

May 29, 2025 • 63 mins
Kathy Wylde, the longtime President and CEO of business group The Partnership for New York City, joined the show to discuss how New York City is doing, challenges around city and federal governance, the 2025 race to be the next Mayor, her recent retirement announcement (effective June 2026), and more. (Ep 501)
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1 Month to Primary Day, with Tyrone Stevens & Jon Paul Lupo

May 23, 2025 • 76 mins
Political strategists Tyrone Stevens and Jon Paul Lupo joined the show to discuss the state of the race for Mayor of New York City with one month until primary day, which is June 24. With host Ben Max, they assess the Democratic primary for mayor, variables that could shift the race down the home stretch, potential strategies to help candidates break out, and more. Both guests have extensive experience in New York City government, ...
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Andrew Cuomo's Record as Governor - Part 2, Policy - with Jon Campbell

May 15, 2025 • 78 mins
In part two of our miniseries on Andrew Cuomo's record as Governor of New York, we examine his policy record over his ten-and-a-half-year tenure (January 2011-August 2021). Jon Campbell, a longtime state politics reporter now with WNYC/Gothamist, joined the show to recount and examine Cuomo's policy record over the course of his nearly three terms as the state's chief executive and put it into the context of Cuomo's 2025 bid to bec...
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Andrew Cuomo's Record as Governor - Part 1, Leadership Style — with Bill Hammond & Nick Reisman

May 8, 2025 • 81 mins
Longtime journalists Bill Hammond and Nick Reisman joined the show to discuss Andrew Cuomo's record as Governor of New York, with a focus on Cuomo's leadership style. Cuomo, leading the polls in the 2025 Democratic primary for Mayor of New York City, was Governor from January 2011 to August 2021. Hammond - formerly of the New York Daily News and now at the Empire Center - and Reisman, formerly of Capitol Tonight/State of Politics a...
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Special Live Event Announcement - Join Us May 29

May 7, 2025 • 2 mins
Join Max Politics and FAQ NYC for a live double-podcast, primary election preview event on Thursday May 29, 5:30-7:30pm, at New York Law School! Hosts Ben Max, Christina Greer, Katie Honan, and Harry Siegel will provide the latest analysis of the race to be the next Mayor of New York City and highlight other key races to watch ahead of June's primaries. There will be special guests and plenty of audience participation, refreshments...
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Investigations Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber on Fighting Corruption in City Government

May 1, 2025 • 62 mins
New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber spoke with host Ben Max at a live event at New York Law School for Law Day, May 1, hosted by NYLS' Center for New York City and State Law. Strauber spoke about the important role DOI plays in ensuring ethical and effective government, DOI's role in the indictment of Mayor Eric Adams and her take on the dismissal of those charges, and much more. (Ep 497) url: n...
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