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

Jonathan Rosen on Brad Lander, Bill de Blasio, & New York Politics

July 31, 2025 • 78 mins
Jonathan Rosen — CEO of Orchestra, co-founder of BerlinRosen, and a top political advisor to Brad Lander and Bill de Blasio — joined the show to discuss the changing communications and media landscape, Lander's unsuccessful bid for mayor, lessons from de Blasio's 2013 win and tenure, Zohran Mamdani's ascension, and more. (Ep 521)
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Kevin Elkins on the Cuomo Campaign, Labor Politics, Endorsements, & More

July 24, 2025 • 71 mins
Kevin Elkins, a senior advisor on former Governor Andrew Cuomo's Democratic primary campaign for mayor and the political director for the New York City carpenters union, joined the show to discuss the Cuomo campaign, the value of endorsements, labor politics, and much more. (Ep 520)
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Major Housing & Election Reform Proposals Head to the 2025 General Election Ballot

July 23, 2025 • 71 mins
The 2025 New York City Charter Revision Commission just advanced five proposals to the general election ballot dealing with housing, land use, and elections. The chair of the commission, Richard Buery, and its executive director, Alec Shierenbeck, joined the show to discuss the proposals that aim to increase housing growth and voter participation, among other goals, as well as one major reform that the commission did not advance fo...
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Key Takeaways from the 2025 Democratic Primary for Mayor, with Trip Yang & Sam Raskin

July 15, 2025 • 80 mins
Trip Yang, founder and CEO of Trip Yang Strategies, and Sam Raskin, Senior Vice President at Slingshot Strategies, joined the show to discuss key takeaways from the 2025 Democratic primary for New York City mayor, won by Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, and what those takeaways may mean for the future of New York politics, including the general election for mayor. (Ep 518)
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Latino Voters and the Mayor's Race, with Jessica González-Rojas & Eli Valentín

July 8, 2025 • 75 mins
Description Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, a Queens Democrat who represents the 34th Assembly District (Astoria, Corona, East Elmhurst, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Woodside), and Eli Valentín, a political analyst and columnist, joined the show to discuss Latino voters and the New York City mayoral race. With host Ben Max, they discussed Zohran Mamdani's surprisingly strong performance among Latino voters, key issues of impor...
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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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