August 10, 2025 • 7 mins
J.C. Polanco is an attorney, a proud member of the Department of Ethnic and Race Studies, and is celebrating his 23rd year in education. Polanco has taught Latino Studies, History, Economics, and Business Law at the Borough of Manhattan Community College of the City University. While serving the students here at BMCC, Polanco served as an executive for the NYS legislature for two decades and is a former Bronx Commissioner and President of the NYC Board of Elections. Today, Polanco also serves as President & CEO of the Council on Legal Education Opportunity, Inc., the country’s most influential law school pipeline. J.C. is a Bronx kid all the way; not only was he a New York Yankee batboy for the 1994 and 1995 seasons, and he’s dedicated his career to the people of the Bronx. After growing up in the Fordham section of the Bronx and attending Fordham Prep, Polanco left briefly to study politics and history at the University at Albany. J.C. quickly returned to the Bronx and became a Social Studies teacher at Truman High School in Co-op City. While teaching at Truman and Boricua College, J.C. attended Fordham Law School and the Fordham Graduate School of Business as a night student to complete a law degree and MBA. J.C. has served as a policy commentator for MetroFocus on PBS, Tiempo De Debate on Univision 41, and NY1 Inside City Hall, Consultant’s Corner. Polanco has also appeared on NY1 Pura Politica, NPR’s the Brian Lehrer Show, Fox News, CNN, and many other critical media outlets to discuss politics, election law, and administration. In 2017, J.C. became the first American of Dominican descent to run for citywide office in New York City on a major party ticket.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from WR Now the WR Saturday
Morning Show. Here's Larry Minty. Good morning, and welcome to
Saturday Morning. Coming up on today's show, a New York
Times story that Donald Trump is working behind the scenes
with Andrew Cuomo to stop socialist zoriin Mom Donnie from
(00:20):
becoming mayor hits the New York mayoral race like a bombshell.
Let's start with j C. Polanco on the New York
mayor's race that changed once we learned of the President's involvement. JC,
thanks so much for being here with us today.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Always love coming on. Thank you for the invitation.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Well listen, it's a great day to have you too,
because this New York Times story I think changed, at
least for the time being, the trajectory of this race.
I think it was all about law and order for
a second after the Park Avenue shooting, and that wasn't
good for Zoram Mom Donnie. In a way, this story
about Donald Trump allegedly Andrew Cuomo and Derek Adams and
(01:03):
talking about how they can stop zoring Mom Donnie, I
think it's the best thing that could happen to the
Mom Donnie campaign right now.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Don't you, well, that's interesting. It's interesting because remember that
there are pockets in the city Larry where Donald Trump
is very popular. We know that from the twenty twenty
four results and his you know, coming in in any
way whatsoever on this mayoral race would have great benefits
in some pockets, but for the majority of the city,
if I were to take a poll, I think COVID
(01:32):
nineteen is more popular than President Trump.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
You know this.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
You know this. You know it's interesting because President Trump,
he knows what I just said, and if he were
to get involved in this race, it'll be the kiss
of death in November for whoever he endorses. So how
does President Trump look at the city that he identifies
with that he grew up in, not get involved in
any way whatsoever, and then see the reality of how
difficult it would be to beat Mam Donnie with four
(01:56):
people running against him, just mathematically. And lastly, I remember
we talked about a couple of weeks ago the Republicans
need a mayor Mom Donnie in the midterm elections. If
Mayor Mum Donnie wins, this would be a treasure trove
of the commercials for Republicans in Purple districts to associate
the Democrats with a socialist who has some Marxists and
(02:18):
communist positions. So you know, you're in a rough spot
of your President Trump because you need Major Mum Donnie
as the pinata in order to keep your Republican majority.
But you don't want to see New York City become
a socialist city. So it's very tough. So you're right,
him getting involved here is could be good news for
Mum Donnie.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
At the end of the day, Let's take everything you
said and figure out what Donald Trump was thinking, because
what we've found out. I found out from the New
York Times documentary that Maggie Haberman, who did the story,
is very close with Donald Trump, and sometimes he leaks
stuff to her on his own and this so this
story comes out that now he's trying to stop zorin
(02:59):
Mam Dona, and he knows what you just said. He
knows how that would be taken in this city. He
knows that would help zorin Mom Donnie. So the question
is because that would help the Republicans in the midterms,
and a lot of people say that Zora Mam Donnie
winning would win Mike Lawler's seat for Mike Lawler in
Rockland and Westchester County. So so did he do it
(03:22):
on purpose? Oh?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
That's that's interesting. I've been grappling with that for the
last couple of days. I have been because you know,
I don't I don't know if he if he, if
the President really wanted to do this on purpose, he
would just say it right, he would say we need
Governor Cuomo. He would just say we need to make
sure that we defeat, and that alone would would almost
guarantee him on Donny victory.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I just wanted to jump in. He has some deniability
this way.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
He does have some deniability. But when was the last
time that we saw President Trump one deniability of what's
a good strategy for him?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
He will do that every once in a while, You're right,
Usually he doesn't. Usually he's out in front and everything.
I think he's learning. I'm just wondering if he's playing
chess with this while everybody else is playing checkers.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Now, I'll tell you this, Larry, it's you know. I
have I have Curtis Leewa on my podcast this morning
centered with J. C. Palanko for your viewers, and I'm
gonna ask him I'm gonna ask him straight up. You know,
can you see yourself winning in this situation where you
have four people running when the President hasn't made an
endorsement yet, and you know, what are your thoughts about
beating mom? DONI considering the numbers?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
That would be really interesting because from what I remember,
and you probably know this better than I, he doesn't
have the best relationship with Donald Trump, does he. Curtis
leew No, Well.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
You know he respects him. I've seen his interviews in
the past. He was never a maga guy, you know.
You know, he doesn't have the conservative line. He's more
of a Republican along what we normally consider to be
a New York Republican, right, someone who is down the
middle on a lot of issues. And he doesn't have
that maga relationship with the President, but I know it's
a respectful one from what I scene now, I don't
(05:01):
know whether or not quite frankly, you know, President Trump
getting involved in any way, even supporting the Republican candidate
would make any sense at all to try to defeat Mamdani. See,
this is a very tough situation with so many candidates running,
and another thing, there are other ways that the president
could be supportive in bringing people together to defeat a socialist,
(05:21):
and that may be asking donors to support one of
the candidates that has the best shot, because as you
can see, money's going to be tight going into November.
So there's a lot of other ways other than an
endorsement where the president can be helpful.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I know there's a lot of people that listen to
this show that are rooting for Curtis Leewood. Does he
have a shot?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
You know, he's raised the most money, He's going up
in the polls. You know, I'm going to ask him
about all of that. This morning, Larry said, I could
be honestly, I want to get that to want to
get his answers from him. Mathematically, I think when you
take a look at four people running hard, beating up
on each other, I mean you got to hear the
campaigning against each other. When when you know Curtis Lee,
(06:01):
what goes in on former Governor Cuomo? He pulls no punches.
I just wonder how helpful is that in November. I'm
sitting here off and thinking about it. I'm gonna ask
him this. I mean, when you're beating up on all
the other independence Does that make it more difficult for
there to be a unified voice in November. I think
it's difficult right now for me to tell you that
going into November, as of today, that he's going to win.
(06:23):
The way that he can win is if in the
next couple of months and I know your viewers a
curious about this, in the next couple of months, do
the other independent candidates fall off, right so they no
longer campaign actively. If that happens and Curtis continues campaigning
and raising money like he has, then the hope would
be for Curtis is that the people that drop off
are telling are coming over to his camp.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
He let me quickly because we're running out of time.
I want to ask you the most important question. How
do people hear your podcasts?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Oh, they could go to Centered with JC dot com.
And I'm on all the platforms, YouTube, everywhere, Instagram, everywhere
that you can imagine. But Centered with JC is where
we put and it'll be up tonight. So we're recording
in about an hour and it's gonna be a great interview, wonderful. J. C.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Polanco, political analyst and University of Mount Saint Vincent assistant professor,
thanks a lot, JC, have a good weekend, have a
great day.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Think this has been a podcast from woor
This is a podcast from WR Now the WR Saturday
Morning Show. Here's Larry Minty. Good morning, and welcome to
Saturday Morning. Coming up on today's show, a New York
Times story that Donald Trump is working behind the scenes
with Andrew Cuomo to stop socialist zoriin Mom Donnie from
(00:20):
becoming mayor hits the New York mayoral race like a bombshell.
Let's start with j C. Polanco on the New York
mayor's race that changed once we learned of the President's involvement. JC,
thanks so much for being here with us today.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Always love coming on. Thank you for the invitation.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Well listen, it's a great day to have you too,
because this New York Times story I think changed, at
least for the time being, the trajectory of this race.
I think it was all about law and order for
a second after the Park Avenue shooting, and that wasn't
good for Zoram Mom Donnie. In a way, this story
about Donald Trump allegedly Andrew Cuomo and Derek Adams and
(01:03):
talking about how they can stop zoring Mom Donnie, I
think it's the best thing that could happen to the
Mom Donnie campaign right now.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Don't you, well, that's interesting. It's interesting because remember that
there are pockets in the city Larry where Donald Trump
is very popular. We know that from the twenty twenty
four results and his you know, coming in in any
way whatsoever on this mayoral race would have great benefits
in some pockets, but for the majority of the city,
if I were to take a poll, I think COVID
(01:32):
nineteen is more popular than President Trump.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
You know this.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
You know this. You know it's interesting because President Trump,
he knows what I just said, and if he were
to get involved in this race, it'll be the kiss
of death in November for whoever he endorses. So how
does President Trump look at the city that he identifies
with that he grew up in, not get involved in
any way whatsoever, and then see the reality of how
difficult it would be to beat Mam Donnie with four
(01:56):
people running against him, just mathematically. And lastly, I remember
we talked about a couple of weeks ago the Republicans
need a mayor Mom Donnie in the midterm elections. If
Mayor Mum Donnie wins, this would be a treasure trove
of the commercials for Republicans in Purple districts to associate
the Democrats with a socialist who has some Marxists and
(02:18):
communist positions. So you know, you're in a rough spot
of your President Trump because you need Major Mum Donnie
as the pinata in order to keep your Republican majority.
But you don't want to see New York City become
a socialist city. So it's very tough. So you're right,
him getting involved here is could be good news for
Mum Donnie.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
At the end of the day, Let's take everything you
said and figure out what Donald Trump was thinking, because
what we've found out. I found out from the New
York Times documentary that Maggie Haberman, who did the story,
is very close with Donald Trump, and sometimes he leaks
stuff to her on his own and this so this
story comes out that now he's trying to stop zorin
(02:59):
Mam Dona, and he knows what you just said. He
knows how that would be taken in this city. He
knows that would help zorin Mom Donnie. So the question
is because that would help the Republicans in the midterms,
and a lot of people say that Zora Mam Donnie
winning would win Mike Lawler's seat for Mike Lawler in
Rockland and Westchester County. So so did he do it
(03:22):
on purpose? Oh?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
That's that's interesting. I've been grappling with that for the
last couple of days. I have been because you know,
I don't I don't know if he if he, if
the President really wanted to do this on purpose, he
would just say it right, he would say we need
Governor Cuomo. He would just say we need to make
sure that we defeat, and that alone would would almost
guarantee him on Donny victory.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I just wanted to jump in. He has some deniability
this way.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
He does have some deniability. But when was the last
time that we saw President Trump one deniability of what's
a good strategy for him?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
He will do that every once in a while, You're right,
Usually he doesn't. Usually he's out in front and everything.
I think he's learning. I'm just wondering if he's playing
chess with this while everybody else is playing checkers.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Now, I'll tell you this, Larry, it's you know. I
have I have Curtis Leewa on my podcast this morning
centered with J. C. Palanko for your viewers, and I'm
gonna ask him I'm gonna ask him straight up. You know,
can you see yourself winning in this situation where you
have four people running when the President hasn't made an
endorsement yet, and you know, what are your thoughts about
beating mom? DONI considering the numbers?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
That would be really interesting because from what I remember,
and you probably know this better than I, he doesn't
have the best relationship with Donald Trump, does he. Curtis
leew No, Well.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
You know he respects him. I've seen his interviews in
the past. He was never a maga guy, you know.
You know, he doesn't have the conservative line. He's more
of a Republican along what we normally consider to be
a New York Republican, right, someone who is down the
middle on a lot of issues. And he doesn't have
that maga relationship with the President, but I know it's
a respectful one from what I scene now, I don't
(05:01):
know whether or not quite frankly, you know, President Trump
getting involved in any way, even supporting the Republican candidate
would make any sense at all to try to defeat Mamdani. See,
this is a very tough situation with so many candidates running,
and another thing, there are other ways that the president
could be supportive in bringing people together to defeat a socialist,
(05:21):
and that may be asking donors to support one of
the candidates that has the best shot, because as you
can see, money's going to be tight going into November.
So there's a lot of other ways other than an
endorsement where the president can be helpful.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I know there's a lot of people that listen to
this show that are rooting for Curtis Leewood. Does he
have a shot?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
You know, he's raised the most money, He's going up
in the polls. You know, I'm going to ask him
about all of that. This morning, Larry said, I could
be honestly, I want to get that to want to
get his answers from him. Mathematically, I think when you
take a look at four people running hard, beating up
on each other, I mean you got to hear the
campaigning against each other. When when you know Curtis Lee,
(06:01):
what goes in on former Governor Cuomo? He pulls no punches.
I just wonder how helpful is that in November. I'm
sitting here off and thinking about it. I'm gonna ask
him this. I mean, when you're beating up on all
the other independence Does that make it more difficult for
there to be a unified voice in November. I think
it's difficult right now for me to tell you that
going into November, as of today, that he's going to win.
(06:23):
The way that he can win is if in the
next couple of months and I know your viewers a
curious about this, in the next couple of months, do
the other independent candidates fall off, right so they no
longer campaign actively. If that happens and Curtis continues campaigning
and raising money like he has, then the hope would
be for Curtis is that the people that drop off
are telling are coming over to his camp.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
He let me quickly because we're running out of time.
I want to ask you the most important question. How
do people hear your podcasts?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Oh, they could go to Centered with JC dot com.
And I'm on all the platforms, YouTube, everywhere, Instagram, everywhere
that you can imagine. But Centered with JC is where
we put and it'll be up tonight. So we're recording
in about an hour and it's gonna be a great interview, wonderful. J. C.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Polanco, political analyst and University of Mount Saint Vincent assistant professor,
thanks a lot, JC, have a good weekend, have a
great day.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Think this has been a podcast from woor
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