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Transcript
Dan Mannarino
Welcome back. The time right now is coming up on 8: 14. New York’s Democratic leaders are scrambling to unite ahead of November’s mayoral election.
Hazel Sanchez
The call to unite behind one candidate in an effort to defeat Zoran Mamdani is being led by former governor David Paterson, who is joining us this morning. Mr. Paterson, great to have you here on the Picks at More News. Thank you for being here.
Gov. David Paterson
Good morning, Dan. Good morning, Hazel.
Hazel Sanchez
Let’s talk about this, governor. Mamdani won, 56% of the vote. More than half a million New Yorkers have rallied behind him, including Democratic leaders in unions who once supported Cuomo, as you have. Why, I guess, come out yesterday and say, Well, this is the strategy we need to take to unite around one candidate to defeat him?
Gov. David Paterson
Well, Assemblyman Mondani fairly won the Democratic primary, even with rank choice voting. He was the clear winner and is now running in the general’s providing support to Intafada, talking about a lot of issues that have antagonized voters and otherwise members of the population. So I think it’s just my belief that more people disagree with him than agree with him about these issues that he’s talking about. Now, this will all get settled in November. But in that time, you have two or three candidates running against him who are doing nothing more than blocking each other from winning. So I thought there might be a process for those candidates to have that number narrowed down to a one-on-one with Mr. Mondani, which I think he would lose. It’s unfortunate because he’s young, he’s charismatic, he excites crowds. I think that to some degree, there’s some sincerity in what he says, but he doesn’t seem to be able to come back and maybe apologize or let people know that he didn’t mean the harm that he’s caused. He hasn’t done that. I think that makes him eligible for It’s a challenge.
Dan Mannarino
But former Governor Cuomo and Mayor Adams, both say they’re not bowing out at this rate. Critics are saying that there’s no way that you’re going to get a Democratic victory if both of them stay in this race. Have you spoken to either the governor or Governor Cuomo or Mayor Adams?
Gov. David Paterson
I’ve spoken to Mayor Cuomo, and I’ve spoken to a couple of Mayor Adams’ assistants, and right now, neither side is really ready to back down, and that’s fine. But as the summer develops and as we get into the election season, this is going to become an issue when the polls are going to show that Mr. Mondani is going to be our next mayor. At that point, I’m hoping that one of these candidates realizes that they’re going to have to try and do something that’s very difficult for candidates to support the city more than they support themselves. Here’s the thing.
Hazel Sanchez
No matter what happens with this plan that you’re putting forth, their name is still going to be on the ballot. That’s where it can get real confusing for a voter, because even if they don’t run a real campaign, their name is still on the ballot. Now, the question for you is, you have this plan. Why not come out and say, Here’s my plan and here’s who I’m supporting with that plan? You came out and supported Cuomo early on. So who are you supporting now?
Gov. David Paterson
Well, the plan was not designed to support anybody. The idea was how to resolve the situation.
Hazel Sanchez
But there still is an election, right? So you would still have to endorse or support somebody at this point.
Gov. David Paterson
I don’t have to support anybody. But the point that I’m trying to make here is that even with all the names on the ballot, that just adds to the confusion. When he wins, who knows? Maybe he will defy what people believe about him and be a very good mayor. By the way, I did not say that he was too young to run the city. Someone else said that yesterday. John F. Kennedy in this whole country, and he was just a few years older than Mr. Mondani. But it isn’t the age that’s the problem here. It’s the ideology, and he rouses support. You should see the hate mail I got in three hours after that press conference, things that were just outrightly wrong. I hope Mr. Mondani will condemn his supporters for attacking other people because they have an opinion.
Dan Mannarino
Now, how are you going to whittle this down? You mentioned having a poll. Attorney Jim Walden, who’s also running as an independent in the mayoral election, proposed this type of poll on who to determine or who you would say would run in the race. How would that process actually look like?
Gov. David Paterson
Well, the way the process would work is that at a certain point, say September 15th or so on, that whoever had a higher number in the polls in September will believe that they are now the candidate. But that doesn’t mean that the other candidates have to get out. They can say, I don’t believe in polls.
Hazel Sanchez
Especially with what happened this go-around. My question about the poll is, no one had Zornam Donny winning in round one. The poll had Andrew Cuomo up 32% for the entire election. So what good would a poll do? The candidates are going to say, Well, that was the poll in September. We have another couple of months.
Gov. David Paterson
Well, the poll is different from the process that’s used in the primary. And the rank choice voting, I think, has screwed up the elections since we installed it a few years ago. But what I’m trying to say is I would like to see a person walk out and accept the day of the new mayor of the city on January first, 2026. I would like that person to be the consensus of the entire city and not party primaries.
Hazel Sanchez
You want that person to be who? I’m just kidding. I know you’re not going to say.
Gov. David Paterson
I thought I would just- I wanted to be you, Dan, so you’ll stop answering me these questions.
Hazel Sanchez
I figured I would try one more time.
Gov. David Paterson.
Good job, guys.
Dan Mannarino
Mr. Paterson, great to have you here this morning. Thank you for laying out the plan. I appreciate your time.