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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now it's our informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific New York primary day exit poll. Who are you voting for in any race on the ballot in your district today? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Again, it's our informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific New York Primary Day exit poll. Who are you voting for in any race on the ballot in your district today? 212-433-9692.

Obviously, the Jamaal Bowman, George Latimer Congressional Primary in Southern Westchester and Co-op City, and some other parts of the northern Bronx is the marquee event, not just locally but in national politics today. We can take some of your Bowman or Latimer calls if you're actually in the district and actually voting in that primary. 212-433-WNYC.

We're inviting calls on all the other races you might be voting on today in any other New York primary. In fact, if we get swamped with Bowman-Latimer calls, we'll end that section of the call-in or we'll bump some of you, not to censor anyone's views, but so we get a variety of races included in this call-in. For example, who's voting in the other meaningful Democratic Congressional primary today? Nancy Goroff versus John Avlon on Long Island, as the Democrats think they have a chance to flip that seat from Republican Nick LaLota in November.

Who's your candidate, Eastern Long Island Democrats between John Avlon and Nancy Goroff? 212-433-WNYC. Convince your fellow last-minute voters, or those who are last-minute voters if you weren't, for an informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific New York primary day exit poll. I call it that because of course the point is not to see who are small sample of callers to one segment of one talk show happen to prefer, but to have a politically diverse array of voices on the air to keep the public conversation going in a meaningful way. You probably all get that without me saying it, but just to be crystal clear.

What about some of the other down-ballot races that Brigid Bergen was on with us yesterday discussing? There's the borough-wide race for surrogate court judge in Queens, a 14-year gig, once the person gets elected by you, between Wendy Lee and Cassandra Johnson. Anyone voting in that, one way or another, I'd love to hear from you. They both have moving personal stories, it looks like.

As Brigid reports on Gothamist, Cassandra Johnson is Haitian American and earned her undergraduate and law degree from St. John's University, according to her campaign website. Wendy Lee grew up in China and immigrated to the US as a young adult to become a lawyer. She has degrees from Sichuan University, Southern Methodist, and Oxford, with a certificate in international relations from Harvard, according to her campaign website. That race is somewhat about allegiance to Queen's party chair, Congressman Greg Meeks, who Johnson is aligned with.

There are a few primary races for state assembly. New York Times focused on one left versus center assembly race a couple of days ago. It said "As Republicans continue to make inroads on issues like crime and immigration., centrist Democrats see progressives as a threat to the delicate moderation the party has struggled to achieve. At stake," says The Times, "is the kind of political power that communities build over generations."

One of the most hotly contested elections along those fissures is in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, where Assemblyman Stefani Zinerman is being challenged by Ian Huntley, a first-time candidate who is backed by the Democratic Socialists of America. Although Mr. Huntley is Black, Ms. Zinerman sees the primary challenge as a direct attack on traditional Black political power. That's an example of an assembly race in Bed-Stuy.

On any of those races or any other, it's informal, it's unofficial, it's thoroughly unscientific, our New York primary day exit poll election hearing, welcome here. Candidates you can call in too. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, and we'll take your calls and texts right after this.

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George Latimer: I think what we're doing at best is getting rid of everyone in Hamas now, which is not happening. At worst, with every new child or baby or innocent civilian killed, we are giving birth to the next iteration of Hamas or extremism in the region. No, I do not think a permanent ceasefire keeps Hamas in power.

Speaker 2: Can there be a two-state solution, if that is what you advocate, as long as Mr. Netanyahu remains in power?

Jamaal Bowman: I don't think it's a question of who's in power. I think the Israeli people need to see that they have a partner for peace and they don't see a partner for peace right now.

Brian Lehrer: Jamaal Bowman from this show. We interviewed both candidates in depth. If anybody's still undecided on this primary day and you want to go back and listen to our interviews with Bowman and Latimer, you can on our archive page. That was Latimer from the News 12 debate, a little representation of their views on the Middle East, obviously, a big issue in this race. On to your calls now on that or any other New York primary in our informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific New York primary day exit poll, 212-433-WNYC, call or text. Joey in Long Beach, you're on WNYC. Hello, Joey. Do I have your name right? Is it Joey?

Joey: Yes, I'm here.

Brian Lehrer: Hi. You're on the air.

Joey: 310. I'm on the air. Oh.

Brian Lehrer: You're on the air. You want to talk about the John Avlon, Nancy Goroff, right?

Joey: Sorry. Listen, Brian, I love you but I have to disagree.

Brian Lehrer: On what?

Joey: The marquee event is not Latimer-Bowman.

Brian Lehrer: Go ahead.

Joey: The marquee event is John Avlon, who is the most exciting Democratic candidate we've had in years.

Brian Lehrer: Why, according to you?

Joey: Everything you could want in a candidate and I believe that he has reached far beyond the congressional aspirations that we have today.

Brian Lehrer: I'll give you this. It is more of a marquee race than Latimer-Bowman in terms of what's likely to change the party of a seat in our area because it's generally considered a shoe-in for either Bowman or Latimer once they win the primary. We'll see if that actually turns out to be the case, but that's the going analysis. That's a safe Democratic district for either winner today.

In the case of the Avlon-Goroff primary on Long Island, because they're trying to flip a seat currently held by Republican Nick LaLota, in that respect, there's more at stake, though there's certainly a lot at stake in terms of how it's seen all over the country if Jamaal Bowman is unseated by a more centrist Democrat or from the other perspective if a more centrist Democrat unseats Jamaal Bowman. One big vote for John Avlon from that caller. Here's David in Nassau County on a race we haven't discussed on this show. David, you're on WNYC. Hello.

David: Good morning. In Nassau County, we have a Democratic primary in the 7th Senatorial District, which is North Nassau, actually much of Nassau, a little bit of Suffolk. I'm going to vote for Brad Schwartz for the Democratic nomination against Jack Martins, who's the incumbent. He's already in his second term after coming back from having been defeated for other things before.

Brian Lehrer: Give me one quick sound bite on why one over the other. I guess we lost David. Let's see. Brant in Brooklyn has another race we haven't talked about on this show in an assembly district. Brant, you're on WNYC. Hello. Are we having some phone problems? I feel like not everybody--

Brant: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, Brant, can you hear me?

Brant: Hello.

Brian Lehrer: Can you hear me?

Brant: Yes, I'm here.

Brian Lehrer: Hi, you're on the air.

Brant: Oh, sorry, I can't hear you on my call.

Brian Lehrer: I don't know why you can't hear me. We'll try to fix that. We are in our so far, kind of clunky, informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific New York primary day exit poll. Let me talk to my engineer for a minute.

Juliana, maybe if you put the calls on the air instead of me, maybe it'll fix it, maybe it's something with my clicker here. You want to try line 10, which at the moment is the only call we're getting in the Bowman-Latimer race. Jerry in Bronxville, can you hear me? Oh boy, okay. I don't know. We're going to have to improvise here, folks. Maybe I will read some texts that are coming in. One listener writes, "Bedstuy resident here about to go cast my vote for Huntley," in that race I mentioned earlier. "It's true that his platform is more aligned with my politics, but beyond that, Zinerman's messaging turns me off. No one is entitled to their office and I don't trust anyone that Hakeem Jeffries endorses," writes that one listener.

A listener writes-- This is a Latimer voter. "I am a Yonkers voter who will be voting for Latimer today. I was originally going to vote for Bowman before he started his aggressive advertising campaign that I feel has a lot of anti-semitic undertones. I'm not Jewish, but I'm gay, so I worry that if politicians like Bowman are willing to scapegoat a small minority in order to rally support from his base, what is to stop him from going after LGBT people next?" That's one Latimer vote.

Let's see if I can find a Bowman one on text. Let me try one more Bowman voter on the phones and let's give this another shot here, this time with Lisa in New Rochelle. Lisa, can you hear me by any chance? Lisa in New Rochelle.

Lisa: Oh, hi.

Brian Lehrer: Hi. Go ahead.

Lisa: I can tell you that I voted for Jamaal Bowman, and because I think he's done a great job for our district. I feel like I don't appreciate the way that big money comes into politics to select a candidate to further a specific interest, which is what I think the big Israeli taxes have done by giving $7 million and bringing in Latimer.

Brian Lehrer: Lisa, thank you very much. I think you can't hear me, but we were able to hear you. I think we figured out a hack even though the callers can't hear me to get them on the air. We're going to go to line nine. Christina on Staten Island. Christina, somebody even though it's not me is telling you you're on the air.

Christina: Hi. Yes. Andrea Morris, a newcomer to the political scene. She's a lawyer. She's the democratic contender to go against Malliotakis. Please, God, I hope it happens.

Brian Lehrer: She can't hear me so I don't know. Ask her if there's a primary. This is really an old-fashioned game of telephone. I'm asking my engineer, Juliana Fonda, to talk to the caller.

Christina: Yes. Oh, my gosh. Definitely. [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: It's a primary. Is it a primary or are you just endorsing the Democrat who's going to eventually run against--

Christina: Oh, I voted in the primary.

Brian Lehrer: Okay. There is a primary for the opportunity to run against Malliotakis. Here is a candidate himself. I said electioneering welcome here, so I have to keep my word. This is Evan Hutchison, who is primarying Dan Goldman in the Democratic primary, and that Brooklyn Manhattan District. Evan, can you hear me?

Evan Hutchison: I can hear you, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Okay. That part's fixed. Go ahead. Tell us why you're voting for yourself.

Evan Hutchison: I'm voting for myself because I'm the only candidate on the ballot in New York County who stands for immediate and permanent ceasefire for the conflict in Palestine and Israel. Of course, I want to see the release of hostages as well through the negotiations, but the bombing needs to end immediately. We need to stop funding this war. I want to see Goldman out. I hope everybody can agree and vote with me.

I'm also for affordable housing. I want to see the STOP Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act passed. I want to expand it to small apartment buildings as well. I want to see the rent stabilization list made public so everyone knows whose units are actually rent-stabilized. I know that's the City Council thing, but I would put immense pressure on everybody to make that happen. I also want to be a strong advocate for abortion rights in red states. I want to get direct cash assistance to women who need care who need to cross state lines.

Brian Lehrer: Evan, thank you very much for your call. Evan Hutchison is his name, running against Dan Goldman in the Democratic Congressional primary today. Here's another candidate calling in. Avi in Flatbush, you're on WNYC. Hi, Avi.

Avi: Hello.

Brian Lehrer: Hello.

Avi: Hi. Sorry. This is Avi in Flatbush.

Brian Lehrer: We got you, Avi.

Avi: Hi. Great.

Brian Lehrer: Hi, hi. I guess you can hear me. What are you running for?

Avi: I'm running for down-ballot of the down-ballot, Kings County Democratic county committee member with rep your block and along with about 100 other candidates. We're in primaries today across the borough. We're also associated with Brooklyn Can't Wait, which is a district leader campaign. I just wanted to highlight that there are these down-ballot races and that the county party once again, as they have, in several of the past cycles, challenged many of these petitions, including mine, after we got our petition signed. Not only that. This year, they decided to bring lawsuit against six district leaders, as well as me and other county committee members in 842. They continue to be threatened by Democrats who want reform and the Democratic Party at a party that's more transparent and accountable.

Brian Lehrer: For people who their eyes glaze over when they see this on their primary ballots, even the fact that there's a bunch of names there for the office you're running for a democratic committee member, what does it even mean? I think you gave us some of the reasons why you want to be one and what you think you could accomplish, but what does the Democratic committee member, or I presume there's a Republican committee too, what do they do once we elect people like you?

Avi: Well, first of all, if they want to learn more, they can go to link3/newkingsdems, where there's a voter guide, and also information on all of this. In a nutshell, Democratic county committee members or committee members in general are the people who make up the governing body of the party. In the borough, there are, I think 4,000 members. Then the district leaders serve as Executive Board members, they elect the chair and are also responsible for choosing judges. The body at large passes the rules that run the Democratic Party.

What we want to see is more transparency, financial committees that are more transparent. Right now, we don't necessarily know how the money is spent or there's no-- For instance, people who were endorsed by the county party, and there were mailers that went out, there was no process to select those endorsed candidates that basically the county chair selected them and they went on these mailers that went out, and we don't know where the money is being spent. We do know that it's being used to challenge our candidates. Basically, we vote and run the party as members of the committee.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you for your call. I appreciate everybody who called in. Sorry for the technical difficulties in today's edition of our informal unofficial, thoroughly unscientific Brian Lehrer Show exit poll today for the New York primary and all the races that you called or texted about. Obviously, we're going to do election results on the show tomorrow.

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