Title: Your Top Three Mayoral Election Issues

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. For our last 15 minutes or so today, we're going to go back to the mayoral election for a different kind of ranked choice call in. For those of you voting in the Democratic mayoral primary, call in and rank your top three issues. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, it's that simple. Call in to tell everyone your top three issues in that are contributing to your choice of candidates.

We're inviting you to rank three issues in order of how much they're moving your vote. 212-433-WNYC, do you need to think about it for a minute, or do they come right to mind? I'm sure the candidates would come right to mind for many of you by now. What about the issues? Because you're probably voting for your candidates based on issues that you prioritize, so 212-433-WNYC. Call in and rank your top three issues, and then you can connect them to the top candidate or the top two candidates that you're putting on your ballot. 212-433-WNYC, call or text 212-433-9692.

Obviously, there are ones that keep coming up again and again and again in the mayoral debate that I co-moderated last week and in everything else, affordability, inequality, housing, standing up to President Trump, antisemitism and Islamophobia in Israel, Gaza, public safety and policing, education, experience, street safety. We talked earlier in today's show about healthcare and the environment. Are some of those in your top three? How would you rank your top three issues? If you are or will be a voter in the New York City democratic mayoral primary, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

Maybe your top issue is transportation. More broadly, congestion pricing, public transit. If transportation is in your top three, which candidate or candidates are you supporting? 212-433-9692. Another couple of issues that we've covered here in the campaign, the cost and availability of child care. We did a discrete segment on that. Many of the candidates have plans.

Zellnor Myrie is pledging free after school for all students. Brad Lander is talking about 2K. Zohran Mamdani says he wants free child care for all kids from six weeks to age five. You get the idea. I mentioned public safety earlier, and this often gets linked with it, but is what people call quality of life an issue for you? That could include anything from clean streets and subways to well cared for parks, to a city with less petty crime like pickpocketing or fair beating. Give us a call and articulate however you would put it, your top three issues. Maybe it includes some of those so called quality of life issues. 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692.

Public corruption, anyone? Many mayors, including at least the past two have been investigated for corruption, and of course Mayor Adams was charged, but when we talk about this on the show, interestingly, the phones are generally not jumping. Maybe it's too confusing to wrap your head around or maybe it never does rank in the top three issues for most people as opposed to the things that more directly seem to affect you. What are your top 3 issues? Call in and rank your top 3 issues. If you have been or will be a voter in the Democratic mayoral primary going on right now, 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692, and we'll take your ranked choice issue votes right after this.

Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to your ranked choice issues. Mac in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Mac: Brian, good morning.

Brian Lehrer: All right, Mac, rank them out. One, two, three, real quick.

Mac: One, two, three. I'm going to say, well, today's my 45th birthday. I was born at the Sloane Hospital for Women, so equity and healthcare. Sloane Hospital for Women doesn't exist anymore, my mother just told me. Certainly, next up, maybe a two parter, Brian, equity in education, public, private, charter. Private school is not affordable for even the last of the middle class Manhattan and Brooklynites anymore, so public. Let's make schools equitable for everybody in each borough and transportation safety.

Transportation safety where we're a wonderful city with a century old public transit system below rails, above ground, and we need to make sure we are safe. That's the beauty that connects our city from all socioeconomic [crosstalk]--

Brian Lehrer: Mac, I'm going to keep it moving. Who is your number one or your number one and two candidates who connect with those issues?

Mac: New York, we need a little Ed Koch back, so whichever candidate can summon a little Mayor Koch, the mayor of my first part of my lifetime that might get my vote. Then, in that, as Mayor Cox said, "Time will tell."

Brian Lehrer: All right, so Mac still undecided. How about that? He's got his issues, doesn't have a candidate. Brina in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Brina.

Brina: How do you do? Thank you for having me.

Brian Lehrer: Rank your issues.

Brina: My issues are maintaining Medicare for all senior city former retirees. There's been a lot of chatter and there's been a lot of court issues regarding placing us into AdvantageCare. We want to maintain our Medicare for it's been guaranteed to us since we were city employees. That's number one. Number two would be train safety inside the train stations. On any given day night, I see people shooting up on the A trains and the E Trains on 34th street in Manhattan, and again, also the homeless.

Brian Lehrer: Do you have a candidate who most connects with those issues?

Brina: This is a struggle. I haven't yet voted. My union has yet to endorse and probably will not endorse a mayor. However, I'm leaning towards Mr. Lander.

Brian Lehrer: Brina, thank you very much. Interesting, though, that our first two callers who had no trouble naming their issues and ranking their issues, not certain. One fully undecided, one who just said it's a struggle, though she's leaning Lander. Harder time with the candidates even though they know their issues. Kanani in Harlem, you're on WNYC. Hi, Kanani.

Kanani: Hi, Brian. Thank you so much. I'll be quick. When we talk about housing, I think we focus on affordability. We also need to focus on accountability. These landlords that are harassing tenants like myself, these landlords that have housing violations, no hot water, no heat, rats, mold, it impacts everybody. It impacts students that come to school if they can't sleep or they can't breathe. I don't understand why landlords get away with this year after year. That Bronx fire where 17 people died and they blamed it on electrical cord heaters. No, it was because people were using heaters because the building didn't have heat, and that person was [crosstalk]--

Brian Lehrer: Regulate the landlords, in addition to affordable housing-

Kanani: Regulate the landlords.

Brian Lehrer: -per se.

Kanani: Yes. Subway, we focus on safety, we also need to focus on reliability. Every time they talk about crime, it evades the truth, which is it's miserable. There's no trains on the weekends, I'm reading signs, I don't hear the conductor trains are diverted. It's a total gaslight. The media does not cover the reality of how horrible and how unreliable. When General Lieber was on last time, he sat there and gaslit me, and I stayed quiet, but it was ridiculous, and he knew he was [crosstalk]--

Brian Lehrer: All right. Do you have a candidate who most aligns with the issues that you have cited?

Kanani: At this point, we're going all in on the new Obama of New York City, Mamdani. Let's go, let's go, we got to do this.

Brian Lehrer: Kanani--

Kanani: Mental health, until we have affordability in this city, we're going to continue to have mental health crises because survival is a mental health issue.

Brian Lehrer: Kanani, thank you very much. Amos in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hello, Amos.

Amos: Hi, Brian. Good morning. First time caller. I'm really excited to be on air.

Brian Lehrer: Glad you're on. Rank your issues.

Amos: Thank you. First issue, street cleaning. It's practically non-existing. Whenever you see a cleaning truck, it's just swinging by in high speed. Even tickets are not being issued to people who are not moving their cars, so that's number one. Number two, as a motorist, as someone who drives, the road condition is horrific, and I don't see any justification which should be so subpar. I think the New York City should be able to handle that and they don't. The third issue is the e-bikes proliferation and lack of enforcement. They're everywhere, they're on sidewalks speeding. I know that there is regulations, but I don't see anything that's been really done.

Brian Lehrer: All right, so you've got street cleaning, road conditions when you're driving and e-bikes. Do you have a candidate who matches up with those priorities?

Amos: Cuomo is my candidate. I believe he's the most capable based on his experience. With some reservations, but still, I feel that Mamdani being the number two, I think that his ideas are a little far-fetched and not so practical in reality. I have a problem also with his anti-Israel opinions and stance. I don't see them as balanced, and I'm a big critic of. I'm from Israel myself. I have a lot of critic to Israeli leadership, but I don't think he's about criticism. I think he's just simply radical.

Brian Lehrer: Amos, I'm going to leave it there. Thank you very much. We would add Israel to his list of issues that he was ranking. Valerie in Manhattan, you're up next. You're on WNYC. Hello.

Valerie: Hi, Brian. Great to talk to you. Love your show. Walk to it every day. The first priority would be public safety. It's both to make sure the police officers have the resources they need to work smart and really respect the community, while also protecting the community, and also not being burdened by some of the mental health issues that plague the city. Number two would be affordable housing. We can't lose our middle class. We have to make sure that we keep people here because we need thriving, diverse, inclusive city.

Number three would be to improve the public transportation infrastructure. I'm on the A line. I live on the A line. It's not a station or line that's been well cared for. It's dirty, it's crumbling, it's leaking. I really want to make sure that Adrienne Adams, my candidate, takes care of those things. Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Valerie, thank you very much. Interesting. As we look at the texts, a lot of issues coming in, but a lot of housing coming in. There are two different people who just wrote, "My top three, housing, housing, and housing." I'll read some other ones here as we start to run out of time. Someone wrote, "Public corruption, remote working, can't tell if they're pro or con, climate change protection." Another one, "Living wage, affordable housing, and anti-Black racism." Fighting it, obviously.

Another one, "Housing, rent freeze and getting private equity out of our rent stabilization system. Two, public corruption. Three, tenant safety." Another one, "Top issues making the city more affordable, climate, transit, and street safety, and have to include a fourth, education." There you go. Just saying, people are chiming in with a lot of ranked choice issues. As we heard on the phones, still a lot of calls coming in for different candidates and still a lot of uncertainty. People still deciding.

That's The Brian Lehrer Show for today, produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen produces our daily politics podcast. Megan Ryan is the head of live radio. We had Shayna Sengstock and Milton Ruiz and at the audio controls. Stay tuned for Alison.

Copyright © 2025 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.