Friday Morning Politics: As Goes New York...?

**David First** (0:10)
It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm David First, WNYC's Weekend Edition host, filling in for Brian today. Happy Friday, everybody. Coming up on today's show, we will tackle two local stories with two of my colleagues, WNYC and Gothamist reporters, Liam Quigley and David Brand. Liam is going to talk about the future of the city's carriage horse industry, which is under fire, after a teenage tourist fell out of a carriage and was killed last week.
And the New York City Rent Guidelines Board approved a two-year rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments at their hearing last night. David Brand will talk about the results. And we'll wrap up today's show with a look at how fruit has gotten sweeter than ever. Have you noticed that? Grocery stores now sell sumo citrus and cotton candy grapes. Even some blueberries can be extra sweet. What does this mean for our palates? What does it mean for our health? That's all still ahead.
But first, is the Democratic Party splitting apart? That's one of the questions ricocheting around Washington and New York this week, and it's coming from some Democrats themselves. After Tuesday's primary results in New York City, former DNC chair Jamie Harrison tweeted, quote, If you hate the Democratic Party, then please don't run for our nomination. Don't use our resources. Don't rely on our volunteers. Don't use our infrastructure.
Longtime Democratic Party establishment figure James Carville went on the Politics War Room podcast and said this.

**James Carville** (1:47)
I actually do think it's time for Democrats to talk the S-word, schism.
I really do. Everybody's always said, no, no, we're a coalition. We're a big tent. And there's just some shit that I can't be in the same camp with.

**David First** (2:05)
Yes, there's some stuff. He can't be in the same tent with. And there were these words from New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was speaking on CNN about Mayor Mamdani and his influence on the Democratic primary, quote, some of the candidates that he supported are individuals who do not understand the politics of New York City, the cultural differences from district to district, who have not been part of the history and the struggle of some of these districts and are relatively new to the body politic. All of us are a little frustrated with the Democratic Party, but you don't blow it up. That's what MAGA has done.
So on Tuesday night, three congressional candidates with Mayor Zohran Mamdani's backing, one, their competitive Democratic primaries, Brad Lander beat two-term incumbent Dan Goldman in the 10th district. Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated five-term congressman Adriano Espayat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the 13th, and Claire Valdez won in the 7th district seat held by the retiring Nidia Velasquez. All three are in safely blue territory, which means they are likely headed to Congress after the general election this fall. We'll talk about all of this now with Lisa Kashinsky, a national political reporter at Politico, covering the 2026 midterms and the run-up to the 2028 presidential race. Lisa, welcome to WNYC.

**Lisa Kashinsky** (3:34)
I'm happy to be here. Thank you for having me.

**David First** (3:36)
So, you have a lot to cover here. So, talk about what just happened in New York from the perspective of the Democratic Party. How is this being viewed in the city, in the state and nationally?

**Lisa Kashinsky** (3:50)
In New York, it's certainly seismic. And I think from everything that you read off, you know, kind of just now all of these national figures weighing in, especially some who are maybe a little bit more on the moderate end of the Democratic spectrum, it's having some pretty intense ripple effects nationwide. I mean, New York is deep blue territory. It is, you know, in some ways, it's a very clear bellwether for the Democratic Party, but it's also not necessarily representative of where Democrats are playing across the map and the races they need to win to actually flip control of Congress. And a lot of what's going to happen with Congress is going to be decided by very purple districts in places with very different, just kind of socioeconomic and demographic make-ups than New York, but New York City does very much capture kind of the mood of the Democratic base. And you've watched it now from Zohran Mamdani's, you know, win last year into what we saw on Tuesday, taking a very leftward march. And some of it is in the policies. Some of it is in the style where we're seeing across the Democratic Party writ large right now, whether it is someone who is very far left or someone who is a little bit more towards the center.