Sources: Cuomo considers staying in NYC mayoral race

Adams holds reelection campaign kickoff outside City Hall

Mamdani's primary performance divides Democrats

Zohran Mamdani declares victory in NYC's Democratic mayoral primary as Cuomo concedes

Incumbent Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso wins primary election

Brooklyn residents head to polls in final hours of voting for New York City primaries

brooklyn

News 12 Staff

BXBKPP68B_2025-06-08-11-56-49

Welcome back to Power and Politics as we are now joined by Jeremy Gruber, who is senior vice president at Open Primaries, which is an organization that advocates for exactly what is in the name. So Jeremy, thanks so much for being here, especially during a time where primary is all the talk across the city. Oh, thank you for having me. It's really an exciting time. Absolutely. And so I just to be clear, open primaries is not the system. That's currently in place here in New York City. New York is one of the few cities that has a closed partisan primary, which means that Democrats can vote in the Democratic primary, Republicans can vote in the Republican primary, and if you're not registered with either party, you are shut out of voting in the primary election. That's not the case in most cities. 85%. Of cities use an open form of primary that allow everybody to vote. So let's expand on that. What is an open primary? How is it different from the system that's currently in place here in the city? Sure, there's a lot of different forms of open primaries at their very basic. What an open primary means is that independent voters. Which are now the largest and fastest growing group of voters in our country and the fastest growing group of voters in our city can participate in the first round of elections. So that's the most basic form continues a party primary, but independents can participate by picking one ballot of one party or the other to vote. And then there's a nonpartisan open primary that is used in a handful of states and like I said, 85% of cities use that nonpartisan open primary where you have one ballot, all the candidates are on that ballot, and the top two vote getters move on to the general election. So what are some of the advantages of having an open primary system in place, and can you point to any examples where it is the law of the land to exemplify the successes of it? Well, open primaries in 85% of cities. In fact, Washington DC just passed what's called a semi-open primary in November, which means independents can pick a ballot now moving forward in Washington DC. Most cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, use a nonpartisan open primary. All candidates on the ballot, everybody votes. Top vote getters move on to the general election. It's really a very simple system. What are you attributing this wave of large cities across the country and other areas as well, adopting open primaries too, especially as of late? There's really two. Major changes in the American electorate and American elections that are fueling open primaries. The first is the massive growth of independent voters. Independents are now the largest and fastest growing group of voters in the country. There's over a million voters in New York City alone, and that is having immense pressure on a political system and an election system that was really not designed with them in mind. The second thing that is happening is the complete precipitous drop of competitiveness in our general elections. So let me give you a few examples of what that looks like right here in New York City. Let's look at the mayoral races. We know that our last two mayors have not been particularly popular, yet they're winning the general election with almost 3/4 of the vote, but they're coming out of a very competitive primary. Um, so, uh, you know, we're looking now at this upcoming mayoral primary in New York City. 9 candidates on the ballot for mayor. The primary in a couple weeks is going to be very competitive, but the general election, well, in the general election, much less so because likely whoever wins the Democratic primary is going to sail through to the general election, and we're seeing that around the country where half our races statewide. running unopposed, less than 10% are competitive. The primary elections in this country and in this city are really where the most meaningful votes happen. Yeah, often we say that the general is decided during the primary here in New York. Speaking of the city, the city's charter revision commission is now taking on primary reform as an issue that they'll likely be considering throughout the summer and could make its way onto the November ballot for voters to decide on. What are the two options I believe that they're currently considering when it comes to open primaries here in New York and how would each look like for voters should it ultimately be passed? Sure, and it's all credit to the Charter revision Commission for taking this issue really seriously because dozens of independent voters have been coming out to every hearing around the five boroughs, and the commissioners have been listening, paying attention, and responding, and that's a really exciting development because this is a real. Crisis in this city. They're looking at two different models of open primary. The one at its most simple called the semi open primary simply allows independent voters to pick a party ballot but keeps the party primary system essentially the way it currently operates. The other is called the top two or nonpartisan primary. That's actually the system that's used in most cities where all candidates are on one ballot. And all voters vote and the top candidates move on to the general election. Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago. Most major cities use that system and what's most important for people to understand is primary elections are not private party affairs. These are public taxpayer funded elections, and yet independent voters, the second largest group of voters in the city. Cannot vote in them. When we look at the current mayoral election that we are approaching, we have a registered Democrat as a mayor who is now running as an independent, which means that he will not appear on the June ballot, but will likely if he hits certain benchmarks, make it to November's under an open primary system, would that change in any way? Would it have any impacts to how candidates can run? Oh, likely would, and it really depends on which form of open primary that the charter revision commission decides to put on the ballot, but what's most important is that when every voter gets to vote in an open primary, you have politicians that are more accountable and more responsive to the voters because they're more representative because all the voters are choosing them. See, when you have a closed partisan primary, you have fewer and fewer voters who are choosing our elected officials, and then you have elected officials who know that in order to continue to get elected and stay in office, they have to be responsive to those small groups of parties and voters. We need to open the system up. Everybody vote. And our politicians are accountable to every New York City voter. Jeremy Gruber, thank you so much for going over this topic with us and really breaking it down. We hope to talk with you again as it continues to make its way through the revision commission and we'll see if it's on the ballot come November. Thanks so much. Thank you.

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BXBKPP68C_2025-06-08-12-00-59

Welcome back to Power and Politics. The race for New York's most powerful political job just took a dramatic turn. Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado is breaking ranks, announcing this week that he'll take on his own boss, Governor Kathy Hochle. Now Delgado is explaining the why in a wide ranging interview with our senior political reporter Tara Rosenblum, and he did not hold back. Let's start out with the obvious. You have spent the last few years serving as Governor Hole's second in command. Why did you decide to challenge your own boss? I think it's important to first understand that the status quo in my estimation right now is broken. I think people are economically in very distressed situations, and that economic pain, he says, is exactly what fueled his decision to take on the very administration he's served since 2022. But despite some Democrats now calling for his resignation, Antonio Delgado told me he's staying put. I understand that when you rock the boat, you got to expect that that's going to be, you know, some of the reaction. My point is to say the people gave me this position. I have a responsibility to serve. How would you categorize your relationship with the governor as we're sitting here today? Well, right now the relationship, as you might expect, right, it's, it's not when we were communicating a lot. And what I asked. Separates his vision from hos. Delgado said this. There's two types of leaders in my estimation those who lead from the inside out with a vision and those who might just be reacting to whatever the moment is on the outside. That leads to indecision. Have you spoken to Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, AOC, about your decision to run? No, my focus is to the, to the people. I'm not beholden to the machinery. Delgado's challenge exposing deepening divides inside New York's Democratic Party. At a time when the state is once again ground zero in the battle for congressional control, do you see yourself more aligned with the progressives or the moderate wing of your party? I am aligned with the people. The labels don't do anybody any good. A Harvard Law grad and former Hudson Valley congressman. Delgado made history as the first person of color to win New York's 19th congressional district, a swing seat. President Trump won by 7 points, but Delgado acknowledged. Statewide recognition remains an uphill climb. You know, you gotta get out there. Tara Rosenbloom, News 12. Sure to be an interesting race, Tara, thank you. And as we get closer to the primary elections for city races this month, a reminder that you can find all of the interviews News 12 has done with local candidates across the Bronx and Brooklyn on Newstwelve.com under the Power and Politics section. That's all for this week here on Power and Politics on News 12. Thanks for watching.

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On the show this week: Zellnor Myrie, Jeremy Gruber and News 12's interview with Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado. 

Power & Politics: 1:1 with Zellnor Myrie; explaining ‘open primary’ system

On the show this week: Zellnor Myrie, Jeremy Gruber and News 12's interview with Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado.

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