Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Maybe we made a real commitment here at Bloomberg surveillans
Speaker 2: that we would speak to the mayoral candidates. We're now
Speaker 2: in the habit of repeating conversations. We spoke earlier to
Speaker 2: Andrew Cromo, of course, the former governor of the state
Speaker 2: of New York. This for the mayor's race and a
Speaker 2: vote in November. Governor Cromo, thank you so much for
Speaker 2: joining us again at Bloomberg this morning. I'm going to
Speaker 2: cut to the chase. I talked to my number one advisor,
Speaker 2: Martin Schenker this morning, decades of five borough experience. Here's
Speaker 2: his question, how do you get the younger voter. You've
Speaker 2: got the older voters in the outer boroughs, You've got
Speaker 2: a lot of Manhattan voting for you, Andre Cromo, how
Speaker 2: do you get the younger voter in this election?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know, it's a very good question. And thank
Speaker 3: you and good morning. Thank you for having me in
Speaker 3: the primaries. You had a tremendous vote of the under thirty,
Speaker 3: which is really a national phenomenon. They're highly energized. It
Speaker 3: started as a political movement that was anti Trump. It's
Speaker 3: now further energized by socialism, income equality, and this situation
Speaker 3: in the Middle East, Gazam. But my point to the
Speaker 3: under thirty years look, I agree with your statement of
Speaker 3: the problems. Yes, affordability is a major issue. Yes, your
Speaker 3: rent is a major issue. But the solutions being offered
Speaker 3: by Assemblyman Mamdani are not real solutions. The answer is
Speaker 3: not freezing the rent for four years. Economically, that doesn't work.
Speaker 3: Landlords are not going to subsidize buildings, They'll walk away
Speaker 3: from buildings. So yes, the problems they have identified are
Speaker 3: care wrecked. Know the solutions offered by Assemblyman Mam Donnie
Speaker 3: will not solve the problem.
Speaker 4: Governor, what is your path to victory? As you sit
Speaker 4: here today, can you still win if Mayor Adams does
Speaker 4: not drop out.
Speaker 3: In a multi candidate race, Yes, you can theoretically win.
Speaker 3: The math is much more difficult. I think reality will
Speaker 3: set in at one point because the existential threat is
Speaker 3: I think Assemblyman Mam Donnie as Mayor of New York
Speaker 3: and many Democratic leaders feel that the business community feels
Speaker 3: that people feel that this is a radical form of socialism,
Speaker 3: socialism economic socialism in New York City, which is the
Speaker 3: art of business and corporate America. And how does socialism
Speaker 3: work in New York City? How do you have a
Speaker 3: socialist city in a capitalist nation? The Assemblyman is anti police,
Speaker 3: both for defunding the police, dismantling the police. Said the
Speaker 3: police are wicked and corrupt as an institution, said the
Speaker 3: police are racists. How do you provide public safety? How
Speaker 3: do you recruit police officers? How do you keep police officers?
Speaker 3: If that's your position visa VI the police? So he
Speaker 3: is the threat. You have several candidates who are now running,
Speaker 3: and senior Democrats have said, look, when you get to September,
Speaker 3: the strongest candidate should go forward one on one to
Speaker 3: try to beat Mam Donnie, and the other candidate should defer.
Speaker 1: And I've agreed to that.
Speaker 3: I said, if I'm not the strongest candidate in September,
Speaker 3: then i will defer.
Speaker 4: Well, Governor, with a little bit of hindsight, Now, well,
Speaker 4: what is Mamdani's success in the primary? Tell you about
Speaker 4: the New York City electorate right now.
Speaker 3: What it says is, first, you did have an aberration
Speaker 3: in the primary turnout. You had an explosion of this
Speaker 3: under thirty that actually distorted the turnout that's why.
Speaker 1: The polls were all wrong.
Speaker 3: Right, The polls all had me way ahead fifteen to
Speaker 3: twenty points. They did not account for this aberration in
Speaker 3: the turnout, which was the under thirty year olds who
Speaker 3: voted it an extraordinary historic proportion. Everyone else voted sort
Speaker 3: of at the same level of turnout except the under thirty,
Speaker 3: and he had connected with them very well on social
Speaker 3: media TikTok, etc. That we expect to continue in the general.
Speaker 3: But what happens in the general is you have a
Speaker 3: much larger universe of voters. Right, It's not just the
Speaker 3: activist Democrats in a primary small universe. It's moderate Democrats,
Speaker 3: it's Out of Borough Democrats, it's older Democrats, it's independence,
Speaker 3: it's Republicans. So it's a much much different universe that
Speaker 3: you're drawing from.
Speaker 2: Andrew Cromo, with this former governor of the Empire State,
Speaker 2: we welcome all of you across the nation. On the
Speaker 2: way you listen to Bloomberg Survey and that's good morning
Speaker 2: across Canada, around the world as well and on YouTube.
Speaker 2: We greatly appreciate your interests this of the mayoral race
Speaker 2: a vote in November. Governor, I want to get into
Speaker 2: the nitty gritty here wonderful questions from our Bloomberg News team.
Speaker 2: Yesterday at Saint Bartholomew's Church, there was an inter denominational service,
Speaker 2: including Father and riqu Salvo from Saint Patrick's Cathedral to
Speaker 2: try to pick up the pieces of again violence in
Speaker 2: New York. Every conversation is what are we going to
Speaker 2: do to halt slow Christian of the New York Police Department,
Speaker 2: what's the Cromo plan day one to get more NYPD
Speaker 2: on the street and in the cars.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a very good point. Public safety is job
Speaker 3: one right. Affordability is a major issue, no doubt, and
Speaker 3: there are other issues percolating, but public safety is and
Speaker 3: always has been the foundation. Nothing works without public safety.
Speaker 3: And crime is up. Some crime levels, some categories of
Speaker 3: crime are down, but crime overall is up and.
Speaker 1: People feel it.
Speaker 3: Yes, two interrelated issues in my opinion, to get the
Speaker 3: police back, and you have to get them back. We
Speaker 3: have We don't just have trouble recruiting police right now.
Speaker 3: Historic issues. Back in the day, you would take a
Speaker 3: test to become a police officer, you'd score on the test,
Speaker 3: you'd wait two three years to be called. We can't
Speaker 3: now fill a class and the attrition rate is very high.
Speaker 3: They're leaving at higher rates than ever before. Why Number one,
Speaker 3: the salaries, and I've called for increasing the starting salaries.
Speaker 3: Starting salaries about sixty thousand dollars. I would do a
Speaker 3: retention bonus by the end of the first year, an
Speaker 3: additional fifteen thousand, because literally our salaries are not competitive.
Speaker 3: But second, they've also been demoralized. You know, in this city,
Speaker 3: like many other cities across the country, you've gone through
Speaker 3: a period the past five six, seven years where this
Speaker 3: socialist faction of the Democratic Party has become dominant in
Speaker 3: these big cities, and they have demoralized the police.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: Literally the statements I read you from a semblyman Mom
Speaker 3: d call people corrupt and racing.
Speaker 2: Okay, nicely, governor works nicely, explained Paul, and I have
Speaker 2: talked to all the different candidates. But you carry a heritage,
Speaker 2: someone say, a baggage of your actions your father of
Speaker 2: a time that many people remember is being safer. What
Speaker 2: are the actions Andrew Cuomo will take to build that
Speaker 2: morale and to get to pay from an absurd sixty
Speaker 2: thousand day one up to where it should be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's I think two steps. First day, one, raise
Speaker 3: the salary. It will have a practical effect, you'll be
Speaker 3: more competitive, but it will also say to police, I
Speaker 3: value you, I believe in you. And the second factor
Speaker 3: is I will have your back. As mayor. The relationship
Speaker 3: between the mayor and the police is very important. The
Speaker 3: police are out there every day day, they're risking their lives.
Speaker 3: It's inevitable that they're going to wind up in a controversy.
Speaker 3: They have to know that the mayor is going to
Speaker 3: have their back. And right now they feel alienated from
Speaker 3: city government and that has been going on for a while.
Speaker 3: You go back to Mayor Deblasio, they literally turn their
Speaker 3: back at a police funeral. I'd never seen that before,
Speaker 3: but that was the symbolism of the NYPD saying we
Speaker 3: feel alienated and you're making us the enemy when we're
Speaker 3: not the enemy.
Speaker 1: We're actually the good guy. Yep.
Speaker 4: Governor, your donors, your supporters, the donors that's back to
Speaker 4: you in the primary. Will they continue to back you
Speaker 4: in his general election?
Speaker 1: Yes they will.
Speaker 3: What they're looking for is the same thing everyone is
Speaker 3: looking for is what is the path forward?
Speaker 1: Right? You do have a multi candidate field.
Speaker 3: Everyone is petrified about electing a socialist who's anti police,
Speaker 3: who they feel will bankrupt New York City. Right, if
Speaker 3: your anti business, what makes you think the businesses.
Speaker 1: Are going to come here, let alone stay here?
Speaker 3: If you're anti police, what makes me think that you're
Speaker 3: going to make the city safer? If anything is going
Speaker 3: to get more dangerous. So everyone is afraid of that happening.
Speaker 3: They don't yet see the path with both Eric Adams
Speaker 3: and myself and as a Republican, and that's why the
Speaker 3: path has to be one of the candidates whoever is
Speaker 3: not stronger, drops out one on one. I believe I
Speaker 3: beat the Assemblyment, but you have to get to that point.
Speaker 4: When is that point? Is there a drop that date
Speaker 4: that you believe from a political perspective that either you
Speaker 4: or mayor Adams needs to make that decision.
Speaker 3: Look, you're in August now, everyone is doing whatever they do.
Speaker 3: September after Labor Day, people get serious about it, and
Speaker 3: I think you get to mid September and that's going
Speaker 3: to be the let's call it the drop dead date
Speaker 3: where you're going to have to winnow down the field
Speaker 3: or people will think there is no way to beat
Speaker 3: the assemblymen. And then there'll be just a resignation.
Speaker 2: I look into Chromo, I'm forget get in folks nationwide
Speaker 2: and across New York City. Good morning, Bloomberg eleventhree H
Speaker 2: Andrew Croomo with us here really after very difficult ten
Speaker 2: days for the city, looking forward to the election in November,
Speaker 2: Andrew Cromo within, as Paul correctly mentions, the drop dead
Speaker 2: date and all that, you got to.
Speaker 1: Go out and speak to people.
Speaker 2: There was a time, and you're old enough to remember
Speaker 2: that time where with your father's process or your early process,
Speaker 2: there were methods. What's the modern method to reach people
Speaker 2: in New York City, particularly those young people that you've
Speaker 2: got to grab.
Speaker 3: Look, it is all all about social media. The number,
Speaker 3: the percentage of under thirty who get in news from
Speaker 3: TikTok is overwhelming. It is just incredible. Frankly, you know,
Speaker 3: first of all, news from TikTok to me is a
Speaker 3: sort of question about concept in general. But it is
Speaker 3: all about social media, especially for the under thirty, and
Speaker 3: that is something that I'm now focusing on very heavily.
Speaker 3: And yes, I'm moving around the city. I'm doing all
Speaker 3: the retail if you will, and the traditional media, but
Speaker 3: it's social media.
Speaker 2: Look at and post got a whole Let me get
Speaker 2: one more question and Governor and Andrew Paul rather as
Speaker 2: a whole series of good questions. I was standing outside
Speaker 2: the Waldorf and Okay, I'm one of the haves folks,
Speaker 2: and I'm looking up Park Avenue at the renaissance of
Speaker 2: this city. Or I can drive out across a bridge
Speaker 2: to LGA and I'm looking at the renaissance of this city,
Speaker 2: or the tunnels. Paul going to be here in a
Speaker 2: couple of years, and I'm looking at the renaissance of
Speaker 2: this city. Why are those young kids so upset if
Speaker 2: we seem to be building and burgeoning like maybe three
Speaker 2: other cities in this nation.
Speaker 3: Ah, that is the great anomaly, that is the New
Speaker 3: York City. IC, I see a city of great potential
Speaker 3: and great progress. LGA for those of people who don't
Speaker 3: pick up the acronym. We have a new LaGuardia Airport. Finally,
Speaker 3: Laguardie Airport was the worst airport in the United States
Speaker 3: of America. Joe Biden made that famous comment about if
Speaker 3: you were blindfolded, do you think you were in the
Speaker 3: third world country. We built a brand new airport which
Speaker 3: they said was impossible. It was not rated, by the way,
Speaker 3: the best airport in the United States plugged for New
Speaker 3: York City shamelessly, new Moyni hand train station, new Second
Speaker 3: Avenue subway, new Shirley Children Park in Brooklyn. We were
Speaker 3: attracting AI technology. This city can really be poised to
Speaker 3: take off, and that's exciting. And the problems we have
Speaker 3: a road manageable. You know, this is not a post
Speaker 3: nine to eleven period. It's not COVID. It's what they
Speaker 3: were all operational issues. You have a public safety issue,
Speaker 3: higher cops. We've done it before. We have an affordable
Speaker 3: housing problem. Build affordable housing. We've done it before. You know,
Speaker 3: we know how to do these things. Under thirty. This
Speaker 3: is more theoretical and ideological. We want a socialist society.
Speaker 3: Affordability is not just affordability for them, it's overall economic equality.
Speaker 3: You shouldn't have billionaires and people who can't afford enough
Speaker 3: to sustain the family in a reasonable way. So it's
Speaker 3: an ideological dispute. The Middle East and Gaza is very
Speaker 3: big in that issue, and the assemblyman talked more about
Speaker 3: Israel and Gaza than he did public safety and economic development.
Speaker 3: You would think he's running for a position in the
Speaker 3: United Nations more than running for mayor.
Speaker 1: Yep, but that's their interest. Governor.
Speaker 4: A lot of folks are saying that you had your
Speaker 4: chance to beat mister Mumba in the primary, you did not.
Speaker 4: Why not let Eric Adams get his turn? How do
Speaker 4: you respond to the.
Speaker 3: Well, Eric Adams had his turn right. Eric Adams was
Speaker 3: mayor for four years and New Yorkers have said they
Speaker 3: are unsatisfied with what he has done as mayor. He's
Speaker 3: had a string of very serious scandals and corruption issues.
Speaker 3: And then Mayor Adams was indicted, as you recall, and
Speaker 3: then President Trump dropped the charges for Mayor Adams conditioned
Speaker 3: on Mayor Adams cooperating with President Trump. And for Democrats,
Speaker 3: that was the kiss of death. That made the mayor
Speaker 3: of New York the puppet of President Trump. And that
Speaker 3: was the mayor putting his self interest over the people
Speaker 3: of New York. And that's why the mayor dropped out
Speaker 3: of the primary. Right, he was in the Democratic primary,
Speaker 3: and he dropped out because he wasn't competitive. And in
Speaker 3: the general election, seventy percent of the voters are Democrats.
Speaker 3: So if you're not competitive, with Democrats, you're not competitive, and.
Speaker 2: Tokomone time for one more question. I had the clearest
Speaker 2: memories is up in western New York of a gentleman
Speaker 2: from Italy talking about his grandparents. His parents, I should say,
Speaker 2: back in the nineteen tens, literally in fear of quote
Speaker 2: unquote being picked up after the entrance, whether it's Ellis
Speaker 2: Island or wherever. Right now, we're picking up people in
Speaker 2: these five boroughs as reports day after day. How would
Speaker 2: you handle this city as a sanctuary versus a Trump administration?
Speaker 3: Oh, you have to fight it every step of the way. Look,
Speaker 3: I think President Trump, I think he has gone too far.
Speaker 3: When he there's no doubt that the illegal immigration was
Speaker 3: an issue, and he identified that and he ran for
Speaker 3: president on it and you won. He has gone too far.
Speaker 3: If you're talking about dangerous criminals, Americans support New Yorkers
Speaker 3: support you. We're not going to harbor criminals. If you
Speaker 3: have a personal committed to dangerous crime, a serious crime,
Speaker 3: deport them. But when you start picking up people who
Speaker 3: have been in this city, who are working, who are families,
Speaker 3: they've been here for years, they're paying taxes, they're taking
Speaker 3: jobs that nobody else wants to take. By the way,
Speaker 3: they're working in the back rooms of restaurants, the landscapers,
Speaker 3: they're doing manual labor that no one else can do.
Speaker 3: And you're disrupting families, and you're doing it without any
Speaker 3: due process. And by the way, you're making mistakes, you're
Speaker 3: picking up people who are here legally and putting them
Speaker 3: on a plane. You've gone too far. And that's what
Speaker 3: the sanctuary city laws are that basically due process guarantees.
Speaker 3: And I passed the sanctuary law for the State of
Speaker 3: New York as governor. The City of New York has
Speaker 3: a city law on top of the state law.
Speaker 1: And it's just.
Speaker 2: Andrew, we're out of time. Governor Cuoma, thank you so
Speaker 2: much for being with us today. We're looking forward to
Speaker 2: speaking to you on the road to November