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Brigid Bergin: You're listening to The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Brigid Bergin. Brian's off today. Now that we've talked about how to vote, we're going to bring you an update from the campaign trail with WNYC's Gwynne Hogan, who is out in Brooklyn to cover a major policy announcement from mayoral candidate, Kathryn Garcia, who just picked up a major endorsement. I suspect Gwynne is not out there alone. Gwynne, can you hear me?

Gwynne Hogan: Yes. Good morning, Brigid.

Brigid Bergin: Good morning. Can you tell us where you are specifically and what the scene is like there?

Gwynne Hogan: I am outside the 90, the 90th Precinct in Williamsburg. It's right on Broadway. I'm here. There's a crowd of reporters I would say about 10 to 12. We're waiting for Kathryn Garcia to begin speaking. She's expected to talk about her Gun Violence Prevention Plan in just a few minutes.

Brigid Bergin: This New York Times endorsement could give the Garcia campaign a boost. Her poll numbers have not been great, but they say her ideas and experience make her stand out in this crowded field. She, of course, served as Sanitation Commissioner in the de Blasio Administration and then took on several roles addressing critical issues facing city residents from lead czar, COVID-19 Food czar, but the New York Times doesn't have a great track record of late endorsing candidates who actually win. They picked Christine Quinn in 2013 and then Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar in 2020. What is the campaign saying if anything about the significance of this endorsement for Garcia?

Gwynne Hogan: They put out a statement last night talking about how exciting this was for her campaign. They brought up the quote where the Times said, "Cut out the middleman," because we've heard on the campaign trail both Eric Adams and Andrew Yang, two of the front runners in the race talking about how they would hire Kathryn Garcia. I'm sure she's going to talk about this a little bit more and we'll know a little bit more about how she's feeling about that endorsement.

I just would point out, you mentioned Christine Quinn, the more recent endorsement of Warren and Klobuchar that was on a national scale. I do think, well, Christine Quinn, they didn't pick that winner. I think this is our local New York Times, and I'm sure that it's going to change some opinions and perceptions about her.

Brigid Bergin: Absolutely. You said she's going to be talking about her Gun Violence Prevention Plan this morning. Have they offered any preview of what her approach might look like?

Gwynne Hogan: It's actually pretty similar to what has already been on her campaign website. Garcia talks about a plan to bring back this joint task force members of the federal, the NYPD, local prosecutors. She wants to specifically increase the number or the dollars, the money that you can get in gun buybacks. Right now, the city offers $200. She wants to bump that up to $2,000. She wants to add more officers to the Gun Violence Suppression Division and increase patrols in neighborhoods that are hit the hardest by gun violence.

Brigid Bergin: This issue obviously of gun violence is really something that a lot of the candidates are talking about. Particularly, after that shooting in Times Square over the weekend, we heard first from Eric Adams, shortly after the event, and then Sunday, from Andrew Yang and Maya Wiley. Can you talk about some of the major differences in their proposed solutions?

Gwynne Hogan: We're seeing this fissure between more moderate candidates like Garcia, Yang, and Eric Adams, who when they talk about responses to gun violence, they're mostly talking about improving policing and better policing and increasing policing. Then you have this other bucket of more left-leaning candidates like Maya Wiley, Dianne Morales, and Shaun Donovan who are talking about-- They want to talk more about addressing the root causes and flooding funds to neighborhoods for other supportive services.

Then there's a more middle bucket. I would say like Ray McGuire spoke to this when he went to Times Square. Even Scott Stringer, they're talking about a combination of policing and supportive services for neighborhoods that are seeing this spike in gun violence. It was very interesting to see multiple candidates head to Times Square. Eric Adams even returning a second time after Andrew Yang had been at Times Square to call out Andrew Yang for saying, "Now, you're hosting something about gun violence when it happens near your Hell's Kitchen home," which is something that Andrew Yang had mentioned in that press conference.

Brigid Bergin: That's right. Certainly, a sign that based on the limited public polling we have seen in this race, both Yang and Adams have been leading the pack in terms of who is the front runner which is why there seems to be so much vitriol I think directed towards them and between them. These policy announcements, Gwynne, and endorsements are building up to a really pretty critical moment this week. We've got the first mayoral debate. You have been out talking to voters. What's your sense of how tuned in people are to the contest so far?

Gwynne Hogan: I was out in Eastern Brooklyn. I was in Crown Heights and around Broadway Junction talking to voters and some of my colleagues were in different parts of the city in Jackson Heights and in the Bronx. I noticed from the people that I talked to and, of course, this is unscientific. This is people who will stop their day to talk to you. That's definitely a self-selecting pool, but definitely more awareness that there's a mayoral race.

Even some people had heard of ranked-choice voting this time around, which I went out a month ago to a few different neighborhoods, it was very hard to find somebody who knew more than one candidate in the race, and pretty much nobody knew what ranked-choice voting was. That I think is a really good sign. Also, more people are tuning in. People that I talked to were like, "Yes, I'm aware there's a race. I still am not really sure who I'm voting for, but I'm definitely going to start paying attention in these last few weeks."

Brigid Bergin: Well, for folks who want to hear these candidates side by side and really try to understand what differentiates them in terms of policy and demeanor, you can hear that debate live here on Thursday night on WNYC from 7:00 to 9:00, Brian, our own Brian Lehrer is one of the moderators. I know I'll be listening. Gwynne, I suspect you'll be listening. Is there anything specific you'll be listening for?

Gwynne Hogan: Well, I am definitely interested in hearing if and how the candidates press one another specifically around gun violence. I think this has been-- It's really come to the fore in the last few weeks. How are the more left-leaning candidates who want to talk about root causes? Are they going to confront the people who are really talking about policing solutions? What will that look like? I'm also interested to see this momentum that Kathryn Garcia has received. Does she have a breakout moment? Does she have something that sets her apart? Because I think she really needs to-- Her name recognition is so low right now. That could be an interesting opportunity for her.

Then I'm also interested in seeing how the two front runners, Eric Adams and Andrew Yang if they are sharpening their knives at one another. We've seen Eric Adams come out against Andrew Yang a number of times. Andrew Yang, I haven't really seen him-- He's been a little bit more veiled about his criticism, but I think it'll be interesting to see how those two speak to one another in that forum as well.

Brigid Bergin: Since I'll be listening too, I'll chime in that I think we have seen these candidates run very different campaigns and the tone of their campaigns have been very different. I think there's going to be something pretty stark about seeing them side by side defining what this election is about. What is this election mean to voters? Is this a moment for hope and optimism and getting back to New York in its most celebratory sense, or is this a moment of dire urgency? To what extent is the impact of this tremendous loss that we have experienced, the thousands of people who are not with us to participate in this actual election, how much is that a part of the conversation?

I'll be listening to hear how the candidates handle the way they're defining what this election is about. I'm sure we'll be able to share some of our analysis with voters in the days following that. Gwynne, just before we let you go, you're also following that crowded primary for Manhattan District Attorney. What's the big news out of that race this week?

Gwynne Hogan: Last week was the first televised debate. This is a huge, important race that really has not been getting a lot of media coverage just because of everything else that's going on and obviously, a huge mayoral race. The debate really highlighted for me a similar thing that we were just talking to. This tension between more left-leaning candidates who are really talking about decarceration and declining to prosecute.

Then more centrist, more moderate candidates who are running as more traditional prosecutors. Tali Farhadian Weinstein among them who is the biggest fundraiser in the race, who really were pressing candidates who were more to the left around issues of gun violence and hate crimes specifically. After that debate, Alvin Bragg, who is a former federal prosecutor, he got the endorsement of Color of Change PAC.

I don't know if you've heard of them, but they have been funding and backing progressive DAs' candidacies all across the country. I don't know if you've heard of Larry Krasner, but they were an early backer of his in Philadelphia. They're going to actually be throwing $1 million into the race on Bragg's behalf. He was $1 million short as of the January filings, of the front runner or the biggest fundraiser in the race, Tali.

That's definitely going to give him a leg up. He's not the most left-leaning candidate in the race, but he has very firm policies around reforming the office and criminal justice reform, and declining to prosecute, and not holding people on cash bail for almost any offense, as well as management experience and the Color of Change and explaining their endorsement side of these two things as well. The last thing they cited was his ties to Harlem. He's a lifelong Harlem resident.

Brigid Bergin: That's great, Gwynne. Certainly, Rashad Robinson from Color of Change is a frequent guest on this show. I think folks are familiar with that group. Thank you for that update. Lots more to talk about here, but we're going to have to leave it for now. That was WNYC's Gwynne Hogan, who is in Brooklyn covering mayoral candidate Kathryn Garcia today. You will be able to hear more from Garcia herself on this show tomorrow.

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