NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Election Day Eve, Trump Administration to Partially Pay SNAP Benefits, and NYPD Commissioner Tisch’s Record

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

Voters are gearing up to hit the polls this Tuesday as New Yorkers decide who’s best to lead the largest city in America. Meanwhile, the Trump administration says it will only partially pay SNAP benefits this month due to the ongoing government shutdown. And finally, why all three mayoral candidates want to keep NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch as head of the department.

It's Election Day Eve. Here's what some voters are saying. Plus, the Trump administration will partially pay SNAP benefits for November. And a quick dive into NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch's record. From WMYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jinné Pierre. Eve of Election Day and hundreds of thousands of voters will head to the polls to decide who should lead the largest city in America.

Election Day comes as thousands of New Yorkers feel the impact of the ongoing government shutdown while also dodging what many call an affordability crisis in the Big Apple. I caught up with some New Yorkers ahead of this important moment. We're talking with some people about the election, and I wanted to know if you care. Very much so. Meet Sidney Martinez. He's waiting for the aid during rush hours, so we don't have much time. Tell me about the issues that matter most to you right now.

Everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Affordability, everything, Moundani is running for it? Exactly that. Sidney says he's voting for Zoran Mumdani because Democrats, they need a change. There comes a time for change. Your tactics need to change. Look at what's going on in the last 10 years.

You mean to tell me this is normal? Further down the subway platform, Martinez-Steven has a different perspective. No relation with our last voter. But Martinez is waiting for the A-Train, too, and y'all know how those delays can get. Anyway, Martinez tells me he plans to vote for Andrew Cuomo. He says the governor has way more experience than Mundani. I don't even know this guy from a arm in the leg. I don't know this dude at all.

I don't know what he did for us. He never heard him pass a bill for any rights for us. I don't trust him. You know what I'm saying? And Selwyn, I wouldn't take him either. You know, my name is Cuomo. I think he should get it. This is my train.

Martinez is referring to Curtis Sliwa. the Republican in the race. It's a name D'Milia Gale is unfamiliar with. The 19-year-old knows there's an election happening. She's just not registered to vote. Just like every time I try to register to vote, it's not allowing me, or it's like, oh, my ID doesn't work, or it's, like, giving me, like, rigmaro.

But for someone whose name isn't on the voter rolls, DeMilia has a lot of concerns, mostly about affordability, and she's not just talking about rent. How are you supposed to eat healthy if a vegetable is so much more than I can pay? And it's like sometimes you have to map it out where it's just like, am I going to be able to pay for food today,

something healthy, or am I going to pay my rent today? And sometimes the only option you have is McDonald's, Popeye, Chipoli, to pay your rent. And that all just circles back to affordability. D'emilia wasn't the only person I talked with who's skipping the polls this election day. Ryan Pyon lives in New Jersey, where voters will choose the state's next governor,

but he couldn't care less. I just don't believe in partaking in the system. I care of my family. my family, my loved ones, my community, take care of who I can, what I can, and just hope that, you know, eventually when politics makes this way back into my life, you know, I can find a way to make a difference there. A lot of different opinions in the region. You can choose to make your voice heard on election day. Polls open Tuesday morning at 6. And check out our voter guide on our news site, Gothamist. The Trump administration says it will only partially pay SNAP benefits this month due to the ongoing government shutdown, but it's unclear how quickly the food aid will go out. SNAP payments came to a halt over the weekend after the Trump administration said it ran out of

money. But two federal judges have ordered the administration to continue making payments. Now, the USDA, which oversees SNAP, told a judge it would use contingency funds to make partial payments for the month. What's not clear is how much payments will be reduced or how long payments will take to go out. About 3 million residents in New York State and another 800,000 New Jerseyans receive SNAP. Because of the delay and benefits, food pantries across the region say demand was up this past weekend, with some pantries running out of food. All three mayoral candidates say they'll keep NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch at the head of the department. More on why after the break. The three front runners in Tuesday's mayoral election don't agree on much, but

they do agree on one key personnel decision that the current NYPD police commissioner, Jessica Tish, should remain in her job in the next mayoral administration. Public safety reporter Ben Fewerard is with us to talk more about Jessica Tish and what we know about our record. Hey, Ben. Hey. So, Jessica Tish is a native New Yorker, but what else can you tell us about her? So Tish, she's 44.

She comes from an extremely wealthy Manhattan family. She's an heiress to the Lowe's Empire, which is a her family started business. that has all sorts of business interests. She graduated Harvard, and instead of going into the family business, she took a job with city government as an NYPD counterterrorism analyst in 2008, and within about six years,

she was running the department's IT division, and under Mayor Bill de Blasio, she took over running the city's sanitation department, and she's sort of earned a reputation as a competent, sort of steadfast manager. And we know she's, She's only held office for about a year now. What's her record been like?

So since taking over the NYPD in November 2024, she's been praised by people across political lines for rooting out some of the worst allegations of corruption in the MIPD in decades. By far, her biggest accomplishment is, and forgive me for being blunt, but putting out the dumpster fire. I spoke with Kirk Berkhalter. He's a former detective, who is now a professor at New York Law School. And he says that's really been her greatest triumph as police commissioner. And under her watch as commissioner, many crimes, including shootings and homicides, have dropped to historic lows in the city. But that's also something we've seen play out nationally.

She's also overseen a focus on policing low-level crimes in the city, and that's earned her praise from some city lawmakers and media pundits. But it's also angered some democratic voters and criminal justice reform advocates. That's interesting. What has that criticism of her centered on? So this crackdown on quality of life crimes has been a pretty big sticking point between the MIPD and more progressive criminal justice advocates. I spoke to Jen Van Wong from the Legal Aid Society who said that the MIPD's approach to policing minor crimes has led to more New Yorkers going through the criminal justice system. We do have a lot of concern about it, right? Like we're talking about a time that is pretty hard for a lot of New Yorkers with respect to affordability.

And Tish and the MIPD have really pushed back on this notion that this is a return to, broken windows policing because they say the goal is not to prevent larger crimes. But people like Jen Van Wong just completely disagree with the framing of that. You know, it would seem that the three mayoral candidates would each have, you know, a very different approach to public safety. But why do they all agree on Tisch as leader of the NYPD? So, Mamdani has repeatedly been attacked by Cuomo and Slee Blah over previous comments he's made criticizing the NYPD. And I think it's fair to say He needs someone as commissioner who will instill this sort of confidence that he cares about law and order in the city. And Mamdani usually notes that Tish really cleaned up the department and came in as a reformer.

And that's why he supports her in her role. Sliwaw said of the most recent debate that he would keep her on for stability. Cuomo also said he would keep her on, but didn't go into details as to why. So that's pretty cool that all the candidates want Commissioner Tish to stay. but, you know, ultimately, it's her decision, right? Do we know that she'll stay? So as of now, she hasn't said anything publicly about whether or not she'll stay on the job,

no matter who the next mayor is. It's certainly something that's an extremely important decision for the next mayor, and obviously one will certainly keep an eye on. That's WNYC's been fewer heard. All right, grab your binoculars, because there's plenty to watch for in the November night sky, including some visible consequences.

The first comet, which is the brighter one, is called Comet Lemon. That's WMYC's Rosemary Misdary. It is actually bright green. It has a double tail that is super long. It's about the length of 12 moons. The best way to see it is, you know, you look at the horizon at dusk, just 15 degrees above the horizon in the southwest portion of the sky. You should be able to see comet lemon. Rosemary says the best day to see it will be November 8th, but it should be visible until the end of the month.

Then she says there's comet swan. Which is not as bright, but you can still see it with binoculars, and that's in the southern portion of the sky, also near the horizon and also after sunset. It's important to note that while these comets are streaking across the sky, there are also fireballs from four different meteor showers. Rosemary shares how you can tell the difference between the two. A meteor looks like a fast-moving streak of light across the sky, so if you blink, you'll miss it. But a comet is much slower, and it kind of has a fuzzy glow to it. Now that you know how to tell the difference between a comet and a meteor shower, Rosemary says there are a couple of media showers to watch out for.

Like, the Orionids, they're fading out on November 7th. And then the southern torids, they're peaking on November 4th and 5th. But what you really want to catch is the Leonids. And they peak November 16th and 17th during a waning crescent moon, which means there's almost no moonlight. Now that's going to be pretty cool. Thanks to WNYC's Rosemary Mystery for this month's astronomy report. And thank you for listening to NYC now from WMYC.

I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.