NYC NOW - Midday News: Texas Man Charged With Threats Against Zohran Mamdani, Pedicab Crackdown Falls Flat, and Gov. Hochul’s Endorsement Shakes Up Mayoral Race

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

A Texas man has been arrested on charges of harassing and making a terroristic threat against Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani. Prosecutors say Jeremy Fistel was brought to New York and pleaded not guilty this morning. Meanwhile, fewer than 10 percent of tickets from the city’s pedicab crackdown have led to penalties, raising questions about enforcement. Plus, in this week’s politics segment, WNYC’s Brigid Bergin and Jimmy Vielkind discuss Hochul’s endorsement of Mamdani, Cuomo’s struggle to connect with living Democrats, and why Brad Lander may have complicated his relationship with the frontrunner.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Thursday, September 18th. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle. A Texas man has been arrested on charges of harassing and making a terroristic threat against New York City mayoral candidate Zeran Mamdani. The Democratic nominee is considered the frontrunner in the November election. Jeremy Fistel was arrested yesterday in Plano, Texas by the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force. A police official says he's been brought back to the city, where he faces one count of making a terrorist threat and three counts of aggregated harassment. Fistle pleaded not guilty to the charges in a court appearance this morning.

Most tickets from the city's Petty Cab Crackdown aren't sticking. WNIC's Charles Lane reports. The enforcement push targeted unlicensed pedicab drivers who are sometimes accused of tourist scams and loud music in Midtown. But court data shows fewer than 10% of tickets resulted in any penalty. Jacob Uriel is a former Brooklyn prosecutor who now defends people charged with low-level offenses. He says the system isn't working. Where is the incentive to actually get the license? It's more expensive and more cumbersome than a couple of tickets here and there.

The crackdown drew renewed scrutiny after pedicab driver Musa Setton died by suicide in a a police precinct in August following his arrest for failing to appear in court. According to the NYPD, he's one of nine people who've died in police custody so far this year. Right now, it is beautiful outside. 75 and sunny. Today, mostly sunny and it's going to get quite warm, a high near 82 with some late winds. Tonight, temperatures in the mid-60s. And tomorrow, sunny with a high of 83, Saturday and Sunday, low 70s. Close. There's more after the break. NYC. I'm Sean Carlson for WNYC.

It's time for politics brief, our weekly segment where we break down the news out of City Hall and across New York State. And there was quite a lot this week. Zeran Mamdani is getting new endorsements. Andrew Cuomo apparently doesn't know any good living Democrats. We'll get there in a minute. And Brad Lander may have gotten ahead of himself talking about his next job. To explain all of it. We're joined by WNIC's Jimmy Veilkind up in Albany and Bridget Bergen here in downtown.

Manhattan Manhattan. All right, Jimmy, we're going to start with you. Some big state leaders are getting behind Mamdani this week. Tell us who's endorsing him and what do they say about why? Well, the biggest name is Governor Hockel. This helps her, I think, as much as it helps, Mamdani. You know, she's facing our election next year and here she gets an alliance with someone who's energized progressive Democrats in New York City. At the same time, though, you know, there's a possibility of a counterreaction that turns off moderates and independence. But we'll see. She had a kind of a closer than expected race four years ago, and hopefully this will be easier. For Mamdani, this kind of shows that the Democratic establishment is closing the door on Cuomo and Mayor

Eric Adams. It also means that Mamdani's not going to have a foe, but rather someone who could be kind of a partner for him in Albany. You know, of course, we know New York City is a center of the world, but a lot of the things that government wants to do goes through Albany. Today, Mamdani also got the nod from Assembly Speaker Carl Hasty. He's another of the three people in the room that sit there with a meat grinder and a pile of gizzards to make New York signature sausage. Excuse me. Their laws and budgets.

Okay. All right. All right. So graphic, Jimmy. I mean, speaking of being the Senate for the world, I mean, you know, New York City, we think of ourselves that way except for when we want to do things like, I don't know, raise taxes or something. And so many of Mom Donnie's big plans will require a problem.

approval from the state legislature. You know, I think it's clear that these endorsements seem like good politics now, but are you ready to say it's clear sailing for his agenda? Abs so positively not. No guarantees, none at all. Okay. You know, Governor Hockel was asked about this, and she stressed that there's still lots of disagreement between her and Mom Dani earlier this week.

Take a listen to what she said. Yeah, I disagree with many statements, and I've said that. but also I believe that we need someone who's going to be open-minded and optimistic and have an attitude, a can-do attitude that I share about knowing that the city's best days still do lie ahead. You know, Bridget, I think we have to watch pretty closely for the next few months and see how this goes. It's pretty telling to me that when he was asked, Mom, Donnie didn't then turn around and endorse Hockel for election. We talked about how she could benefit here too. So I think that sets up a dynamic where if she wants his endorse,

we're going to have to see what she's able to deliver in terms of legislative action on his agenda. Yeah, I mean, but I also think it's a little premature to read anything into Mom Dani not endorsing Hogle yet because he's the one with an election this fall. And I think she probably wants to see what kind of coattails he actually ends up having next year, if assuming he wins. Yeah. Well, with all due respect to the governors who might be listening to this program right now, is this actually going to have that big of an impact on the race? Like how many people are sitting there saying, boy, I wonder what Kathy Hokel thinks about the New York City mayor's race?

Well, okay. So they may not be waiting for her to make their decisions, but, you know, Eric Adams this week said that Hokel's endorsement was worth just one vote, which I think gave some people a chuckle since she's registered a vote in Buffalo. So ultimately it's not even worth that. Certainly, Mamdani's leading opponent has tried to downplay the significance of these endorsements. Here's a little from Andrew Cuomo at a press event I was at yesterday. I don't believe these political endorsements amount to anything at the end of the day. Look, in the primary, I had all the political endorsements, right? Doesn't make a difference.

And he did have all that support, and it ultimately did not because he did not have the support of all the voters. I do think there was something interesting about her decision to announce her endorsement in a New York Times editorial as opposed to standing with the candidates somewhere side by side the way we saw Assembly Speaker Carl Hasty do today up in the Bronx. You know, that is as much to me about sending a message and a signal to members of her party, a national audience about how they can thread the needle and endorse without saying they agree with all of his positions. Yeah, and Bridget, we immediately saw a response from a lot of the Republicans here, including Hockel's potential rival, Elise Daphonic. You know, she was on a lot of

on social media saying that Hockel was a communist and that she now owns all the positions that Mamdani and the DSA have ever taken. Now, folks, we've talked about how there was a trio of big endorsers who hadn't embraced Mamdani. So what happens to U.S. Senate Minor Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries? You know, we're still waiting to hear from them. Jeffries has said to stay tuned that, you know, he isn't talking to other mayoral candidates. But obviously, he and Schumer pretty busy right now.

If you're listening to NPR, you know that there is this. this federal funding talks going on Washington, a looming potential shutdown. There are some signals that others in New York may be shifting to support Mom Dani. Any Carney of the New York Times tweeted earlier this week that Brooklyn representative, Evac Clark, was poised to endorse Mamdani next week. Now her district is right next door to Jeffries, so something to definitely watch there. But we also have to remember that, you know, Jeffries and Schumer, they're looking way ahead. They're trying to win national elections in 2026.

and there's some concern in suburban areas where majorities are one and lost about Mumdani's brand. Yeah, like I said, Stephanics reaction was really emblematic of how Republicans are just going nuts about this. President Trump himself threatened withhold federal funding from New York. So it's a pretty sharp turn in the relationship with Hokal that had, I would say, been going reasonably well. We don't also know whether any of this is going to bring independence, centrist, and even some Republicans away. away from Democrats. You know, that's something that could have a bigger effect on Hockel than either Jeffries or Schumer. And we'll see whether it's the pain is worth the gain when it comes to the boost from progressives.

Now, Bridget, you have a story about some of the shine coming off the relationship between Mom Dani and Brad Lander. Folks might remember that he was a critical endorser in the last days before the primary. What happened? Well, Liz Kim and I reported that in the period right after the primary, the Momdani campaign was starting to hear about some instances where Landard made some comments that people interpreted to mean that he expected to be part of the Mamdani administration, first deputy mayor, deputy mayor. And sources told us that Mamdani called Lander before his wedding trip to Uganda to tell him, you know, dial it back, that there were no agreements or decisions that had been made yet. But is that actually like a

problem? I mean, I could remember talking to people after the primary just saying speculatively like, man, I bet Brad Lander could be the Dick Cheney of the Mamdani administration or just you know, just have all the power, be the power behind the throat. He could basically name his job. And I assume that he'll still have some prominent home if he wants it, right? I mean, I think one would have to think so. Lander is the city controller, formidable figure in progressive and democratic politics. He's deeply respected for his policy chops.

You know, his campaign gave us a statement dismissing this reporting. He called a gossip and said he's committed to helping Momdani win. Mom Donnie told reporters today that they talk all the time. But I think what made the story so important to us is that people are really interested in what is happening with what may be a new administration, what may be a Momdani administration, certainly given his lack of age, given his age and lack of city government experience. So, you know, my takeaway from our reporting was that Mom Doni wanted to make it clear that no decisions had been made. Yeah. Well, we have to leave it there. We are just about out of time.

That's politics brief from the W&C politics team. WNIC's Bridget Bergen here in the C. City and Jimmy Vilkind in Albany. Keep tuning in folks, my friends. Thanks so much. Thanks, Sean. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a date for the latest news headlines and occasional deep times and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.