The NPR Politics Podcast - How An Increase In Violent Crime Is Changing The Political Landscape

Episode Date: July 7, 2021

Though crime rates remain well-below historic highs, assaults and murders have spiked since the pandemic began. Democrats in New York picked ex-cop Eric Adams as their mayoral nominee; he's likely to win. Biden traveled to Chicago to talk gun violence with the city's mayor Lori Lightfoot.This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid, national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson, and WNYC reporter Brigid Bergin.Connect:Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Find and support your local public radio station.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hi, my name is Charlotte. I'm four years old. My parents got their vaccine. I'm just so excited to get it. I thought I could try to trick my doctor by thinking I was 12 so I could get my vaccine, but mom said it couldn't work. This podcast was recorded at 2.07 p.m. on Wednesday, July 7th. Things may have changed by the time you hear it. Okay, here's the show. Oh, that kid is going places, can't you tell? Exactly, trying to dupe the doctor that she's grown, what, eight years? I love that, though. That is probably one of my favorite timestamps we've had in a while. I love that. Four going on 40. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Asma Khalid. I cover the White House.

And I'm Carrie Johnson, National Justice Correspondent. Let's start today's show with New York City mayoral politics. It's been a couple weeks and we now finally have a result in the New York City Democratic primary race, which means Bridget Bergen of WNYC is back with us on the podcast. Welcome, Bridget. Great to be here. So Eric Adams has been declared the winner. If he were to win the general election, he'd become only the second black mayor in New York City's history. Bridget, can you remind us, you know, what has been the focus of his candidacy? Well, Asma, he really has run a campaign about public safety and his ability as someone with a background in law enforcement to be able to provide both a solution to some of the crime that we're seeing across the

city while also improving the police department's operations and increasing police reform. Eric Adams is a former NYPD captain who then went on to become a state senator and now currently a Brooklyn Borough president. You know, while we've heard a lot of talk across the country and here in the city about efforts to defund the police department, he has been really openly opposed to that type of rhetoric and talks about not needing less policing, but needing better policing and wanting to make sure the people who are out policing the city streets are doing it fairly, justly, and at the same time, making sure that this spike in gun violence we're seeing is adequately addressed. Yeah. One of the things I noticed today, Bridget, is that former NYC Police Commissioner Bill Bratton tweeted congratulations to Eric Adams. He said it was good news for New York and that they'd known each other since they were both in the transit police in New York years ago. He said, I wish him every success in dealing with the many crises facing New York City. You know, Bratton has been a kind of a very powerful figure in policing in New York

and around the country, but some of his strategies have been criticized lately by more progressive activists. Yeah, it's interesting kind of the path that Adams is trying to walk. On the one hand, he is someone whose life story was very much a part of his campaign and his legacy. He grew up in New York City, grew up in poverty, then, you know, had his own encounter with the police department where he was beaten at the age of 15, and then based on encouragement from some others in his community, went on to join the force to then become a reformer from within the inside. Started an organization called 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care. I think that his reputation among really the city's uniformed class is very strong and certainly the strongest of the candidates we saw running for mayor right now.

He really positioned himself as the blue collar mayor and wants to have a blue collar mayor in city hall, meaning someone who has, you know, worked in the essential positions. It's not totally surprising to me to hear someone like Bill Bratton would be singing his praises because, you know, Bratton's philosophy on law enforcement is, I don't think, dissimilar from what Adams has talked about, which is a type of policing that is supposed to be rooted in the community and that does see a role for police in addressing crime, as opposed to some of the other more community-based strategies that some of his opponents were talking about. You know, at the national level, we've been hearing more about the uptick in violent crime in the country. I'm curious how much crime and law and order was just a focus of this campaign. It's so interesting because when we started, we were in really the depths of the pandemic and the conversation was so different at that point.

And as with every campaign, timing is everything. And so as we were reaching sort of the critical point when voters were actually going to the ballot boxes, you know, we were starting to see some really high profile incidents of shooting in particular that involves often children, a shooting incident in Times Square that involved a four-year-old, a 10-year-old boy who was in his home in Queens who was killed. These incidents happen in parts of our city and had been happening, but there was a new, a renewed focus and attention on them as people were emerging from their homes after, you know, a year of being inside. Asma, President Biden is in my hometown today, Chicago. Just this morning, two ATF agents and a local police officer in Chicago were victims of a shooting during an undercover operation. You've been closely following the president and his strategy on crime and police.

Where do you see things headed there? You know, Carrie, I have just been struck by how he is trying to tread, I think what I would say is a very thin and tangled line, right? He's trying to pass a police reform bill at the same time that the country has seen an uptick in violent crime. And, you know, there is a sense that it's difficult to tackle both of those things at the same time, that frankly, you need the political space for police reform. And if folks are concerned about violent crime, the question is, is there political space to get a police reform bill across the finish line? Regardless also of what the president personally thinks, you know, negotiations have been going on for a really long time in Congress.

And late last month, we were told by the lawmakers that they've reached an agreement on a framework. Not a lot of details there. And I've been speaking with police groups. You know, there's some hesitation about things within the House version of that police reform bill that was passed. So, you know, I think that this is a really complicated situation for the president. For years, he's thought of himself as a loyal ally to law enforcement. And many folks would say that he was going back to the 1990s. But the dynamic in the country has changed. And I would say issues of policing have become, to some degree, more polarized nationally.

And of course, President Biden has directed his Justice Department to provide help to cities and rural areas that are really experiencing a big spike in gun violence, in particular, Chicago is one of the cities, of course, where there's a pilot program going on now with respect to illegal gun trafficking. All right, then let's take a quick break. And when we get back, we'll talk more about that New York City mayoral race. Three years ago, a man with a grudge murdered five people at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland. And now, finally, his trial has started. What we wanted to know was how did the staff who survived the shooting keep going? Find out in our Capital Gazette series from NPR's Embedded podcast. And we're back. Bridget, so the city used a different voting system this year for the first time called ranked choice voting. Explain that to us. I mean, how did it go? Did it actually end up making a difference in the outcome? I think that's something we're going to be dissecting for a while.

But ultimately, I think the immediate takeaway is, yeah, it did affect the outcome. Ranked choice voting allowed voters to pick up to five candidates in order of preference. And then when they were tallying those results, it was done through elimination rounds. So the lowest performing candidates were eliminated and voters who picked that candidate would have their second through fifth choices tallied. In the mayor's race, it took multiple rounds to get to a final. And what we ended up seeing was the top three finishers included two women, one of whom was a black woman and then a black man. And so what was interesting is that means out of those three, any one of those finishers would be a historic mayor for New York City. If Eric Adams goes on to win the general election, he will only be the city's second black mayor.

One of the promises of ranked choice voting advocates often promote is that it prevents there from being a spoiler effect. And so essentially, you know, you wouldn't have to feel like as the other woman in the race, you needed to drop out because you were the spoiler. And while we didn't see the first woman elected mayor, we did see this very diverse field into the final rounds, which is essentially what, you know, it is more reflective of the city's population itself. And if you are trying to achieve a consensus candidate, theoretically, that is exactly what you'd want to see. So, Bridget, there's still a general election here. And Eric Adams, I think, is going to be squaring off against Curtis Sliwa, a figure who's been on television and a New York personality for many years because he's part of

that group called the Guardian Angels. Is that right? That's right, Carrie. The Guardian Angels, best known for their red berets and red jackets patrolling the subway station, ensuring the safety of strap hangers. Curtis Liewa is a very idiosyncratic character. As you said, he's been on the scene in New York for quite a long time. He is also a radio host himself now. And he is the owner of 15 rescue cats that he and his wife have taken in. in his Republican primary debate, and one of his policy positions is on no-kill shelters. But he is also an ardent supporter of the NYPD and actually believes that the department should be expanded, wants to see 3,000 officers added to the NYPD. There may be some interesting, very colorful moments in this upcoming general election campaign. But it's not likely to be a particularly competitive one because Democrats outnumber Republicans about seven to one in New York City. So on that note, though, Bridget, I will say, you know, New York City politics to somebody who is not from New York City doesn't always make sense to me because I feel like in the last few decades, even as you're describing the makeup of Democrats and Republicans, like the city has elected

characters all the way from Rudy Giuliani to Michael Bloomberg to Bill de Blasio, like there doesn't seem to be a through line there, which leads me to inevitably wonder, you know, all of these themes that we were talking about in the first part of the show around policing and law and order, how much should people really extrapolate on those themes being important to Democrats nationally as they think about the midterms, right? I mean, I'm just curious as to how much you think New York City politics really represents much beyond New York City. I think that New York City politics is its own animal to some degree. You know, obviously, the mayor of New York City, because you are in this media capital, often is someone who is known across the country. But whether that individual is actually, you know, a bellwether, or the views

espoused by that individual are a bellwether for the Democratic Party across the country, I think, is certainly an open question and probably one to be a bit cautious about. voters who allowed someone like a Rudy Giuliani and then a Mike Bloomberg and then eventually a Bill de Blasio to be elected are an evolving set of voters that reflect the population changes here in New York City. Fewer white ethnic outer borough voters within the Democratic Party swaying it. And I think one of the things that we want here in New York City is we want our mayors to be larger than life. Bill de Blasio was physically larger than life. And now a potential Eric Adams mayoralty will certainly be full of he is a character, he is loud, he is, you know, unapologetic, and he will definitely be anything but boring. All right, let us leave it there for now. Bridget Birkin of WNYC, thank you so much. Thank you. I'm Asma Khalid, I cover the White House. And I'm Carrie Johnson,

National Justice Correspondent. And thank you all, as always, for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.