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Thanks for being with us on this edition of Power and Politics on News 12. I'm Amanda Bossard. The twists and turns in the mayor's race continue, and this week one candidate dropped out while reports swirled that others were being offered jobs in the Trump administration and a backdoor deal to further clear the field. So joining us now to discuss his decision to end his own campaign is former independent candidate Jim Walden, thanks so much for the time here on Power and Politics, Jim. We appreciate it. Amanda, I'm so happy to be on your show, so thank you very much. So I'll start with that decision that came this week to end your run for mayor. What motivated you to make this move at this point? So I, I've really studied the math and it's very clear to me that if there are multiple candidates against Zorhan Mamdani, regardless of who those candidates are, uh Mamdani's going to win by default. I've said very clearly that I view him as an existential threat to the city. And that he has no place in City Hall, so it's easy to talk the talk. I decided that some leadership was needed, and so I decided to walk the walk. It was not an easy decision. I still had more than a million dollars in my campaign account that I could have used to try to surge during the course of the next two months, so that I could have been the person called to battle, but I realized that that was very unlikely. Not futile and that it was better for me to do a principled thing and hopefully lead other people to the same conclusion. If there's a one on one race, the free market candidate, the centrist candidate will win and Zoran Mamdani will lose, and that is much more important than my political ambitions. Much to what you're referencing right there, you were one of the first voices in this race to float the idea of other candidates bowing out to unite behind one. At this point in the game, any chance you think the remaining candidates will consider doing that? I don't know, Amanda. I mean, I've been beating this drum to my own detriment, frankly, since July. I realized, having really studied the numbers very, very carefully, that this was going to be a problem. And so all I can say is, you know, I've made personal calls. I've called the candidates themselves. I've called the staff members when the candidates wouldn't get on the phone, and I've said to everyone, please, you've got to search your. Your conscience. What is more important, a communist free New York, a New York where the police are not vilified and disparaged, a New York that is a free market New York, a free market where Jews can feel safe and protected, or your own personal ambitions. And so I am very hopeful that the other candidates, once more polling comes out that are trailing will realize that it's time to coalesce and unite. And stand up together for all New Yorkers so that Zorhan Magdani is not the mayor. I do want to get your take on some of the other big New York City political news to drop this week, and that's the report saying the Trump administration is offering jobs to Eric Adams, Curtis Sliwa to get them to step aside and give Andrew Cuomo a better shot against Soran Mamdani. What was your reaction to hearing that news? What's your thoughts that Trump perhaps is getting involved in this New York City mayoral race? So if it is in fact accurate that the White House is trying to give inducements to Adams or Slewood to get out, I don't favor that. I think at the end of the day the candidates need to show up and put on their big boy pants and come up with a fair process for consolidating. If the White House gets involved or if they are involved, it is only going to make matters worse for the rest of the candidates. It is only going to help Mamdani, and I'm confident that Donald Trump does not want Mamdani to be the mayor of New York. And so I would beseech the White House to stand down on. Any of those attempts at the same time, I implore the candidates to get together to figure out a way to consolidate. They can do a straw poll for all I care. At this point, whichever of the four candidates that remain are the person that is the one on one against Mamdani. I have seen the numbers. The non-Mamdani candidate is going to win that race. And again that is the most important thing. So I asked the candidates get together, figure out a way to unify, offer each other positions in your administration, do whatever you need to do within the limits of the law, but consolidate around one person. Earlier on you referenced a centrist candidate. Have you given any thought on endorsing one of the remaining candidates in the race for mayor? So I have thought a lot about that, but I'm going to do what I said I was going to do in July, which is I I wanted to have all the candidates collaborate on a poll, so that's not going to happen. But there will be independent polling that comes out at the end of the month, and I'm going to look at that independent polling and whoever is the front runner in that polling. That's the person I'm going to endorse. And from now until then, I'm going to be saying the same thing to the candidates. Run the most spirited race you can, get your message out. Most importantly, deploy field teams to knock on more doors than Zorhan Madani, because in my view, that is the game changer for him. That's where we all fell down. We Don't have enough people in the streets knocking on doors and going to businesses and going to community centers all the time. That's what a leading candidate needs to do. And once you've run your race when we're at the beginning of October, if you are trailing in the polls behind the front of the front runner, whoever that front runner is, get behind that person, and that's what I'm going to do. Yeah, that call you've remained consistent in calling for. So what is next for you right now? Any future political ambitions down the line? That is so nice of you to ask Amanda, but no, I'm going to go back to the law firm that I founded 10 years ago. I'm very proud of the legal work that I've done, but I will tell you that I am still going to do as much pro bono work as I can do to hold city government to account to New Yorkers regardless of who's in City Hall. So especially if it's Johan Madani, frankly, but if it's any of the other candidates, I am going to continue. to represent communities, people, other elected officials when City Hall breaks the law, victimizes communities, or engages in corruption or illegality. That's something that I'm super proud of that I've worked on for 23 years after being a federal prosecutor for 9 years, and I'm not going to skip a beat when it comes to holding city government accountable to New Yorkers.

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Back to power and politics as we get back to our conversation with former mayoral candidate Jim Walden, who just announced his decision to drop out of the race. Let's get back to our chat with his words of advice to voters. Any final thoughts that you have for voters about perhaps what this experience running for mayor taught you about city government or something that you want them to keep in mind as we approach November? Well, what I would say is I, I, you know, I don't know what percentage of your viewers are Mamdani supporters, but what I would ask these people is to please don't do with Magdani what we saw people do on the right, where they, you know, create these demagogues and stand behind. And then no matter what, look at Zorhan Mamdani's words, and if you believe in a strong police force, if you believe in uh in uh protection for Jews, if you believe in the free market, question your loyalty to him. And choose someone else who can lead the city through 8 difficult years because according to the Comptroller, we have 8 years of deficits coming up so we need someone who is fiscally responsible, who is creative on solutions and can help us get beyond these problems to fully prosper. So my The message would be to the Mamdani voters, Please second guess yourself, interrogate why you really believe in him, look at his prior words and make a different decision. Yeah, a lot of key issues that are really on the ballot come November. Jim Walden, thanks so much for the time for reflecting on your mayoral race with us here on Power and Politics. We appreciate it. Thank you, Amanda. Thanks for having me.

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