Hour 2 - Face of the Democrats

Summary

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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Hour 2 - Face of the Democrats

Date: November 3, 2025
Podcast Host: iHeartPodcasts
Featured Guest: Mark Simone (WOR New York)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton break down the political landscape ahead of major elections, focusing on the New York City mayoral race, New Jersey's gubernatorial contest, and the implications these races hold for national politics. They invite "Mr. New York" Mark Simone for deeper insight into local dynamics, poll skepticism, and the real-world consequences for Democrats if far-left candidates like Zorhan Mamdani gain power. Interwoven with their signature humor and cultural commentary, they touch on issues of public safety, societal trust, crime, and political polling ahead of Election Day.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Previewing Major Elections & National Implications

• Election Eve Energy: Clay and Buck discuss the atmosphere ahead of Election Day and the high-stakes nature of contests in New York and New Jersey.
• Introducing Mark Simone: Mark is brought in as the local expert to analyze regional nuances (01:04).

2. The Zorhan Mamdani Phenomenon & Democratic Identity Crisis

• Trump on Mamdani: They play clips from Donald Trump’s 60 Minutes interview, focusing on his branding of Mamdani as “communist, not socialist,” and the risk for Democrats embracing far-left figures (03:06).

  “He’s the communist. Not socialist, communist. He’s far, he’s far worse than a socialist.” — Donald Trump, clip played at [03:06]

• National Spotlight: Clay and Buck highlight that if Mamdani wins, he and AOC could become the national face of the Democratic Party, creating strategic challenges for candidates elsewhere (04:17).

  "Democrats are incredibly nervous about the idea of Mamdani being the face of the Democrat Party..." — Buck Sexton [04:17]

• Outstate Dynamics: The hosts break down how regions outside NYC are politically closer to the South than commonly presumed, with unexpected support for Republicans in upstate New York and rural Pennsylvania (05:31).

3. Deep-Dive: New York & New Jersey Races

With Mark Simone ([23:15])

• New Jersey Governor: Mark explains the closeness of the NJ race, skepticism of public polling, and why Cittarelli has a real shot if Republicans turn out. He interprets Obama’s late campaign rally as panic from Democrats (23:48).

  "If Republicans in New Jersey show up big on election day, Cittarelli can win. They are really, really nervous about that." — Buck Sexton [06:16] "It looks like it's deadlocked... they never go three terms with any one party. So they're due for a Republican switch now." — Mark Simone [23:48]

• NYC Mayoral Turnout: Mark notes an unprecedented voter turnout—over 2 million—which muddies polling models and may benefit outsiders or first-time voters energized by Mamdani (25:44).

  "Last time we saw a turnout like this was like 60 years ago. John Lindsay." — Mark Simone [25:44]

4. Is “Fleeing New York” Real If a Far-Left Mayor Wins?

• Potential NYC Exodus: Clay references a New York Post report on nearly a million New Yorkers "ready to flee" if Mamdani wins. Mark tempers this, citing past outflows under Cuomo and suggesting migration may be slower than feared (26:33).

  "If there is, then Mamdani at least will get credit for solving the traffic problem here in New York. Gridlock." — Mark Simone [26:33]

5. Powers of the NYC Mayor & Realistic Concerns

• Checks on Power: Simone explains limits on the mayor’s authority—many major issues (buses, taxes, rent) are out of reach, but warns the mayor could seriously disrupt the NYPD by appointing a far-left commissioner (28:00).

  "The one concern, and it's the only one, the big one, is the police department. He could put in a really bad police commissioner, a real left wing kook..." — Mark Simone [28:00]

• Law Enforcement Risks: Clay, Buck, and Mark detail the dangers posed by progressive changes to police handling emotionally disturbed persons, citing repeated failed attempts to substitute social workers for cops (29:15).

6. Democratic Party Fallout & Midterms

• National Ripple Effects: The group contemplates how a Mamdani victory could aid Republicans in future races by highlighting a Democratic move too far left, possibly flipping governorships or impacting congressional races (33:08).

  “It’s going to help everything... it’s like your whole house burns down, but it’s good for the fire department.” — Mark Simone [33:08]

• Eric Adams’ Legacy: Mark rates Adams’ “last year A+, first three years F," citing recent administrative improvements but an overall poor record (33:50).

7. Culture & Trust: From Trick-or-Treating to Daily Life

• Ring Doorbell "Candy Swindlers": Clay and Buck jump from viral videos of kids (sometimes with their parents) taking more than their share of Halloween candy to broader societal commentary about “low trust” culture in America (13:54, 15:06).

  "It's evidence of a low trust society and a culture that unfortunately is filled with a great deal of rot." — Buck Sexton [14:02]

• High Trust Societies: Buck contrasts American public behavior with his experiences visiting Taiwan, emphasizing that good manners and trust are cultural, not class-based (16:08).

8. Listener Calls — Culture in Action

• Good Samaritans & Red vs. Blue State Values: A caller from Florida shares a story about a wallet returned with $400 in cash untouched, spurring a discussion about cultural contrasts between red/blue states and societal trust ([41:26]).

  "I think in a red state, you have much better chance of having people do the right thing than a blue." — Chip, caller [41:39]

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Notable Quotes & Segments

• On Mamdani’s Risks for Democrats:

  “Democrats are incredibly nervous about the idea of Momdani being the face of the Democrat Party, because he and AOC are going to become the faces... in the midterm for next year.” — Buck Sexton [04:17]

• On Public Safety & Crime Drops:

  “If he’s right and all of a sudden violent crime is plummeting... that’s a real issue for Democrats. What do they do?” — Clay Travis [11:34]

• On Societal Trust:

  “It's just a sign of a low trust cultural society...” — Buck Sexton [14:02]

• On Opportunity for Republicans:

  “If Republicans show up in big numbers tomorrow, [Cittarelli]’s going to win. They have to show up in big numbers.” — Buck Sexton [06:16]

• On Media Transparency:

  “They aired 27 minutes of the Trump interview. The actual full length interview was 73 minutes.” — Buck Sexton [10:42]

• On the Limits of Mayoral Power:

  “He has no control over the buses... rent, anything, taxes, that's the city council. The one concern, and it's the only one... is the police department.” — Mark Simone [28:00]

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Important Timestamps

• [01:04] Introduction to Hour 2, preview of Mark Simone's segment
• [03:06] Trump on Mamdani’s ideology and image
• [04:17] Buck Sexton: “Democrats are incredibly nervous about the idea of Mamdani...”
• [05:31] Rural/urban split in New York and Pennsylvania, political dynamics
• [06:16] Early voter turnout and the stakes for Republicans in New Jersey
• [08:35] Excerpt from the Trump/Norah O’Donnell 60 Minutes interview about safety in DC
• [13:54] Cultural commentary on trust, using Halloween candy as a metaphor
• [15:06] Contrasting American and East Asian public behavior
• [23:48] Mark Simone’s take on New Jersey polling panic and turnout
• [25:44] Early voter turnout in NYC and the challenge for polling
• [26:33] NYC exodus rumors if Mamdani wins
• [28:00] What could a far-left mayor realistically do? Focus on police
• [33:08] Potential benefits to Republicans of Democratic lurch leftward
• [33:50] Mark Simone grades Eric Adams’ tenure as mayor
• [41:26] Listener call: wallet returned with $400, trust in red states

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Tone, Style & Memorable Moments

• Humorous banter: Clay dancing the “Tootsie Roll” and getting teased by Buck ([02:38]), self-effacing exchanges on being “robe guys.”
• Anecdotes: Personal stories about traveling through rural NY and encountering Trump signs, trick-or-treating thefts as a metaphor for cultural decay.
• Candid assessments: Mark Simone delivers frank, occasionally tongue-in-cheek takes on the likelihood of mass migration from NYC and insider takes on campaign panic in NJ.

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a lively, insightful, and sometimes irreverent analysis of the high-stakes local elections in New York and New Jersey, with clear-eyed commentary on political strategy and culture. Clay, Buck, and Mark Simone blend news, opinion, and everyday cultural observations, making the episode compelling for political junkies and culturally attuned listeners alike. Whether discussing the real-world impacts of far-left governance, media manipulation, or the subtleties that divide a high trust from a low trust society, the show maintains its conversational, no-nonsense style throughout.

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Transcript

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Clay Travis]

Second hour of clay and buck kicks off now, everybody, our friend Mark Simone, Mr. New York, will be joining us at the bottom to talk about the New York mayor's race. Also New New Jersey governor's race. So some big stuff to dive into with with Mark. Got great sources, connections and insight into both of those contests. So looking forward to that conversation. In the meantime, we have Donald Trump, the one and only, sat down on 60 Minutes with Norah O'. Donnell. This was all over the place. Doing a long form, it was an hour sit down, but I think they only aired like 20 something minutes of it. We wanted to bring you some of the more interesting moments and dive into some of that. So here we have first stop because tomorrow is in fact election day.

[Mark Simone]

Go vote.

[Clay Travis]

As we always say, just make sure you go and do it. It's a good thing to do. Some places they even give you a little sticker that says I voted. You know, it's like when you go to the pediatrician's office. Did you get fuzzy stickers when you go to the pediatrician's office growing up or something? You know, a little like maybe they gave you a Tootsie Roll, which is a song, by the way.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, I know the song well, but I was not expecting to see as I was sitting at the airport caught in travel hell, as many people are unfortunately right now, you dancing to a song from. Was that the late 90s, early 2000s.

[Clay Travis]

Early 90s, like 93, 94.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, wow.

[Clay Travis]

Yes. But I was in fact doing my version of the Tootsie Roll here in studio.

[Buck Sexton]

I did not expect to see that. It was as I was texting and, and keeping tabs on my flight. I look down and you're dancing.

[Clay Travis]

Clay's telling me that he can't unsee it. I don't even know what that means, you know, but it feels kind of hurtful. Feels kind of hurtful. So, yes, indeed, they, they will give you a, in some place, at least the I voted sticker. Go vote. That's the point. But on Mamdani, Trump had this to say. Play 1 Zorhan Mandami, 34 year old Democratic socialist.

[Caller or Guest]

He's the communist. Not socialist, communist. He's far, he's far worse than a socialist.

[Clay Travis]

Some people have compared him to a left wing version of you, charismatic, breaking the old rules. What do you think about that?

[Caller or Guest]

Well, I think I'm a much better looking person than him. Right.

[Clay Travis]

This is just Trump being Trump. Tell me to have some fun with this. First he slams for being a communist, then he's like a much better, much better looking guy. Trump in his 30s was, I will say, a very, very striking fellow. Flowing hair, jawline, very good, very good. True facts there. But on the Mamdani issue, Clay, this is going to get a lot of national attention if this guy ends up winning, as you have been saying all along. It may pose some problems for Democrats going into the midterms because every indicator is that they should at least pretend they're not going to moderate or to be more moderate, but they should at least pretend to fool voters. That's a little harder to do if you're going to be giving endorsements, for example, to a Mamdani like figure. And without Grandma Pelosi to keep all the members of Congress in line, things could get pretty crazy over there on the Democrat side.

[Buck Sexton]

This is why. And I may have to give my big speech in a positive way tomorrow. And I know that there are a lot of you listening to us in New York City, but I do think that Democrats are incredibly nervous about the idea of Mom Donnie being the face of the Democrat Party because he and AOC are going to become the faces of the Democrat Party in the midterm for next year. Best thing you can say about Mamdani if he wins is that he's going to have no impact and he's not going to be able to put in place the policies that he has campaigned on. And certainly there is an incentive for all of you listening in New York, upstate New York, which is basically everywhere Outside of New York City is actually not that much different than Alabama. And it sounds funny to people who think of New York defined entirely as Manhattan, as the New York City area. But you get outside an hour outside of New York City, Buck, and it might as well be Alabama or Mississippi in, in much. I mean the number of a little.

[Clay Travis]

A little, a little more than an hour. But yeah, yeah, I get what you're saying.

[Buck Sexton]

When we went to Cooperstown, my boys, my kids were blown away by the number of Trump signs that are everywhere all over New York. My point on that is Kathy Hochul has an opportunity next year, I think to make a run as New York City's governor because I think Mamdani is going to get out a lot of voters outside of the Democrats.

[Clay Travis]

New York City, the metro area really goes for like the radius is at least an hour in the car in all directions. But Cooperstown, which is a four hour drive. Yes, that's absolutely true. Which is when you get out into more of the rural parts of the state or you know, closer to rural parts of the state, you get very red very quickly. And you know there's a lot of people that like hunting and they own.

[Buck Sexton]

I think that surprises a lot of people who have spent no time. Because New York City overwhelms the idea of New York State. Same thing by the way, Pennsylvania, Philly and, and Pittsburgh to a certain extent. But you drive around the state of Pennsylvania, I think Pennsylvania is like the fourth most rural state in America and, and it astounds people because they think of Pennsylvania as being basically Philadelphia. But that's my positive. What I would say right now is if you are looking for reasons of optimism, Jack Cittarelli right now, if Republicans show up in big numbers tomorrow, he's going to win. Now they have to show up in big numbers. But you can look at the voting and, and maybe we get Ryan Garduski on tomorrow to talk about this on election day. Cause you can look at the number of early votes. They have party registration into New Jersey. I'm telling you that roughly party line right now Chitterelli is down about 250,000 votes. So if Republicans in New Jersey show up big on election day, Chitterelli can win. They are really, really nervous about that. Virginia, this AG's race is going to be very close. Winsome Earl Sears is behind, but it's down ballot. Lieutenant Governor looks winnable. Certainly AG is winnable. And who knows if all of you out there in deep red parts of Virginia, many of these states buck as you well know, there's a huge difference. I'm not sure any state has more variety in terms of southwestern Virginia, which is as deep red as you can possibly get, and Northern Virginia, which is basically as deep blue as you can get. We need everybody out there in Virginia to show up in big numbers, too. And if you're out there and you're saying, okay, I'm not really fired up about the candidates, maybe I get out and vote, because they will certainly use any indication of their wins to try to demean and tear down Donald Trump one year after his election and say, look, they're in trouble, there's no way that they can win. We're getting out spent in big numbers, but we have a chance to pull a big upset.

[Clay Travis]

You mentioned D.C. i thought this was a, an interesting exchange in the CBS 60 Minute sit down here is now Norah O' Donnell lives in D.C. yep. And she, she had to be a little cagey here because she knows if she does the DCs really safe, everybody else in DC is going to flip out and be like, don't, don't even try that. Ok, so she can't do that. But remember, Trump tried to start with DC to make it safer, and now it hopes to expand that template out to other places. Here's how this exchange went on. Safety, police, security, DC cut 3.

[Caller or Guest]

How big a difference is DC now compared to what it was a year ago?

[Clay Travis]

Right.

[Caller or Guest]

I mean, you have to be honest with me. People walk. People in the White House, they walk up to me, young ladies I've never seen. Sir, thank you very much. I know they don't even have to tell me what they're thanking me for. But when I asked why, he said, one girl said I'd get into Uber and I felt dangerous. Even in Uber, they'd attack the car. Okay. It wasn't even safe then. Sir, I now walk to work every day and I walk. I'm so safe, there's nothing going to happen. 100% safe. You know, and you know that, too, Nora, I want to ask you about, you live here. You know that, too.

[Clay Travis]

I want to ask you about.

[Caller or Guest]

You see a difference, American cities difference.

[Clay Travis]

In Washington, D.C. i think I've been working too hard. I haven't been out and about.

[Caller or Guest]

That's not a fair answer.

[Clay Travis]

You see, I get in my car.

[Buck Sexton]

And go to work and I go home.

[Caller or Guest]

You don't have to use that one. Don't worry. Don't worry. I don't want to embarrass.

[Clay Travis]

I've been Working too hard.

[Caller or Guest]

It's like, you know what the difference is? Like day and night.

[Clay Travis]

It's interesting that she, she clay a few years ago or in an earlier era of 60 Minutes and Trump, it would have been, no, sir. Remember, who was it who did the.

[Buck Sexton]

This is cbs.

[Clay Travis]

And we can't verify things like, I think was Leslie Stahl who did that whole thing to Trump during an interview.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

We can't say things that are not true. That they spied on me was what Trump said. And that absolutely was true. Now she has to sort of laugh it off with like, I work too much. No, Trump's idea is working and she doesn't want to admit it, but she also can't just blatantly lie about it.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes. And I saw they have posted it. This is an example of what we were talking about in that 60 Minutes interview. Buck, they aired 27 minutes of the Trump interview. The actual full length interview was 73 minutes. So the President of the United States talked to you for 73 minutes. Good. For CBS. The change that has occurred since the last CBS interview that I think is going to last long after Trump is we're not going to claim that we have all the control here and just make all the edits that we want. We're going to show you the entirety of this 73 minute interview is all out there. If you want to see Trump talk for 73 minutes, you have that ability. But think about the power that they still have editorially to cut that to 27 minutes. And I thought Trump handled that well. And to be fair to Norah o', Donnell, as soon as she says the truth, which is, yeah, D.C. is way safer, people are going to say, oh, she's in the tank for Trump because then she's endorsing his, his behavior in terms of calling out the National Guard. I read a big article though, in the Wall Street Journal saying, hey, this is, this is absolutely fantastic what's happening in Memphis, my home state. The number of people out there that are really responding in a very positive way is pretty, pretty phenomenal. And I just think, I mean, again, for everybody out there that is living in these cities, Washington, D.C. memphis, very different cities, they're way safer. And the concern for Democrats, Buck, is, well, if he's right. If he's what? If he's right and all of a sudden violent crime is plummeting. Buck, I watched, did you see the video of the dad and the little girl out trick or treating get carjacked in Chicago? I don't know how Many of you saw this video. I think it's an Asian man. The video is like a ring camera outside. He's got his. The reports are, eight year old daughter, they pull up, they're just going in the neighborhood. They park on the corner. Almost as soon as they park, two guys come running up with guns and take the. Take the car. This is a dad in Chicago taking his little girl out trick or treating. Again, the video is out there for all of you to see. You can watch him pull up and park his car. And within a minute of him pulling up and parking the car to, to start trick or treating, these guys come running up with pistols and demand his keys, wallet, everything else. It's all on a ring camera. And this is just what people have grown used to experiencing.

[Clay Travis]

I will say I saw a lot. And this, a friend of mine shared his own version of this because of all these ring cameras where kids with the parents pilfer.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

The steel candy that says take one each. Just, just fill their bags. That is disgusting. That is disgusting.

[Buck Sexton]

I agree.

[Clay Travis]

And, and, and the parents that are there for this stuff should be ashamed.

[Buck Sexton]

I suspect that has been happening for a long time. But now that everybody has doorbell cameras, we can see. We should have some fun talking about that because I do think you might say, well, why does that matter? I do think particularly when the parents are involved in. It's just a sign of a low trust cultural society like you talked about in Taiwan. People leave their phones to save their seats while they go to the bathroom. And every parent I've had to talk to my son about this. Like he went to the bathroom recently. And I was like, no, he left his phone on the table. And I said, you know, you can never do that when you go to the bathroom. He was like, well, I want the waitress to know that I'm still here and that I haven't left so she doesn't take my food. I'm like, that makes total sense. I understand it. You can never leave your cell phone on the table in a restaurant in America because we live in unfortunately a low trust society. I think stealing of all that candy, like somebody just saying, hey, please take one and you take the whole thing. It's evidence of a low trust society and a culture that unfortunately is filled with a great deal of rot.

[Clay Travis]

Unfortunately, bad cultures, one thing they all have in common is they don't think about other people. Is true all over the world, right? A culture that is not something that you want to emulate, does not care. It is inconsiderate. That is one thing that they have in common. And I will tell you, when I was in Taiwan, I thought when I was on the high speed train a few times, one time I was going down to the military base, I thought, Clay, I was in a quiet car, which is a wonderful place of civilization on the Acela train. For those of you who've ever taken that, it's like the only profitable Amtrak corridor is Boston to D.C. and they have this quiet car on that train. I wasn't in a quiet car. I was just in a car full of Taiwanese people who are respectful and calm and don't play speakerphone conversations out loud and don't play music and video games without headphones. Yeah, it's not a quiet car. It's just a car full of Taiwanese people. And it was really nice. And let me tell you, this thing that's going on in this country where people are like, oh, it's classist or whatever, it's. No, no, it's just manners. It's just manners.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, it's an ability to understand that you aren't the only person in the world. And, and I mean, the older I get, the more I look around and culture explains almost everything.

[Clay Travis]

But high. You mentioned high trust societies. Civilization and a high trust society within a civilization is premised upon. It can't just be about your needs. Yes, there have to be other things. There are rules. There are laws. There are social mores. There are other things that factor. Anyway, we'll do a whole show on this. Don't even get me started. The candy. The candy swindlers stealing all the candy at once with their parents. I know doing appalling.

[Buck Sexton]

It would also be interesting. Buck, well, you got to get a break. But if you layered that over future success in life, I bet the kids overwhelmingly underperform because the culture that their parents have created is one that allows that to occur. And it's going to ultimately end up hurting the kids in the years ahead. Look, I want to get you hooked up right now with my friends at Prize Picks. You can download the app. I'll give you a pick on Thursday. Unfortunately, we lost two. I didn't throw a touchdown pass or Dolphins Miami, where Buck is. But you can play along. I'm going to give you a pick, more or less. It's really easy. All you have to do is go to prizepix.com, use my name Clay, and you get $50. And when you play $5 40 plus states, California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, you can play everywhere you can play in New York now. Download the prizepix app today use my name clay $50 instantly when you play $5 that's code clay on prize picks 50 bucks when you play $5 win or lose 50 bucks just for playing. Download the app or go to prizepix today. That's prizepix.com code clay clay stories of Freedom.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton show. Marc Simone of our great affiliate WOR in New York City about to be with us to talk about the race. New York City Mayor, also New Jersey. As this is a huge story voting underway here shortly on officially election day, we will break all that around down for you. In the meantime, I'm in a hotel room right now and this is 100% true. Last night I was trying to sleep and they got that awful sheet that now is completely embedded in the thick comforter. You know what I'm talking about, where like you can't have just a comforter and a sheet. This is the worst design ever. And I mean, I don't understand this at all. You can't get, you're either too hot or too cold because they've completely integrated both. And I was thinking to myself, I need my cozy earth sheets because if I had my Cozy Earth sheets, I would be able to moderate the hot and cold thanks to the incredible offer that they have created. And right now you can get 40% off everything, everything at Cozy Earth. Cozy Earth. Great holiday deals going on. I love these sheets. We are moving into a new house in the Nashville area legitimately right now and we've got brand new sheets on all of the beds. Makes a big difference. They come with a 10 year warranty. I love them. And I barely even notice sheets normally. That's how awesome these are. You can get blankets, clothing, furniture, [e-mail] my name Clay for 40% off everything right now. That's cozyearth.com my name clay for 40% off cozyearth.com welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton show. We are breaking down election day tomorrow and we are joined by our friend Mark Simone. Buck, I'm going to hold up the iPad here so you can wait so you can wave to him in studio right now.

[Mark Simone]

Oh, there he is.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, there there is New York in Miami, but you guys have known each other for a long time. Let's start off here. Mark, I was just talking about off the air with you. You have done a lot of election days in New York City over the years. How would you break down the New Jersey race just across the river here with so many people out and the close race there? And what do you expect to see in New York City? Big picture. Where are we? About what, 12 hours or so until election day?

[Mark Simone]

New Jersey, you cannot predict. It's so close. And don't trust these public polls. These public polls are pretty cheap and flimsy. So we can't tell by that. It looks like it's deadlocked. I would think that the campaign of Mikey Sherrill had some serious internal polling and they panicked because Obama had endorsed her a couple weeks ago with a video. That was the endorsement. Now they called him in panic to come running into New Jersey and go actually campaign and hold rallies for her. So that means Cittarelli was very close, if not slightly ahead. One good thing about New Jersey, they never go three terms with any one party. So they're due for a Republican switch now. They always do that in New Jersey and you got two candidates at. Cittarelli is a good candidate. Mikey Sherrill, very, very weak. Her whole campaign is that she was in the Navy and she flew a helicopter in the Z. They even rented a helicopter to show that she can fly a helicopter. I don't know that this is even in the job description. She should probably go join the state troopers. They have helicopters they use. It doesn't mean anything as governor, but I would think in the end Cittarelli wins. It's dead like. But he always under polls and everybody's got to get out there and vote in New Jersey. Every Republican get out there and vote. And again, they always switch parties every couple terms. So I think he wins that New York mayoral race. Again, you can't tell. It's. We expected 7, 800,000 votes in this election. We're already at almost a million in the early voting. We'll get a million tomorrow. It'll go over 2 million. The model the pollsters used did not count on that at all. Incredible turnout. Last time we saw a turnout like this was like 60 years ago. John Lindsay. So it's hard to say who are these extra people turning out? I mean, anecdotal evidences they're older voters. That tends to go for Cuomo or Curtis.

[Clay Travis]

Again.

[Mark Simone]

Here's the other thing, but the polls can't measure this. A lot of these Mamdani voters are first time voters. They're not even on the radar of pollsters. Pollsters wouldn't even know where to find these people. So they're not counted in the poll. So anything can happen. I hate to be wished.

[Clay Travis]

Mark. Yeah, Mark, I got to ask you about this one. As a South Florida resident, now, this is certainly on my radar. New York Post. Nearly a million New Yorkers claim they are ready to flee New York City if Mom Donnie becomes mayor. 765,000 of the eight and a half million residents of New York City. Do you. Do you. Do you think there'll be. If mom Donnie wins, which, you know, it could happen.

[Buck Sexton]

I know.

[Clay Travis]

You're saying nobody knows it could happen. Do you think there'll be an outflow from New York or is this stuff all overblown?

[Mark Simone]

If there is, then mom Donnie at least will get credit for solving the traffic problem here in New York. Gridlock.

[Clay Travis]

There you go.

[Mark Simone]

But already in the out the suburbs of Connecticut, we've already seen home people out there looking for homes like crazy. Even the private schools in Connecticut have all sorts of New Yorkers trying to register their kids. So people are looking at it. You got to remember under Cuomo, we had the same problem. We lost a few million people under Cuomo, his bad policies. And in fact, under Cuomo, we lost four congressional seats. And there was one year where you couldn't get a moving van. There was a shortage of them. So we've been through it before. You got to wait and see what happens if Mamdani wins. I don't, I don't. There may be people moving out, but I think at a slower pace than you think. And you read about these businesses, people, big Wall street firms, they're opening in Dallas and most of that is back office stuff that they would have been opening there anyway.

[Clay Travis]

Now what is your biggest concern, though, if Mom Donnie wins? One question we've been banding about here is what can he really do that's really bad, right? Some of the stuff that he's saying, it's like listening to the guy who's running for student council president in high school, who's like. And we're going to have like a Jacuzzi in every classroom. And, you know, it's. It's absurd. Not going to happen. But there are things that as mayor, he would be able to do. What are the concerns that you have, Mark, about if this guy does end up as the mayor? He would be able to really make a mess of things. How?

[Mark Simone]

Yeah, he has no control over the buses. That's the state. He has no control over rent, anything, taxes. That's the city council. The one concern, and it's the only one, the big one, is the police department. He could put in a really bad police commissioner, a real left wing kook of a police commissioner who could stop enforcing certain laws, pull back the police and all kinds of things.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm glad you mentioned that, Mark. Cause I was reading over the weekend, Mom, Donnie keeps saying, I'm going to keep Jessica Tish in. But then he got pressed on it. I don't know if you saw this, Buck, because I know you've known Jessica Tisch for a long time. He got pressed on it and he said, well, I haven't actually spoken to her and asked her to stay. Yeah, so he keeps saying to try to make people think, oh, she's done a good job. New York is safer because she's arresting people and she has done a really good job. But, Buck, he hasn't even spoken to her. So, I mean, all the time you spend campaigning and you've never been able or willing to go talk to the head of the NYPD and ask her to stay on. Now, the answer might be that if that were to occur, she would say, well, it's inappropriate for me to talk and accept jobs from people who haven't won offices.

[Mark Simone]

But.

[Buck Sexton]

But at a minimum, shouldn't he have just conveyed that offer? Don't you think that would make sense if he really thought she was doing a great job?

[Mark Simone]

Mark, we've all been at the radio stations where the new owner comes in, we're going to keep everybody. Yeah, and they do for about a month or two. So that could be the case. And there are a lot of people saying if he starts playing around with the police department doing stuff like that, she wouldn't stay. She wants to run for mayor someday. So if she sees anything bad happening at the police department, she will leave immediately. She's not going to get tied to him. You know, we saw that with de Blasio, those kind of, you know, those crazy ideas of domestic violence, which are the most dangerous calls, Having a social worker respond, you know, people don't point out, the NYPD has tested that about 15 times over the last 30 years, and it always ends in dead social workers.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, yeah, that's not a surprise. I mean, the emotionally disturbed person, edp, which is the NYPD shorthand for it, is a call that cops get a lot. And it's not an easy call if people don't even realize, Mark, sometimes a cop will show up and someone is suicidal, whether they're going to jump or they're going to, you know, take their own life with a firearm, sometimes they decide they're going to take somebody with them right before they go. So it's actually a very high stress and difficult situation, very dangerous situation. And to your point, the notion that you would just send a social worker to try to tell somebody, hey, you know, get away from the edge of the bridge, sometimes they grab people and try to pull them off the other edge of the bridge with them. So, you know, this is what the cops have to deal with on, unfortunately, a far too regular basis. So we got the Mamdani situation playing out here. Cuomo and Sliwa. How much of Sliwa's staying in? Mark, I know you know Curtis personally well a long time. We had him on the show last week. He made his case and we heard him out on this. How much of what we're seeing is just these two guys just can't stand each other. You know, Cuomo and Cuomo and Sliwa. There's real personal beef.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah.

[Mark Simone]

Nobody likes Cuomo. They all, even everybody voting for will tell you how much they hate this guy. He did so much damage to New York. They hate this guy. But it's like, what was that? Remember the election in New Orleans where the guy was in prison? He just got out of prison. He was the worst guy in the world, but he was running against David Duke. So you had to vote for this ex con. But Curtis, I talked to Curtis earlier today. You know, this thing about getting out of the race. A week ago, he couldn't get out of the race if he wanted to. He can't take his name off the ballot. And if you look at the ballot, this is another problem. It's Mamdani and Curtis. Those are the two names at the top of the ballot. Cuomo is eight spaces down. You gotta go hunt for him on the ballot. And this whole thing is Cuomo's fault. Had he been any good in the primary, he would have beaten Mamdani Cuomo was a total disaster in the primary. Got wiped out in two debates, never campaigned. So he got us in this position. Curtis has been offered all kinds of bribes to get out. The largest was 10 million.

[Buck Sexton]

He told us that on the air last week. So Buck asked a good, like, let's pretend you've lived here a long time. Let's say you wake up tomorrow morning and mom Donnie goes and wins, and you wake up on Wednesday. Your thought is going to be what?

[Mark Simone]

Well, at least we stop.

[Buck Sexton]

You'll have a show to go talk.

[Mark Simone]

I'll have a. You know, actually, we don't want Mom Donnie to win, but for us, it would probably be the best thing. We'd have plenty to talk about every day. It'd be like the pandemic. You know, I got my highest ratings during the pandemic. Yeah, people were terrified. They listen every day to know what was that. So, yeah, we'd have our greatest ratings.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, insanity was so rare, as Buck knows. Living in the New York City apartments, like everybody was losing their minds. And there were very few people speaking sane. But. So if he wins. Buck asked a version of this question, but I do think, what would be your positive? Do you buy into my argument that it helps in the governor's race, potentially, that Kathy Hochul would have an issue, maybe with Elise Stefanik, it hurts maybe nationally in the House and the Senate. If he wins, if Mom Donnie, we wake up on Wednesday and he is the. Is the elected mayor elect of New York City. How do you then assess things?

[Mark Simone]

Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. It's going to help everything to help the midterms. It's going to help Republicans. It'd be great. We'll get wiped out, but it's like your whole house burns down. But it's good for the fire department. It's helping them. But I would tell people, we got through eight years of de Blasio. It was bad, but we got through it in one piece. And most of the Momdani team, they're ex de Blasio team, so it'd be a lot like de Blasio. What.

[Clay Travis]

What would you say, Mark? Because you were willing. I remember we talked when Eric Adams first came into office. You were willing to give him a chance to do good things for the city. What would be your, you know, A to F, your grade? He dropped out of the race. He knows he can't win, so he's not going to be mayor anymore. Eric Adams, all in.

[Buck Sexton]

Great.

[Clay Travis]

As mayor for the city of New York.

[Mark Simone]

Well, the problem is two Eric Adams, the first three years, total disaster. He brought in the worst people. Most of them got indicted, arrested. It was horrible. He had some more police commissioners in three years than we had in the last 30. But then the final year was great. He brought in Randy Mastro, who was Giuliani's top guy at City Hall. He ran City Hall. So you got best guy running City Hall. He brought in Jessica Tisch, great police commissioner. In their first month, she cleaned out all the corruption, got rid of 20 or 30 major people there. So the last year he gets an A plus, but the first three years he gets a total F. So I don't know how you grade that. If he had done that year two, he would still be mayor today.

[Buck Sexton]

By the way, this is a bit funny, but Greg Abbott just tweeted Buck after the polls close tomorrow night, I will impose a 100% tariff on anyone moving to Texas from New York City. So look, I mean, where Buck is down in Florida, where I am in Tennessee, I gotta be honest with you, I think there's going to be Ed in Texas where Governor Abbott is. I think there's gonna be a lot of New Yorkers saying, heck, I'm going to get screwed here. Why am I paying 14% state income tax when places like Tennessee, Texas and Florida have none? And heck, Buck may not even have property taxes soon. They're talking about doing away with them completely in Florida, which is just another sales point.

[Clay Travis]

We should just make him Emperor Desantis of Florida for forever. You know, it's just a governor.

[Buck Sexton]

It's okay.

[Clay Travis]

We just make him Emperor Desantis of Florida. Would be fabulous. Mark, we'll have to check in with you and see how this all goes tomorrow, but thank you for sharing the expertise. Always appreciate your perspective.

[Mark Simone]

All right, thanks for the great show.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back into Clay and Buck. Let's get to some calls and talk facts. We'll start the noise here with Pam listens on Keni up in Anchorage, Alaska. I love our Alaska contingent. Cc hit it. Hey, Buck, if Clay is going to tease you about your tootsie roll dance and not expecting to see that, you could always counter with. Well, I'm sure the construction workers weren't expecting to see you streak across your room and offer the suggestion. Cozy Earth does sell men's bathrobes. Clay, there are you. Are you a robe guy? Our friend Jesse Kelly has been tweeting about how he's become a robe guy now. And I feel like a robe is more like a lifestyle. Like it's for the spa. If you start walking around your house in a robe, are you ever going to do anything?

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, the hotels always have robes. I know I'm not a robe guy. I don't think I've ever really kind of walked around in a robe. Certainly. Yeah. I guess if you're at a spa or something like that, maybe it makes sense. But not a. Not a big time road guy. By the way, we got a good call. Chip and Brandon, Florida, we were talking about culture and I think we can have some more fun with this when we come back because a lot of these ring doorbell cameras. I get it. It's a relatively new thing that we can always see. But I would tie this in with what do they call them, Porch pirates? People who are constantly stealing the packages that are delivered. Probably a lot of you out there in neighborhoods have seen some of these videos. People say, hey, do you know who this person is? They're waiting. They're following the Amazon truck or the UPS or whatever it is and they're grabbing things. This is a positive story. Chip in Brandon, Florida, tell us your story.

[Mark Simone]

Yes.

[Caller or Guest]

I've accidentally left my wallet in a.

[Clay Travis]

Sam's Club and somebody turned it in.

[Caller or Guest]

It had $400 cash in it. And when they were, when I went.

[Clay Travis]

Down there the next day, all the.

[Caller or Guest]

Cash was in it. I think a red state, you have much better chance of having people do the right thing in a blue.

[Buck Sexton]

So this is great. You were just at a Sam's Club store and you just accidentally forgot your wallet and somebody turned it in and all the money was still in it.

[Caller or Guest]

Correct.

[Buck Sexton]

That's awesome. Thank you. I do think red states tend to have as a general rule, better cultures than, than blue states when it comes to and look, states is tough because I just mentioned there, even whatever state you're in, 40% of people voted Trump. Even if you're in a blue state and even if you're in a red state, 40% of people voted Kamala. So you're still talking about in a group of 10 people, there's a huge substantial percentage that are going to agree with you no matter what. But I do think the, the culture of look, are you more likely, it.

[Clay Travis]

Would be fascinating to see an experiment, they used to do things like this of a wallet with, you know, $100 bill peeking out of it left on a New York City subway and someone operating a lost and found counter, you know, within eyesight. How many people, how many people turn it in? How many people take 100 it would.

[Buck Sexton]

Be and what they vote, it would be an interesting dynamic to then cross a tab. It, you know, how do they vote in elections? Are they or are they not religious? What would the percentages show? Who are the most likely to return? Who are the least likely? But again, to your point, high, high trust societies, low trust societies. Okay. When we come back, we'll talk more about New York City. We'll talk about the governor's races in Virginia, New Jersey, as we are on the eve of the elections and all of those places. And let's get in to this question about. I do think it sounds silly, but I do think it's an interesting cultural example. All of these viral videos of candy being stolen on porches in the wake of Halloween Friday, A lot of you out with kids and grandkids. We'll talk about that and more. Thanks for hanging with us here on Clay and Buck.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

You are listening to me. Which, let's be honest, is kind of flattering.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Who's a good boy?

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You're a good boy.

[Mark Simone]

That's right, dude. You're a good.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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