Brian Laird on WNYC, we continue now to interview all the major candidates in the primaries coming this June for mayor of New York and governor of New Jersey.

The mayoral primary is shaping up to be a fierce contest, as you probably know already,

with Mayor Eric Adams seeking a second term and a growing field of challengers, mostly from the

left, making the case for a change.

Our latest guest from that field is Scott Stringer, a veteran of city and state government who has served

as New York City Comptroller, Manhattan Borough President, and a state assembly member. Now he's running

for mayor, as he also did in 2021, arguing that his experience makes him the right person to fix

the city's biggest challenges. Scott Stringer, welcome back to WNYC.

Brian, it's been too long. It's great to be on.

So let me just dive right into asking you what you argue, sets you apart from some of the other candidates in the race, especially because the field of progressives to the left of Mayor Adams,

where I think you would count yourself, is long.

Brad Lander Lander Maird, Zora, Maldani, Jessica Ramos, Michael Blake.

Why are you more than any of them from the progressive camp, if you accept that framing?

Look, I think we're in a very difficult time, very difficult times, I should say, both in terms of the Trump

presidency, the impact that we'll have on New York, and also the very real challenges of affordability,

of education, of trying to make it in a city where inflation is just hurting families in all five

boroughs.

This is not a ideological moment.

This is actually an experience to govern moment.

And in every office that I've had over the last three decades,

I have not just existed as an elected official,

but I have fundamentally made real change in the city. When I was in

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