Special Election Coverage: The New York Primary

Catch up with these interviews from NPR's New York primary night special coverage, hosted by Scott Detrow.

Xochitl Hinojosa, director of coalitions press for Hillary Clinton

On whether Sanders' momentum is really a factor
I think that when you're talking about the wins over the last few weeks, what you see is he's winning states with not as much of a diverse electorate. Where you see Hillary Clinton racking up delegates [is] in Arizona, Texas, Florida, and places that reflect the rest of America. She's definitely winning the more diverse states but what you're also seeing is negative campaigning from Bernie Sanders. And we think that these false attacks are not only destructive to Hillary but are destructive to the Democratic Party as a whole.

On Sanders' negative campaigning
As Democrats, we should not be fighting amongst each other and having a negative campaign tone. We need to come together and have a positive campaign. It's one thing to talk about — to do the negative campaigning. It's another to talk about the issues. Voters don't want to hear the back and forth on the negative campaigning. They want to hear about how you're going to fight for them and how your policies are different from the other candidate.

Carl Paladino, co-chair of Donald Trump's New York campaign

On winning in November
I think we're going to win New York in November. You have to remember — no one has been talking about all of Hillary's gaffes and faults and problems. Donald Trump's going to be talking about it. When he points it out to the people of the state of New York, we're going to see a lot of people abandoning the Democratic Party, especially the working class. The middle class doesn't have any business being in the Democratic Party today.

Mike Rendino, Bronx Republican vice chair

On Trump's appeal
He's a hometown guy. At the end of the day, he's from the outer boroughs. I know he's this rich, elite guy that we see but he's not a Manhattan guy. He came from Queens — from the outer boroughs — that means something to us. And he's the outsider. He's the political outsider. We've seen that for the last twelve years with Michael Bloomberg having a businessman run this city and then we've seen two years [with] what the New York City mayor has done as a politician only ... We want to see the country change. We want to bring some of the things that Michael Bloomberg and that business mentality brought to the nation.

On choosing a nominee at the convention other than Trump
If they just blatantly stole it from him I would have some big issues with going to vote for whoever the Republican nominee would be. But Donald's the dealmaker and we need to see him make this deal to make it happen. If he's going to do it in politics, just like he's kind of gotten beat with delegates in a couple states where he wasn't paying attention...he needs to come to the table. He's got to make the deal happen if he wants the presidency and the nomination.

Ron Nehring, national spokesman for Cruz campaign

On a path for Cruz
We'll pick up delegates along the way. We've taken a look at each state and our opportunities there. We've already launched a campaign in Maryland. We were in Pennsylvania tonight. And we'll continue to campaign throughout those states that participate in the Northeast primary, as it's called. Then we move out west again where we're looking strong in Nebraska, Indiana, and the like.

On Trump's claims that the system is "rigged"
Donald Trump has to blame somebody when he's losing. He lost five states in a row. He can't take responsibility for that so he has to blame somebody. He blames us, or he blames the rules, or he blames the Republican Party, or the weather or astronomical phenomenons. He always has to have somebody else to blame. If the system is rigged, it's rigged in his favor because he's only won about 37 percent of the vote but he has about 45 percent of the delegates — so maybe he wants to give up those delegates that he 'unfairly' has at this point. The reality is that the rules are what they are. Everybody knew what the rules are.

Tad Devine, senior advisor to Bernie Sanders

On Sanders' N.Y. loss

I think that when all the votes are in, we'll have had a pretty good day in New York today. This is Hillary Clinton's home state. It's a state that is very strict in terms of participation. Independents cannot vote there. They make it very difficult for people to switch their parties by putting the deadlines months before. We always knew that beating her in her home state, where she's well known and very popular, would be difficult. We wanted to get a lot of delegates out of today and I think by the time all of the votes are counted we will.

On converting Sanders supporters' enthusiasm into primary wins

We did convert it into a win in Wisconsin by 14 points. We did convert it to a win in Michigan, which is a pretty big populous state. Bernie Sanders is new to this process. He's never run for national office before. He hasn't been in the national limelight for decades as Hillary Clinton has been. And I think the support for him is growing. It's true — there is incredible enthusiasm. Frankly that lack of enthusiasm, the fact that Hillary Clinton not only cannot draw those crowds but the depth of her support doesn't seem to be anywhere near what it is for Bernie, is a troubling sign for the Democrats.

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