{"id":275898,"date":"2026-06-24T00:04:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/275898\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T00:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:04:26","slug":"nyc-democratic-primary-candidates-race-to-fill-nadlers-congress-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/275898\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Democratic primary candidates race to fill Nadler’s Congress seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Voters in the United States’ most Jewish congressional district are heading to the polls on Tuesday to elect the successor to longtime Rep. Jerry Nadler, Congress\u2019s most senior Jewish member.<\/p>\n

The House seat for New York\u2019s 12th district – which covers the Upper West and Upper East sides and midtown Manhattan, and is seen as a crown jewel in New York<\/a> politics – opened up after Nadler announced last fall that he would retire at the end of this term.<\/p>\n

Nadler\u2019s preferred heir is Micah Lasher, a Jewish State Assembly member who has worked for the progressive stalwart and for other prominent politicians, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Lasher has the support of those former bosses, plus much of the West Side political establishment.<\/p>\n

Fellow Assembly member Alex Bores, meanwhile, has built a coalition that includes both pro-Israel moderates and progressive groups critical of the Jewish state by emphasizing that he will be tough on artificial intelligence companies. Former congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who represented much of Manhattan\u2019s East Side from 1993 until 2023, is among Bores\u2019 supporters.<\/p>\n

The winner of Tuesday\u2019s Democratic<\/a> primary is sure to win in November\u2019s general election and succeed Nadler, who has been in Congress since 1992. Four candidates are polling in double digits: Frontrunners Lasher and Bores are neck-and-neck at 22% and 20%, according to the latest polling data, with a 4.8% margin of error. They\u2019re followed by Jack Schlossberg and George Conway, at 11% and 10% apiece. Thirty-two percent of voters said they were undecided.<\/p>\n

\"ONEONE OF the many signs throughout the polling sites informing voters where to go as New Yorkers head to the polls on Primary Day June 23, 2026 in New York City. (credit: Laura Brett\/Getty Images)New York candidates stand out for pro-Israel stances<\/p>\n

On the subject of Israel, the makeup of the NY-12 race has been unlike other contested New York City races: Elsewhere, at least one of the two leading candidates has accused Israel of committing a genocide in Gaza<\/a> and supports placing conditions on US military aid to Israel.<\/p>\n

But Lasher and Bores both describe themselves as pro-Israel and anti-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and neither one supports blocking weapons sales to the Jewish state.<\/p>\n

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is himself a voter in the district as a resident of Gracie Mansion, and he cast his ballot a few days ago, during the early voting period, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has declined to weigh in publicly on the race. The mayor endorsed two democratic socialist candidates and Brad Lander, his Jewish ally who accuses Israel of genocide, and has positioned himself against both offensive and defensive military aid to Israel, in other races.<\/p>\n

Lasher and Bores have both consistently advocated for universally applying the existing Leahy Law, which bars the US from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.<\/p>\n

Schlossberg, John F. Kennedy\u2019s grandson, has criticized Lasher and Bores for their stance, calling it an \u201cinsufficient answer,\u201d and advocates for blocking offensive weapons sales to Israel while still funding the Iron Dome defensive missile system. He is the only one of the top-four candidates to call for conditions on aid to Israel and halting any weapons sales. After initially leading in early polls, Schlossberg\u2019s support appears to have fallen amid questions over his lack of experience.<\/p>\n

Conway, an anti-Trumper and longtime attorney who was married to former Donald Trump staffer Kellyanne Conway, rounds out the top four in the polling.<\/p>\n

Nina Schwalbe, a Jewish public health expert who polled at 3%, is the only candidate to accuse Israel of committing a genocide and oppose funding for Iron Dome.<\/p>\n

Throughout the election, candidates convened for forums at numerous synagogues in the heavily Jewish district – 23.3% of constituents are Jewish, according to a 2024 study – and answered questions related to antisemitism, Israel, and other Jewish-related issues.<\/p>\n

Anti-Zionism is not same as antisemitism, Lasher says<\/p>\n

Lasher has said at multiple forums that he doesn\u2019t see anti-Zionism<\/a> as being precisely the same thing as antisemitism, but that \u201coften when you see one, you see the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

He and Bores have both touted their support for a statewide \u201cbuffer zone\u201d bill – which Lasher introduced in response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations outside synagogues – that would curb protests outside houses of worship. Meanwhile, Schlossberg has pointed out at Jewish forums that the first policy his campaign released was \u201cJack\u2019s Fast-Track Plan,\u201d which would fast-track a doubling of funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which funds security at houses of worship and community centers.<\/p>\n

During a June forum at Upper West Side synagogue B\u2019nai Jeshurun, Lasher said he felt \u201cexhausted\u201d by how much the political dialogue – both in the NY-12 race and more broadly – is \u201cobsessed\u201d with Israel.<\/p>\n

At another synagogue forum, Bores was asked about his endorsement from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019 group Our Revolution. Bores said the group endorsed him despite not being aligned on Israel, and said that \u201cwe need to make it acceptable for there to be people in progressive spaces that still believe in the right of Israel to exist and to defend itself.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Voters in the United States’ most Jewish congressional district are heading to the polls on Tuesday to elect…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[858,60,4097,9,24,55,54,56,901,82],"class_list":["post-275898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-congress","tag-israel","tag-jerry-nadler","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-united-states","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}