![\"Erik](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/52989313357_aa55027ede_k.jpg\" "\\"Manhattan")
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City Council Member Erik Bottcher<\/p>\n
Photo courtesy NYC Council \/ Flickr. <\/p>\n
City Council Member Erik Bottcher threw his hat in the ring on Thursday for next year\u2019s increasingly crowded Democratic primary to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler<\/a>, whose 12th Congressional District covers much of central Manhattan from west to east.<\/p>\n Bottcher, 46, who has represented west Manhattan neighborhoods including Chelsea and Hell\u2019s Kitchen since 2022, is pitching himself as the \u201cstrongest candidate\u201d in the race for taking on what he described as Republican President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201ccorruption, chaos, cruelty and incompetence.\u201d<\/p>\n He enters a packed field that already includes Jack Schlossberg<\/a>, the grandson of President John F. Kennedy; Assembly Members Micah Lasher and Alex Bores (D-Manhattan); and nonprofit founder Liam Elkind. Among those candidates, Lasher is Nadler\u2019s chosen successor.<\/p>\n \u201cI love my country and I love my city, and I\u2019m terrified and angry about what\u2019s happening in our country \u2014 and things need to change quickly,\u201d Bottcher told amNewYork in an interview. \u201cI\u2019m not going to stand by while [the city is] torn apart by an autocrat in the White House, who has openly suggested throwing out the United States Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n The 12th Congressional District was redrawn in the 2022 redistricting to cover much of Manhattan from above 14th Street to below Harlem. That includes voter-rich neighborhoods like the Upper West and Upper East Sides as well as Midtown.<\/p>\n Bottcher made his candidacy official after launching an exploratory committee to begin fundraising early last month, Gay City News reported<\/a>. His campaign reported raising nearly $700,000 in the first 24 hours after opening the committee.<\/p>\n In his campaign launch video<\/a>, Bottcher is highlighting his struggles with growing up LGBTQ+ in an Adirondack Mountains town, where he says he faced bullying and attempted to take his own life five times as a teenager. He said moving to the Big Apple \u201csaved\u201d his life because he was able to find acceptance and get involved politically here.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was in New York City where I found a community, I found a place that accepted me,\u201d Bottcher said. \u201cJust like people have for 400 years. And I\u2019ve dedicated my life to giving back to the city that saved mine.\u201d<\/p>\n