The NYC Democratic Party Is No Monolith

Two contests, two political styles

The New York Democratic congressional primary contests in Manhattan on Tuesday certainly affirmed the city is every bit as left-leaning and anti-establishment as it was when it elevated Zohran Mamdani to mayor, giving him a national platform to battle billionaires, tackle affordability, score points at FIFA’s expense, keep ICE at bay, and consistently outfox the orange ogre of American politics. Mamdani, of course, had a huge night; prevailing with three endorsements in contests against the party establishment.

But the New York City elections carried multiple messages. Two of the most hotly contested races were as much about what sort of Democrat is needed to safeguard democracy and secure MAGA’s defeat as they were about left vs. center-left politics — and the toxic image AIPAC has acquired.

Brad Lander and Micah Lasher

NY-10

Former city controller Brad Lander cruised to a 30+ point victory in the 10th New York congressional district over Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY). Though he is regarded as a progressive Democrat who is frequently critical of Israel’s policies and Trump, Goldman nevertheless found himself on the wrong side of a sea change in attitudes in progressive circles toward AIPAC and U.S-Israel relations.

Lander is not a one-note anti-Israel antagonist (and at times voiced distress over the turn in vicious intra-party rhetoric, even from a Poetica coffee shop). Quite frankly, Lander’s political instincts, as much as his ideology, were responsible for his victory.

He earned Mamdani’s loyalty when he took the bold move last year of cross- endorsing the future mayor. Goldman, who never endorsed Mamdani or accepted the mayor’s efforts to mend fences with the New York Jewish establishment community, paid the price for keeping him at arm’s length.

Lander has cultivated a reputation as a pugilist, albeit one with a winning smile and a penchant for quoting Mr. Rogers. He made headlines last year for being arrested by ICE agents at a federal courthouse on charges he was “obstructing” their operations. He was recently tried and acquitted, delivering a fortuitous bump in pre-election publicity.

Though he knows his way around government, Lander pitched himself to voters not as a quiet behind-the-scenes operator or skilled committee inquisitor (as Goldman plainly is), but as an aggressive and progressive voice willing to change the tone and tactics of politics. “It is time for the Democratic Party to walk away from dark money — from PACs funded by crypto, Wall Street, A.I. and AIPAC,” he said on election night. “People can see through this. They have seen through it for a long time.”

And despite his sometimes vicious tone about Israel in the race, Lander clearly sees an opportunity to mend fences and move to higher ground. “I will be one of the Jewish members of Congress most willing to stand up for Palestinian human rights. And I will stand firmly against bigotry aimed at Jews. Those are not two different jobs. They are the same job,” Lander said. “There is so much trauma here. So much grief, so much fear. We hold onto all of it so tightly, and fear so rarely brings out our best selves.”

The bottom line: The race in the 10^th confirmed what we already knew about progressive New York politics (e.g., Mamdani is a political powerhouse, incumbency gets you nothing, AIPAC has made its support of Israel toxic in a large segment of the Democratic Party). But it also reminded us that political foresight and loyalty matter, and that Democratic voters are eager for champions who have proven they are fearless about confronting MAGA goons.

NY-12

Meanwhile, more media attention was showered on two high-profile candidates seeking to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler in the N.Y. 12th: JFK, Jr. grandson Jack Kennedy Schlossberg; and Donald Trump nemesis, pundit, lawyer, and ex-Republican George Conway, who collectively wound up with less than 17 percent of the vote than the winner or runner-up. No one should be surprised that media fame in Manhattan does not get you that far.

Upper West Siders tend not to be overly impressed with celebrities who are a dime a dozen in their swanky neighborhoods. In this election, they never warmed to Kennedy, a thirty-three-year old political dilettante/social media influencer battered by unfavorable news coverage. The Kennedy name has perhaps outlasted its usefulness in electoral politics. When most voters hear “Kennedy” these days, they no doubt think of the crackpot, anti-science HHS secretary.

By contrast, the ever-amusing TV talking head Conway might be so engaging in that role that voters found little reason to see him relocate from TV cable panel shows to the C-SPAN-televised hearings. Voters did not have to send him to Congress to keep up with brilliant analysis and vicious skewering of Donald Trump.

Put differently, voters did not seem to find a reason why either of these two figures had to occupy a coveted House seat. Instead, the upscale 12^th district electorate chose a nominee much the way they would, say, a doctor, college prep coach, or money manager. Who does he know? What circles has he traveled in? Is he a professional who enjoys his peers’ respect and exudes quiet competence?

By those standards, Nadler protégé Micah Lasher, an Upper West Side assemblyman and decades-long political associate of elite New York politics (e.g., Gov. Kathy Hochul and former mayor Michael Bloomberg) was the unsurprising pick in a district where Democratic movers and shakers are ready to invest big dollars to elect an impactful committee chairman and likely member of party leadership.

Despite a vigorous and extremely expensive AI-centered challenge from Alex Bores, Lasher gambled and won “by running a staid, old-fashioned campaign based on his résumé and government expertise at a moment when Democrats across the country are furious at the party establishment and hungry for pugnacious new stars,” the New York Times reported.

From a distance, the Upper West Side and the Lower East Side are both progressive, wealthy enclaves, but Tuesday’s contests also reaffirmed that neighborhood identity and personality matter — and that a candidate’s particular skillset is often the difference between winning and losing.