General U.S. News2h ago
In NY-12, four Democrats, including one Kennedy, are vying to replace Jerry Nadler – and potentially shake things up When news broke that a safely Democratic seat in New York’s wealthiest congressional district was becoming vacant, it was inevitable that there would be a crowded field of candidates. What people might not have expected is that the subsequent Democratic primary, would become one of the country’s most closely watched and action-packed, the race coming to reflect a range of Democrats’ national political priorities: who is the strongest against Trump; who is the most critical of artificial intelligence companies; and who is, basically, the coolest. Withdays left before the primary closes – early voting began on 13 June – the contest has narrowed to four white men, but it remains unclear which of them is ticking the most boxes. Voters in Manhattan’s 12th districthave been inundated with loud promises to imprison Donald Trump and to rein in AI companies, and bombarded by one candidate’s attempt to portray himself as a sort of early 80s-era tough guy, and another’s thirst-trap Instagram presence. Polling in the district, a sprawling area of Manhattan which encompasses the Seinfeld territory of the Upper West Side, the old-money grandeur of the Upper East Side, and the uber-expensive apartments south of Central Park which make up Billionaires’ Row, has been volatile. Micah Lasher, a New York state representative who, correctly, describes himself as a “nerd”, led the race in a mid-May poll; a couple of days earlier Alex Bores – another state representative whose campaign has become a proxy war between rival AI companies – was in the lead. Adding a sense of glamor and national intrigue is Jack Schlossberg, the cute yet callow grandson of John F Kennedy, and George Conway, the Republican turned vocal Trump critic who has been seeking, quixotically, to cultivate a hard-man persona. He worked on his first political campaign aged 16, helping to elect Eric Schneiderman to New York state senate; by 19 he was managing another Democrat’s campaign for New York City council. He has served in a slew of important, if unsexy, behind the scenes roles: chief of staff to the New York attorney general, director of policy to the New York governor, director of state legislative affairs to then New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. The recommendation came after Nadler, 79, announced he was retiring from Congress after 33 years, saying it was the “right time to pass the torch to a new generation” amid a party-wide reckoning over the Democrats’ leadership class that erupted after questions about Biden’s age and acuity derailed his re-election bid. “Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party, and I think I want to respect that,” Nadler told the New York Times .
