Brad Lander, New York Metropolis’s outgoing comptroller, is difficult Congressman Dan Goldman on this summer season’s Democratic major election, portraying himself as a progressive stalwart who can do a greater job at combating President Trump’s agenda on Capitol Hill.
Lander’s bid for Goldman’s tenth Congressional District, which spans Decrease Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods like Park Slope, tees off a heated contest that stands to check the power of a few of the most outstanding names in left-wing politics. The race may be seen as a litmus take a look at for a way Democrats view Israel’s conflict in Gaza, with Lander and Goldman staking out distinctly totally different views on the battle.
Along with launching his marketing campaign, Lander introduced Wednesday he has already locked within the endorsement of incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who pulled off a historic Nov. 4 election victory.
Lander, whose final day as comptroller is Dec. 31, additionally revealed he has the backing of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, two former presidential candidates fashionable with left-leaning voters.
Barry Williams/ New York Day by day Information
Zohran Mamdani, left, with metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander. (Barry Williams/ New York Day by day Information)
In a marketing campaign video shot within the Park Slope neighborhood he calls dwelling, Lander took intention at Goldman over what he sees as his ineffectiveness in combating Trump. He additionally blasted the incumbent for his stance on Israel’s conflict in Gaza, which has killed tens of hundreds of Palestinians and was launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror assault.
“I’m running for Congress because the challenges we face can’t be solved with strongly worded letters or high dollar fundraisers, and not by doing AIPAC’s bidding,” Lander stated, a reference to the pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee that has supported Goldman.
Lander then supplied a callout to Mamdani: “Our mayor can have an ally in Washington instead of an adversary in his own backyard.”
Lander, who’s Jewish, has strongly criticized Israel’s Gaza marketing campaign, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing conflict crimes, although he has stopped in need of calling the conflict “a genocide” of Palestinians, a label utilized by Mamdani. Goldman, who can be Jewish, has largely supported Israel’s Gaza conflict.
Mamdani ran in opposition to Lander on this previous June’s Democratic major. However as polls indicated his possibilities at victory had been slim, Lander cross-endorsed Mamdani underneath the first’s ranked-choice voting system, a transfer that’s seen as having given the mayor-elect a serious increase propelling him to defeat his principal opponent, ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“He has been a trusted ally and partner of mine, and I’m proud to support him as I know he’ll continue delivering for those who need government to show up for them the most,” Mamdani, who was at one level seen as possible appointing Lander to a high publish in his administration, stated in a press release on the comptroller’s congressional marketing campaign kickoff.
A spokeswoman for Goldman, a former federal prosecutor and an inheritor to the Levi & Strauss fortune who didn’t assist Mamdani for mayor, stated Wednesday that the congressman stays “focused on stopping the Trump administration from what they’re doing to immigrant families in his district right now.”
“He’s proud of his progressive record in Congress and will deal with Brad and other challengers in the new year,” stated spokeswoman Maddy Rosen.
Ukrainian Flag Raised In Manhattan
Theodore Parisienne for New York Day by day Information
Congressman Dan Goldman (Theodore Parisienne for New York Day by day Information)
Earlier than being elected to Congress by a slim margin in 2022, Goldman was the Home Democrats’ lead counsel throughout Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 and has on Capitol Hill taken a agency stance in opposition to the president, together with on immigration.
However Lander sought to painting Goldman as somebody who, after spending $4 million of his personal cash on his 2022 marketing campaign, hasn’t performed sufficient within the halls of Congress.
“While the oligarchy drives an affordability crisis, they shouldn’t be able to buy a seat in Congress,” stated Lander, who was lately arrested by ICE brokers whereas observing immigration court docket proceedings at 26 Federal Plaza. “While our neighbors are being demonized and attacked, we can put our bodies on the line to protect them. New York is for everyone.”
Not like Mamdani, Lander shouldn’t be a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. In lining up behind Lander, Mamdani could alienate a few of his DSA allies, particularly because the left-wing group’s members lately voted to endorse one in all their very own, Brooklyn Councilwoman Alexa Aviles, for the first within the tenth Congressional District.
Aviles hasn’t formally launched a run however has been actively weighing one for weeks, prompting the DSA endorsement. She didn’t instantly return a request for remark Wednesday on Lander’s announcement.
