{"id":786056,"date":"2026-05-10T07:28:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T07:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/786056\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T07:28:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T07:28:31","slug":"with-a-kennedy-in-the-race-the-battle-to-replace-nadler-in-ny-12-is-surprisingly-unpredictable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/786056\/","title":{"rendered":"With a Kennedy in the race, the battle to replace Nadler in NY-12 is surprisingly unpredictable"},"content":{"rendered":"

A surprisingly unpredictable race<\/a> is unfolding in the crowded Democratic primary fight to replace longtime Rep. Jerry Nadler<\/a> in Manhattan\u2019s affluent and influential NY-12 district.<\/p>\n

Assemblyman Micah Lasher, a hand-picked Nadler protege<\/a> from the Upper West Side, is facing off against fellow Assemblyman Alex Bores, who represents the Upper East Side, and political neophyte Jack Schlossberg, a youthful social media titan and grandson of John F. Kennedy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also George Conway, a strident cable TV critic of President Trump<\/a>, as well as a raft of lesser-known candidates in the June 23 dog fight for one of the most prominent perches in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

\"MicahMicah Lasher. (Hans Pennink\/AP)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not too much in terms of policy differences separating the three most prominent candidates in the race for the district, which covers the Upper West Side and Upper East Side and includes the largest Jewish population<\/a> of any congressional district in the nation.<\/p>\n

Unlike other contested primaries, Mayor Mamdani has not yet endorsed any candidate, perhaps because he narrowly lost the district<\/a> in his winning 2025 campaign for Gracie Mansion against ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.<\/p>\n

\"DemocraticDemocratic Congressional Candidate Jack Schlossberg. (Roy Rochlin\/Getty Images for Fortune Media)<\/p>\n

The winner is all but certain to replace the retiring Nadler<\/a> in Washington, D.C. because the district is strongly Democratic, and only nominal Republican opposition is expected in the November general election.<\/p>\n

Most political analysts considered Lasher to be the presumptive frontrunner, mostly because he has spent years working his way up through the labyrinthine world<\/a> of liberal Upper West Side politics.<\/p>\n

\"AlexAlex Bores. (Manoli Figetakis\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Lasher, 44, was by Nadler\u2019s side as an aide<\/a> and also worked for\u00a0 Gov. Hochul and former Mayor Bloomberg, who has poured millions into his campaign. He cruised to victory in a vacant assembly seat in 2024.<\/p>\n

But early polls have showed Schlossberg parlaying his Kennedy aura, name recognition and attention-grabbing social media chops into a shocking lead<\/a>, with Bores also in the mix.<\/p>\n

The district is highly educated and is considered to favor thoughtful candidates with extensive resumes and detailed policy platforms. At least that\u2019s how things have played out in past local races.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis district really values experience and policy chops,\u201d said Adam Carlson, a Democratic pollster who has done surveys of the district for outside groups. \u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to see Schlossberg as Nadler\u2019s successor.\u201d<\/p>\n

That makes the rise of Schlossberg, 33, all the more surprising, given his lack of experience in elected office and a social media track record including edgy posts<\/a> about subjects such as having a child with Second Lady Usha Vance.<\/p>\n

But others say Schlossberg may be tapping into potent Democratic anger at President Trump<\/a> as well as establishment figures in their own party.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guy has that Kennedy mystique. He\u2019s handsome, he\u2019s articulate and maybe that\u2019s good enough,\u201d said John Mollenkopf, a City University of New York professor.<\/p>\n

Bores, 37, a former computer software engineer, won a crowded primary for his Upper East Side district in 2022, making him a relative newcomer to voters.<\/p>\n

He has made major waves with his advocacy for regulation of artificial intelligence<\/a>, sparking a torrent of spending by Silicon Valley titans both for and against him. Will running as the #AIGuy help or hurt Bores<\/a>? Ask ChatGPT or Claude!<\/p>\n

Conway, 62, is leading the pack in direct fundraising,<\/a> leveraging his wide national exposure on TV as a strident Trump critic.<\/p>\n

He raked in more than $3 million in the first quarter of 2026, compared to about $2 million each for the other three main candidates. But Lasher and Bores are both benefiting from millions in spending<\/a> from outside groups and big donors that weren\u2019t included in the most recent federal disclosure reports.<\/p>\n

After all is said and done, some politicos predict the race could come down to a more traditional Upper West Side vs. Upper East Side battle<\/a> between Lasher and Bores (call it the M79 crosstown bus primary).<\/p>\n

That would be advantage Lasher, because the West Side has more voters who tend to turn out<\/a> very reliably.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe West Side almost always beats the East Side,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cThey outvote \u2019em.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A surprisingly unpredictable race is unfolding in the crowded Democratic primary fight to replace longtime Rep. Jerry Nadler…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":786057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[215980,5229,327,10889,69,59162,21813,31034,6752,15783,5249,197261,107935,405,403,5226,5225,5228,279818,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-786056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-alex-bores","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-congress","11":"tag-democratic","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-jack-schlossberg","14":"tag-jerry-nadler","15":"tag-jewish","16":"tag-kennedy","17":"tag-liberal","18":"tag-manhattan","19":"tag-micah-lasher","20":"tag-midterms","21":"tag-new-york","22":"tag-new-york-city","23":"tag-newyork","24":"tag-newyorkcity","25":"tag-ny","26":"tag-ny-12","27":"tag-nyc","28":"tag-united-states","29":"tag-united-states-of-america","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","32":"tag-us","33":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116549105286484636","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}