Eli Northrup doesn’t feel like a political outsider anymore

Last time around, Eli Northrup felt like a political outsider. Running to represent Manhattan’s Assembly District 69 as a public defender with no political experience, Northrup was beaten out in the 2024 Democratic primary by Micah Lasher, who received numerous endorsements from established democrats like Rep. Jerrold Nadler and New York City Council Member Gale Brewer. With Lasher now running to succeed Nadler in Congress, Northrup is seeking the Assembly position again.

This time, he told City & State, he doesn’t “feel like such an outsider anymore” — a shift he credited in part to the progressive momentum built by Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic mayoral primary in June. Northrup sat down with City & State to discuss his progressive politics, the inspiration he draws from Mamdani and the unique issues facing the Upper West Side district. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.      

Why have you decided to run for office again instead of staying in the public defender and legal advocacy realm? 

There's one major difference between now and 2024, and that's Donald Trump. And there's another, and that's Zohran Mamdani. There was a period after I ran that I felt like my role was really to be as an advocate and as an attorney, helping people. I love that job, and I've been doing it, but I think we're also in a time right now where we have to step up, and we need to push back, and we need to turn the page on the old ways (of) doing things. I feel like I can help in this moment.

Much of the district voted for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for mayor this June. You’ve collaborated with Zohran Mamdani. How will you govern for all of the district, despite some political differences?  

I'm inspired by Zohran, and he's somebody that I've respected for a long time, and I know him to be a good person, a thoughtful person, and I support him. But I'm myself too, and I've talked to a lot of people throughout the district. I think one of the things that has made me good at my job as a public defender and an advocate, and will make me good as an Assembly member, is I know how to listen. I know that in order to actually bridge differences and build community, you need to hear where other people come from.

Columbia University is a giant in New York City real estate. If elected, would you support Mamdani’s REPAIR Act, which aims to tax the real estate holdings of Columbia and NYU and use that revenue to fund CUNY? 

Columbia is a huge landowner in Uptown, in our neighborhood. They are an employer. They play a lot of different roles, but they really are a neighbor to us in Morningside Heights, and they need to act like a good neighbor. In the last few years, they've really taken some actions that have been harmful to the neighborhood and harmful to their own communities. 

I worry that the only way you can really bring that to the table and change their perspective is to threaten funding. I mean, look at what happened when Trump did it. Changes were made, and they need to be as responsive to us in the community as they are to Trump.

Israel’s war in Gaza has become a flashpoint in New York City politics in recent months. Do you believe representing the Jewish community in this district means supporting Israel? 

I’m part of the Jewish community, so I think that being a Jew means – just like being an American means you can hold a country that you love to account and push back – being a Jew means that you can criticize Israel. I don't see there being any contradiction in criticizing a place when it's acting inhumane.

I will continue to hold Israel and its leaders accountable, just like I would anybody else who's doing inhumane things. I think international law has to be obeyed, and I think everybody in that region deserves peace and dignity and independence, and not a two-tiered system of existence. And that does not make me antisemitic.

You were the first to file less than a week after Assembly Member Micah Lasher filed to run for Congress. What do you make of the competition in this race? 

I'm sure other people will run. It's a really dedicated community with a lot of smart people who would probably be great in this role. I feel like I have the combination of the political experience, the legislative experience and the energy to be the Assembly member for this moment. But I don't anticipate it being easy, and I just have to see who else jumps in, but I am also confident that I will run a strong campaign, and I feel like we have a real chance to win this fight.

During his time in office, Lasher has fought back against the Trump administration by introducing two acts targeting the federal administration. Do you have any concrete plans for navigating the administration and “fighting back”? 

A lot of the bills that Micah introduced I would be supportive of. We need to figure out ways to meaningfully withhold tax revenue from the federal government if they're going to threaten our projects like shutting down the Gateway. And he's got a bill that would do that. I would support things like that. 

We need to protect students who are non-citizens. There's bills that you could conceive of – and this is something I think I would introduce, it's been done in Illinois – to ensure that non-citizens can attend our public schools, which is not something you would ever have to think about, but the federal government may try to come for that. 

I've spent time down in 26 Federal Plaza. I've seen ICE in that courthouse. One thing that would ameliorate that issue is (that) individuals that have attorneys can request virtual appearances, so they don't have to go into court. It’s only non-represented people that have to go in. So if we were able to better fund immigration attorneys, then I think you could prevent ICE from snatching people out of that building.

You've spent a lot of your career focusing on criminal justice. How do you plan to improve safety within this district and while also ensuring fair policing? 

I'm uniquely positioned because I've for decades represented individuals from criminal court who have been charged with crimes, and I’ve seen cycles of violence, and I've also seen what disrupts and what actually helps people and our community feel safer and be safer. 

I think it starts with support. It starts with housing. Housing really is safety. When people don't have stability in their lives, it leads to unrest, and that can really lead to a disruption in safety, so support, education, housing, mental health treatment. That doesn't mean you don't have accountability, and that doesn't mean if somebody's on the street going through a breakdown, nobody responds, but what happens after somebody responds? If we just send someone to Rikers Island for 30 days, which has happened for many years … they come back to us in a worse place than they were when they got arrested in the first place.

I am a supporter of Zohran’s creation of a Department of Community Safety. I think that's so important. I think it would benefit police officers, too, to have mental health professionals responding when that's what's really needed. If somebody's going through a crisis, police officers are asked to be like relationship counselors, mental health workers, substance abuse counselors, and that's just not what they're equipped for.

Former Assembly Member Danny O'Donnell endorsed you during your last election. Has he advised you at all in this campaign? What's your relationship like?

We're neighbors, and we live across the street from each other. He has been a real help to me. The fact that he believed in me made me feel like I could do it the first time, and it makes me feel like I can do it again. The fact that he was a public defender who ran for office, I very much see that as part of my legacy.