New York City
Meet the voters of New York’s 12th Congressional District
Famous, affluent, opinionated, conscious of what Gale Brewer thinks and committed to Nina Schwalbe against the odds gosh darn it!
Ava and Benny Safdie are Upper West Siders who, surprise surprise, support Micah Lasher. Annie McDonough
New York’s 12th Congressional District, the Manhattan district running from the Upper West and Upper East Sides down to Chelsea and Stuyvesant Town, is the city’s wealthiest. It is home to Billionaires’ Row, Museum Mile, Broadway, Meta’s New York City headquarters and the United Nations.
Two of NY-12’s many influential residents – Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin – have stayed conspicuously silent about their picks in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler. But they’re not the only bold-faced names casting votes in this election. City & State spoke to some of the district’s other notables – and a handful of engaged voters we met along the way at the race’s televised debates, forums and other campaign events – about which of the eight candidates they’re backing, the issues that matter to them, and what NY-12 should be known for beyond its money and power. Conversations have been edited for length and clarity. Shoutout to New York Magazine’s Look Book, which inspired this format.
Andrew Yang, 51, entrepreneur and former New York City mayoral candidate
Who are you supporting? Alex Bores
Why? Alex has been one of the most forward-thinking state legislators on AI, among other issues. He helped pass a common sense bill that, to me, helped place New York state in a leadership role on one of the most important and pressing issues of our time. I would love to see that kind of leadership and expertise in Congress.
What’s unique about NY-12? This is one of the wealthiest districts in the country. It's probably going to be a safe seat for many, many years. I think it’s very important to have a member of Congress that can fight for the interests of New Yorkers and Americans for potentially years and years to come.
The New York Times Editorial Board isn’t making political endorsements anymore. Having been through the process yourself, do you miss having the Times’ endorsement as a factor in the race? I don’t know if I do, honestly.
Ava Safdie, 39, mom and education advocate, and Benny Safdie, 40, filmmaker
Who are you supporting? Micah Lasher
Why? Benny: He knows how the government works, which is really interesting. And bringing a new perspective with that knowledge is something that’s really interesting.
Ava: When you hear establishment, you think “status quo.” And his platform really isn’t that.
Did you consider any other candidates? Ava: No we didn’t.
Benny: He’s just been such a fixture. You just know, oh yeah, Micah’s the guy who gets things done.
Ava: I’ve worked on the board for our public school and we work closely with Gale Brewer’s office, so whatever Gale says goes for me.
Are you excited for all the voter mail you’re getting in this race to come to an end?
Ava: Actually our son, he’s seven years old, and he’s really interested in Congress and he’s really interested in the different levers of government. His chore is to check the mail, and he comes upstairs so excited and interested, and he wants to learn about everybody’s platform.
If he could vote, do you think he’d be a Micah voter?
Ava: He’s told a lot of people he would.
Eric Schneiderman, 71, former New York attorney general
Who are you supporting? Micah Lasher
Why? I can’t pretend to be a neutral observer. Back at the very beginning of my political career, when I first ran for the state Senate in 1998, Micah was a junior at Stuyvesant. But he was so skilled, he was my deputy campaign manager. That’s how smart this kid is.
What do you remember from that time? He was just super confident. We saved money on my campaign because he recruited some other, like, 10th graders from Stuyvesant. These are kids who would stuff envelopes under the doors in the building and you buy them a Coke and some Twizzlers, and they thought they had it great. Ordinary kids his age would be at home playing video games – Micah would be doing pie charts of voter turnout.
Katie Kupferberg, 37, costume designer
Who are you supporting? Jack Schlossberg
Why? It’s an exciting campaign because it’s somebody who wants to listen – I work in the arts – he wants to listen to people in the arts and young people, and he’s really passionate and that shows.
And you’ve been volunteering with the campaign? I started petitioning in the beginning, in like January, February. I’ve been doing whatever volunteer work I can to help. I hosted a meet and greet with Jack in my apartment.
Do you feel like the people there connected and were turned onto the campaign? For sure. A bunch of my friends were like, “How can we get involved or volunteer or join you? What’s next?”
Elizabeth Wagley, 55, publisher of digital media company
Who are you supporting? George Conway
Did you consider any other candidates? I did, I’ve looked at all of them, and I just think that he’s the strongest. I’m a huge fan of Jamie Raskin in Congress, and I know that he’s going to be very supportive of the work that Jamie does, which I think is going to be critical, especially if we get our Congress back. There are a lot of issues I care about, but I don’t see how any of them budge unless we get rid of this president.
Scott J. Mulligan, 29, AI safety advocate
Who are you supporting? Alex Bores
Why? I really respect what Alex did on AI with the RAISE Act. He fought tooth and nail in order to get that over the finish line.
NY-12 is known as a center of wealth and power. What else should people know about it? I’ve spoken to voters in Roosevelt Island and parts of Upper Manhattan, parts of lower Midtown Manhattan, who are dealing with a lot of problems, dealing with affordable housing, dealing with accessibility when it comes to transit. I don’t see that reported on.
Ellen Landsberger, 73, physician
Who are you supporting? Nina Schwalbe
Why? I am very concerned about what’s going on – the destruction of the NIH, the CDC, the FDA, the things that really matter to me. Nina’s public health interest and experience and expertise was of interest to me.
Nina has argued she’s been overlooked in this race, and she doesn’t have wealthy backers or super PACs behind her. What do you make of her being in the second tier of this race? It’s infuriating. Women have traditionally had a tough time raising funds. People who meet her, who listen to her, think she’s terrific. And people are swayed. The concern is that she, quote, can’t win. She can’t win if people don’t vote for her.
Jeff Paradise, tech worker
Who are you supporting? Undecided
What issues are most important to you? I think affordability in the city is number one.
Which candidates are you looking at closely? I’m really open. Jack Schlossberg – intriguing. But I also don’t want to be distracted by the young, energetic Kennedy intrigue. But I also don’t want to discount him because of that, to be fair. He’s a great communicator, and honestly I think lately, political campaigns come down to that. It’s not so much policy, it’s about how you communicate and how you resonate with voters, whatever that form takes. I’m intrigued by George Conway, honestly. The Republican kind of constitutionalist argument in this weird time that we find ourselves, that’s an intriguing lens to look at things.
Arielle Goren, 43, podcast host, former speechwriter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo
Who are you supporting? Alex Bores
Why? I think it’s consensus that “career politician” as a label has become a real kiss of death for candidates. When I look at candidates, I’m really looking for people who bring relevant, interesting, real-world perspective, particularly to D.C. In Alex’s case, I think his background in computer science is really compelling. I also have the benefit of having worked for both executives and legislators, and what I wish more voters recognized is that legislating is a real skill set that takes time to develop. I am impressed by what I’ve seen out of Alex in his short time so far in Albany.
Lori Bores, 69, former TV news producer and writer, Alex’s mom
Who are you supporting? Obviously my choice is Alex. He’s just been a wonderful son. And he’s also been a wonderful legislator.
NY-12 is known for its concentration of wealth, political power, culture, media. What else should the district be known for? There are more than just wealthy people. There is a big concentration of wealth – there are also a lot of middle class and also a lot of lower income people.
Dan Garodnick, 54, former City Council member and City Planning chair
Who are you supporting? Micah Lasher
There’s an East Side (Bores) v. West Side (Lasher) element to this race. As the former Council member from Stuy Town, do you think Micah can pull the East Side? The district has more in common than it has differences in my view. East Siders are looking for a serious, independent-minded candidate who is tough and willing to take on big issues, that's exactly who Micah Lasher is.
George Weaver, 40s, community activist
Who are you supporting? Jack Schlossberg
He’s opposed to the redevelopment of the Elliott-Chelsea and Fulton Houses. Have you met him when he’s come by here? Yeah, Jack came by here several times. He has been one of our biggest supporters. I think he’s an extraordinary person. He didn’t have to do that. Politicians, they go where it’s popular. He took an unpopular position and said, “I’m going to fight for you.” But that’s the Kennedys.
NY-12 is known as the wealthiest district in the city. What else should it be known for? Public housing. And Jack will bring that to focus, and affordable housing. You talk about Chelsea and Fulton, but you also need to talk about Penn South and London Terrace. Because he hasn’t taken any money (from real estate developers) he can be independent to do right by the people. It says “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” It doesn’t say “of the developer, by the developer, and for the developer.”
Kurt Andersen, 71, author and co-founder, Spy magazine
Who are you supporting? Alex Bores
Why? Because of the four main people – I know there are more people than four running – he seems not only so clearly superior to them in various ways but also just actually, excitingly perfect to me for this moment. A guy who has worked in tech, who knows AI. Just taking a wild guess that nobody (in Congress) knows anything about it, and so having that person there as also a progressive Democrat in the House seems ideal to me. And he’s not out of nowhere. He got elected to the Assembly, got the AI bill passed.
Is there a particular concern about AI that nags at you? I’m too old to have it take my job away, as my daughters worry constantly about. But we need to invent, which doesn’t exist anywhere as far as I know, some kind of regulatory apparatus on a federal level. And then, bigger, its impact on the political economy and jobs.
OpenAI has spent against Bores, but Anthropic has spent in support of him. His opponents argue he’ll be bought by Anthropic. Does that land with you at all? It doesn’t land with me just because, don’t set the perfect against the good. And Anthropic is the good, right?