Originally published at: A Very Blue, Very Rich District in New York Chooses Among 2026 Democratic Avatars - TPM – Talking Points Memo
New York’s 12th district, currently represented by the retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), features Democratic candidates in four different flavors. The frontrunners in an obscenely crowded race are New York Assemblymember Micah Lasher, fellow state Assemblymember Alex Bores, JFK’s grandson Jack Schlossberg and lawyer and news commentator George Conway. Lasher is the paid-his-dues Democrat, having…
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I’m disappointed that you didn’t even mention Nina Schwalbe, who finished 4th, ahead of George Conway. It was obvious to any real progressive following the race that she was far and away the best candidate. But she lacked the corporate money to make herself a household name. Even in a “very blue” district like 12, many people don’t take the initiative to inform themselves about the candidates – they just go with whatever fills their email and postal mail boxes. The ruinous legacy of Citizens United is made worse when citizens just roll over and vote according to the height of the media profile.
I lived in that area for many years until a few months ago. Nadler was a recent acquisition from redistricting. Whether with Nadler or Maloney, we weren’t ever presented with a reasonable alternative. Busy professionals with families don’t really have the time to go beyond newspapers and political ads. In fact, in the many decades I lived there, the only contacts I ever had with politicians were a few minutes long and utterly irrelevant to their jobs. Well, there was the time Giuliani almost hit me in a crosswalk when he was running a red light in Union Square. Oh, I also encountered Curtis Sliwa a couple of times when he was dressed up as a “reformed” gang leader and “political personality.” I read all the pamphlets they sent about goings-on in Washington or Albany. Unless you are a colleague, reporter, or potential major donor, information is quite limited.