When Jerry Nadler announced he was stepping down from Congress after 33 years, the Democratic primary that followed in New York's 12th district quickly became something far more interesting than a routine succession race. The seat, encompassing some of Manhattan's most exclusive real estate from the Upper West Side to Billionaires' Row, was always going to draw ambitious candidates. But the fight unfolding there has turned into a referendum on the party's direction heading into the Trump era.
Four white men are now competing for the nomination, and they could hardly be more different. Their campaigns have laid bare a fundamental tension within Democratic politics: What matters most right now? Youth and energy? Serious policy expertise? The ability to attack Trump with theatrical flair? Or something else entirely?
Jack Schlossberg, the 33-year-old grandson of John F. Kennedy, has become the race's unlikely celebrity. He has an MBA from Harvard but minimal political experience, having worked as a Vogue correspondent in 2024 where he published seven pieces. What he does have is a famous name, a handsome face, and a willingness to post paddleboarding pictures and flexing videos to social media. When he appeared at Barney Greengrass, a Jewish deli on the Upper West Side, the establishment created a "Jack Stack" sandwich in his honor. Schlossberg has amassed 882,000 Instagram followers, a striking number for a first-time candidate.
His appeal speaks directly to Democratic anxieties about aging leadership. After President Joe Biden's exit from the race raised questions about the party's gerontocratic nature, Schlossberg's youth and vigor offer a kind of visual answer to critics who say the party is out of touch. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, endorsed him in February, calling him "the best of his generation."
Micah Lasher represents the opposite approach. A self-described nerd, the state representative began working on political campaigns at 16 and has spent more than two decades in the unglamorous machinery of New York state politics. He served as chief of staff to the state attorney general, director of policy to the governor, and director of state legislative affairs under Michael Bloomberg. Most critically, he worked for Nadler himself, earning the retiring congressman's explicit endorsement in February. Nadler called him "New York's protector-in-chief against all things Trump."
Yet despite his credentials, Lasher has struggled to gain traction. He has only 8,143 Instagram followers and remains relatively unknown outside state political circles. His campaign slogan, "Ready for the Fight," has not yet moved the needle with voters.
Alex Bores, another state representative, has built a campaign around a single issue: regulating artificial intelligence. That narrow focus has made him a flashpoint for deep-pocketed tech interests. Outside groups aligned with AI companies have spent roughly $12 million on ads either supporting or attacking him. OpenAI-backed groups spent $6.2 million attacking Bores, while Anthropic, OpenAI's main competitor, spent a similar amount backing him. The race has effectively become a proxy war between rival AI companies, with Bores defending himself as the staunchest AI critic despite the irony of that outside spending.
Rounding out the field is George Conway, a former Republican who became one of Trump's most vocal critics and a CNN regular. Now 62, he moved back to New York City in 2025 after splitting from his wife, Kellyanne Conway, the former Trump campaign manager. His campaign strategy appears designed to project toughness and aggression. He has been photographed in an ill-fitting Top Gun leather jacket and ice skating. A recent advertisement shows him giving the middle finger to a presidential motorcade while warning Trump he will end up wearing "an orange jumpsuit" in prison.
Conway has raised the most money of the group, $6.6 million as of early June, including $2 million of his own cash. Schlossberg has raised $3.9 million, with $1 million of that coming from a personal loan.
Polling in the district has been erratic, with no clear frontrunner emerging. The race reflects broader Democratic uncertainties about the post-Biden era. Is generational change the priority, or is experience more important? Should the party focus intensely on emerging issues like AI regulation, or is Trump the only issue that matters?
The primary closes on June 23, and the answers voters provide could signal what Democrats believe they need in the years ahead.
Author James Rodriguez: "This race is a perfect mirror of a party in genuine confusion about its own future, and no amount of leather jackets or Kennedy genetics will change that Democrats still don't have a clear answer."
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