← Max Politics
Max Politics
Brad Lander on Winning the NY-10 Primary, Democratic Unity, & What Comes Next
00:46:44
Brad Lander joined the show to discuss his win in…
Loading summary
Transcript59 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Hello and welcome to Max Politics. This is Ben Max coming to you from New York Law School and its center for New York City and State Law. Thanks for tuning in. It's Friday, June 26, 2026 and my guest on the show today is one of the big winners of Tuesday's New York primaries, Brad Lander, the former New York City Comptroller who is now the Democratic nominee for Congress in New York's 10th congressional district, which sp lower Manhattan and a big swath of Brooklyn where Lander defeated incumbent two term Congressman Dan Goldman by a wide margin in the Democratic primary. Some votes are still being counted, but the latest tally has it at Lander at 66% of the vote to Goldman's 34%. And that's Lander with over 55,000 votes to Goldman's roughly 28,500. Lander's win was part of a very big night for the left in New York, especially new New York City Mayor Zoram Mandani and Democratic Socialists of America that he comes out of and that he remains largely aligned with. Mamdani backed Lander over Goldman, part of an alliance that extends to their joint endorsement in last year's mayoral primary that helped Mamdani secure that victory over Andrew Cuomo. For his part, Goldman refused to endorse Mamdani even after Mamdani won that Democratic primary in 2025, in large part because of their different stances on Israel and that became a key issue in the Lander Goldman primary. Lander is part of the slate of candidates that Mamdani backed in these primaries for the U.S. house of Representatives and the state Legislature. All of Mamdani's endorsed candidates won. Mamdani's DSA had a slightly different and larger slate and almost all of its candidates won. Lander is not part of DSA and was not on the DSA slate, but there's a broader left wing alliance at play here and Lander rallied and appeared in ads with Mandani's two other congressionally backed candidates. Those are the DSA candidates Clair Valdez and Dariel Lisa Avila Chevalier, who won their respective races in the 7th Congressional District and the 13th Congressional District. In that 13th race, Aila Chevalier also beat an incumbent, in that case, Adriano Espail. Brad Lander with me in a moment to discuss his win, the broader takeaways From Primary Day 2026 in New York and what comes next, including the questions around Democratic unity after a very contentious primary season and much more, as well as if Democrats take the House majority through the general election. Who will be the speaker of the House? Will it be Brooklyn's Hakeem Jeffries, who is hoping to be that speaker? But there's a lot, again of potential Democratic unity and disunity questions. Very briefly, before I bring Brad Lander on, I'm having a series of post primary interviews here on Max Politics in recent days and I've also spoken with New York City Public Advocate Jumani Williams to get his thoughts on the primary outcomes. Then I spoke to the chair of the New York State Democratic Party, Jay Jacobs. Jumani Williams and Jay Jacobs have been at odds a lot over the years in representing some of the more progressive wing of the party and the moderate wing of the Democratic Party. So some interesting thoughts from each of them coming out of the primaries. This conversation ahead here with Brad Lander and more to come, including coming up soon, a conversation with New York State Senator Julia Salazar, who is a Brooklyn state senator and the first DSA candidate to win a state legislative race back in 2018. Her primary win that year followed Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez's earlier 2018 primary upset. There were two different primary days that year of Congressman Joe Crowley. So Julia Salazar back on the podcast. Also coming up here and still on the feed, some good pre primary conversations that are still quite relevant, like my very interesting discussion leading into primary day with the co chairs of the New York City dsa, Grace Mouser and Gustavo Gordillo. That one's gotten a lot of attention and feedback. They were very open and transparent. It's very interesting to listen back to now after we saw how well the DSA candidates did in these primaries. So a lot in the feed already, a lot more to come. Enjoy this one with Brad Lander. All right. I'm pleased to welcome back to Max Politics Brad Lander, now the Democratic nominee in New York's 10th congressional district, having defeated Congressman Dan Goldman in Tuesday's primary by a wide margin, roughly 66 to 34%. He's also, of course, a former New York City comptroller and city council member, 2025 mayoral candidate. Thanks for joining me again. How are you?
- [04:58]
B
It's great to be on. You should also add regular Max Politics listener to my bio I'm doing. I got a good night's sleep last night for the first time in quite some time. Yeah. And obviously feel thrilled about the results, but really even more energized by the assignment ahead.
- [05:21]
A
Boil it down for people. Why'd you win? When you and I spoke during the campaign, you said Listen, this is a very progressive district and Dan Goldman's politics really just don't line up that well with the district's politics. He obviously won originally in 2022 in a very split with a relatively small plurality of the vote. And there were a number of progressive candidates in that race. So, so that was part of that idea of a mismatch. But, but boil it down for people. Why do you think, other than your deep roots in the district. So maybe that's number one. But why, why did you win this race and why by such a wide margin?
- [05:56]
B
Yeah, so first, I think you're right. I, maybe I am the median voter in this district. You know, I'm just well aligned with it. It's a passionate progress. And Dan Goleman, those just aren't his politics and they weren't what he won with four years ago. And you know, he did some moving to the left, but it's an age of authenticity. People can see just who you really are. So that's one piece. Second, I mean, I've been working hard in this district for a long time and I love the part which is get out and represent the neighbors and do participatory budgeting and speak at middle school graduations. And you know, the number of kids that come up that are now 20 something voters that were like you spoke at my middle school graduation is high. Voters are hungry for change. I mean, they really are fed up with not just Donald Trump, but with a Democratic status quo that they feel has enabled it or at least lost two elections out of the three against him and are hungry for something different. And don't think taking, you know, the corporate PAC money and kind of going along in status quo ways is what they want. That's playing out all across the country, not just in New York. 10. I will add here, I guess two more things. It is absolutely true that the dynamic around Israel and Gaza was a significant issue in this district. There are just a lot of voters who really felt unhappy with the way that their representatives showed up on those issues over the past couple years. Were looking for a candidate to run long before I got in the race. And that doesn't mean they don't care about affordable housing and health care and their immigrant neighbors. It's not an either or, but that is a real feeling here. And it's a set of issues I've cared about, you know, 30 years. So I was a good candidate to, to run this race, but it was a moment that that mattered. And lastly, there is an interesting energy moving in New York City right now. And, you know, some of that is downstream from the Knicks, who are not the, you know, the purview of anyone's politics, but the energy that Zoran's campaign and election has brought to the city and the way that's aligned with. We're furious about what Trump is doing to our democracy. We're worried about our future, but we also long for some joy and hope and energy in our politics. Obviously, the Knicks win lifted that up, but I think my cross endorsement of Zoran and the Mr. Rogers energy that I brought to the campaign and then I just. That's me that I bring to politics resonated very positively with people. And so that's a lot of factors, but I think.
- [09:00]
A
Yeah, no, that all makes sense given what you just said and your approach to government. What when you, you know, assuming, obviously the heavy favor in the general election, you go to Congress, what is, you know, obviously you're going to pay attention to the needs of the district. Everybody wants to bring money home. We could talk about maybe some of those priorities and things like that. But do you see yourself having a big role for New York City, for Democrats, you know, in some particular way or ways? So one of the things that strikes me that you just touched on is you'll go as a progressive Jewish member of Congress representing a pretty Jewish district. Is that where you see a significant role for yourself in sort of the bigger picture of Democratic national politics? And what else would be on that list that you want to sort of be a, a big voice on, a leader on, a coalition builder on?
- [09:54]
B
Yeah, first, people really do care about the affordability agenda, first and foremost, and we have to deliver as a party on those issues if we're going to have a chance to persuade people that it's worth, like having democracy. And I care about those a lot. You know, obviously, housing is what I spent most of my career on. The fact that on the day that we're, you know, yesterday, Donald Trump chooses not to sign a bipartisan bill that Elizabeth Warren, one of my mentors and supporters, got bipartisan support for. Anyway, so on housing, on healthcare, on transportation, you know, we're losing Jerry Nadler's role. We need somebody. And on many of the kinds of good jobs legislation I did in the council, that's a set of issues, kind of the bread and butter affordability agenda, I'm gonna, you know, stay focused on, and lots of people do that. But I will be looking for creative places to contribute there. I'm not going to be the lead sponsor of Medicare for all, but maybe of the freelancers and Free act at a national level or, you know, some, I found ways to legislate creatively. But that really matter on the, you know, those progressive bread and butter issues. So that matters to me, of course, on immigration. You know, yesterday morning after when in the election, I was back at 26 Federal Plaza doing a court watching shift. And I, you know, I feel very honestly, some of the best moments of the past year have been when someone said, I signed up to court watch the day I saw you get arrested. And that's a movement that I feel like a part of across the country. And then third, yes, I do feel like on the questions facing American Jews, how do we reckon with this catastrophe of Israel's destruction of Gaza done in our name and with our tax dollars, but also navigate a dynamic in which there's so much anxiety and fear? And certainly I spoke to that at some length on election night and tried to say I'm both going to be one of the Jewish members of Congress who tries to speak up loudest and clearest for Palestinian human rights and dignity and freedom. And also I'm going to stand up against bigotry directed at Jews. And to me, those aren't two different jobs. Those are the same job. And yeah, that's, you know, I chose to run this race knowing those issues would be a focus of it. And I feel like both a responsibility and an opportunity to help have better conversations about them. Yes, to move US Policy in relationship to Israel, there has to be a reset. Democratic voters don't want to pay for Netanyahu's wars, but Democratic leadership don't seem to have woken up to how clearly their base feels about it. So there has to be policy movement, but there also has to be less toxic, less toxic conversation about it to
- [13:10]
A
that point about Democratic leadership not paying attention to where Democratic voters are going. So there's signals obviously here in these races in New York City. But some Democratic leaders might look at those and also say, well, these are fights between the sort of liberal left and the more progressive or socialist left. So how much do you take away from that for the national picture or winning purple seats or taking control of the House? But you can look at races more broadly and you can look at polling and see there seems to be the disconnect you're pointing to. So is Democratic leadership, which, again, at least at the very top of Democratic leadership, are not very far from where each of us is sitting right now, but is Democratic leadership in the form of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. Are they hearing this? Are they moving? Or is it about using leverage to find different leaders?
- [14:10]
B
I mean, that is the question. Primaries are designed to shape an answer. And I think we don't know yet. I mean, we have not yet seen a shift in Democratic Party leadership, you know, by either Leader Jeffries or Leader Schumer on this issue. And you can see things moving. I forget what the number of senators is up to that, you know, when Bernie Sanders started, I think he was the only one saying we shouldn't keep sending aid. And I think it was maybe 27 of the Democratic senators, don't quote me on that. So Democratic elected officials are gradually getting the message step by step. But no, I do think there is a disconnect. I agree with this is not. There are issues that divide progressives and moderates, but this is not one of them. Democratic voters broadly don't want to keep paying for Netanyahu's wars and that.
- [15:08]
A
Well, in the general elections though, that are about to, you know, now we're transitioning obviously into the general election season. Those are gonna have a lot of say on this too though, right? Because you have the politics of whoever. If Democrats are gonna take control of the House, it's the voices.
- [15:23]
B
I agree, but I just, I guess there are issues on which frontliners need to have different politics to win their districts. You know, I went out and knocked doors for Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen last cycle and I'll do it again. I'll need even an even better disguise so I don't hurt their chances. But I don't love that they talk differently about immigration or congestion pricing than I do. But I understand they need to do that to win their districts. Okay, so those are issues on which there are, you know, some differences make sense. I don't believe that this is one of them. I really don't. I think the evidence that Democratic, I mean, people want to fight anti Semitism, they want Jews to feel safe in the United States and between the river and the sea, but.
- [16:09]
A
And Democrats broadly want to support Israel to defend itself under sort of more, I don't know, you know, typical circumstances.
- [16:17]
B
Well, there might be different feelings about, about Iron Dome, which I believe Israel can pay for itself. But I guess I would say on block the bombs, on not sending any more of the 2,000 pound bombs that destroyed all of the schools and hospitals in Gaza, that is a majoritarian Democratic Party position across the spectrum. And the Ceasefire Compliance act as well. Which is sponsored by Sean Kastin, you know, Chicago suburban Democrat. So, anyway, I think this is an area where we're gonna keep seeing change and where we need to.
- [16:56]
A
I was gonna get to this later, but since it ties into this. You're already out here, though, saying you're ready to support Hakeem Jeffries for speaker. I just interviewed, not that he's going to Congress, but Jumani Williams also, you know, pretty progressive New York City leader. He's saying, yes, we should support Hakeem Jeffries. Obviously didn't get that type of vote of confidence in him from some of the other folks who just won primaries in New York City who are more the dsa, you know, aligned candidates. But you're already saying, I'm ready to support Hakeem Jeffries. So are you not going? You know, how do you pull him in this direction if you're saying it's not just a New York City progressive direction? It's the broad Democratic view right now. But he has his own politics that seem to very much be shaping this. How do you move him on this or other issues?
- [17:48]
B
Look at the example of what Alexandria Ocasio Cortez did when she came into Congress. She voted for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, and she sat in her office with Sunrise to demand action on climate. There are a lot of ways to push leadership to reckon with what voters are saying in our primaries. I've pointed to the discharge petitions that Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie brought on the Epstein files and on the War Powers Resolution. That takes guts. I mean, it cost Thomas Massie his job to do it, but I intend to be a member. And I tried to be like this in the City Council. I brought discharge petitions in the City Council. There are times to be a broader team player, and the speaker vote is one of them. All you have to do is go back and look at what House Republicans did when they took a whole week and 15 votes to elect a speaker because they're crazy right wingers, didn't get together. And it really was terrible for them. They were not able to align and deliver for their constituents. So we need to win the majority this fall. That means I will be out supporting frontline Democrats. I expect moderates to do the same. There's a guy in California, Randy Villegas, who's a progressive Working Families Party, supported WFP Democrat, and he's going against a Republican because of California's kind of wacky top two system. Just like I expected Democrats to support Saran Mohamdani in The general election last year for mayor. I expect moderate Democrats to support Randy Villegas in his primary. And it's reasonable to say, what are you doing to help build unity? You're doing plenty of things to say, I think we have to shift here, here and here. What are you doing to signal that broader party unity and, you know, I'll take my responsibility to do it seriously and I'll push others, too, as well.
- [19:45]
A
You just spoke about this idea of helping, you know, frontliners, swing district type Democrats, naming a couple of Democrats on Long Island, Tom Suozzi, Laura Gillen. Obviously, Suozzi's district has a little bit of Queens as well. But I wonder what your thoughts are. You said you understand them taking maybe some different positions on policy, but what do you make when they say things like, you know, the Democratic socialists should make their own party or, you know, highly sort of of critical things about the left. Is that okay, too? You didn't get, I know you said you're a regular listener. You didn't get to listen yet to my conversation with state Party Chair Jay Jacobs because it published as you and I were about to come on here. But I asked him that question. He said, yeah, you know, everybody needs to have a thick skin and they need to say basically whatever they need to say to get elected in their districts because they know their districts. Now, you're saying that about some policy stances, but how do you think about that and this question of sort of unity and disunity among Democrats when it comes especially now to this rising Democratic socialist tide and the left of the party.
- [20:51]
B
I'll be very curious to listen to your JJ conversation. I have found him to be a terrible leader of the Democratic Party and never to promote unity. It looks to me like he would rather fight factional fights against people to his left than unify the Democratic Party to defeat Republicans. Now, I'll, I'm curious if he said different things at this. He was.
- [21:11]
A
He was. Yeah. I think he sees the, you know, his, maybe his reactions to these primaries. He, he was pretty tempered and talked a lot.
- [21:19]
B
All right, good. I mean, there's always room for change.
- [21:22]
A
He did say he has no regrets over not endorsing Mamdani in the general election, which I was. I wasn't expecting him to say he regretted that, but he said, listen, I have to stick to my personal, you know, beliefs on some things, too. And I was ready to.
- [21:36]
B
Then resign your position. He said he was ready resign if his personal beliefs would not let him endorse Oran Momdani, when he was the Democratic nominee for mayor, he should have resigned. Like, he's welcome to his personal beliefs. He's just not welcome to bring his factional infighting to the institution that's supposed to unify Democrats. So, and I. Look, I saw Jamie Harrison's tweet yesterday. Outrageously bad. Like, if John Fetterman wants to leave the Democratic Party, be my guest. But we have to build an institution here. I mean, you know, who knows if we want to talk about proportional representation and after we, you know, redistrict. And I'm for redistricting. That's necessary to make sure Republicans don't, you know, destroy our democracy. But I don't think where we're headed is great for our democracy. So might I be open to some proportional representation model that has more than two parties down the road? We could talk about it. For now, we have two parties. The Democratic Party has a great tradition of having a strong left in it. You know, you got the New Deal and the Great Society. I joke that I'm going to be the second Bundest member. That's like a form of Jewish democratic socialism from this very district. The first was a guy named Meyer London 100 years ago. That's actually pretty funny. His last name's London, and he was kind of a Jewish progressive like me. His opponent was a mainstream Jewish guy named Goldfogle, Henry Goldfogle. So the London Goldfogle race prefigured the Lander Goldman race by 100 years. Look, primaries are rough. You know, they're a place where you try to work out disagreements within the party and you wind up with bruises. I tried in my election night remarks to reach out, to appreciate the things I thought, you know, were important to praise about my opponent, to reach out to his voters, and to signal some places I know we can work together. Let's take health care. I think one of the best things Democrats did last year, and I'll give credit to Democratic leadership for doing this, was to make the shutdown fight about health care. We should pick that up in next year's Congress and say we're going to fight that fight again. We won't pass a budget that doesn't restore health care subsidies on the exchanges and give American working Americans and also people who are on Medicare and Medicaid their health care back. That's a clear unifier. Fighting for working families is a clear unifier. We have to find a way to have the conversations about, lessons to learn about places we're going to disagree and about the things we must focus on to stand up to Trump's fascism. I think there's broad agreement about ice, about Trump, about working families, on issues like health care. I think there are places where there has to be a shift, like on the US Relationship to Israel, and then there'll be places we disagree. But you try hard to work those out constructively because if we can't deliver better for American working families, we might be done with Donald Trump, but some other sociopath or fascist will be waiting in the wings.
- [24:51]
A
And what about on that specific question of what, as you said, you're okay with understanding that some more frontline swing districts type Democrats might need, you know, to take different political positions on policy. But what do you make of some of the, of the sort of left bashing that they do or saying that Democratic socialists should have their own party? I mean, similar things happen from the left going towards the center as well. What do you, what do you make of those types of comments? Is that something, again, that, that people sort of just like need to be able to express and do, or is that unhelpful to the broader project?
- [25:25]
B
I think it's generally unhelpful to the broader project. It's one thing to say I disagree with you on this issue, to say you're, you know, form your own party or. Yeah. I mean, I think the kinds of comments that John Fetterman makes, the kinds of comments that Jaime Harrison made yesterday, I think weaken and erode hurt the Democratic Party. They claim they're doing it in the name of. So yeah, I mean, I ironically, like I ran a left insurgent race, but here I am being a much stronger force for Democratic Party unity than Jaime Harrison is. I'll have to listen to the J. Jacobs podcast to decide. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot in there. So
- [26:15]
A
these primaries, speaking of Democratic unity and disunity, there's a lot of hurt feelings here in New York City. Even just al obviously the mayor got several people upset, like Adriano Espad and his supporters, including Tish James, also upset with she was also upset with him around his approach to the seventh congressional race. Nydia Velasquez, of course, you've been aligned for a long time with Antonio Reynoso, who lost that race. What is your like, did the mayor, I mean, again, he was supporting your campaign and you were sort of aligned in a broader team approach, even if you didn't specifically endorse some of the other candidates. It was this was a lot of tricky sort of balancing acts by a Lot of people, including yourself. You know, the mayor decided not to endorse any assembly candidates that DSA was backing against incumbents because he was trying not to, you know, upset Carl Hasty too much, even though most of those candidates still won. A lot of balancing acts happening. But what's your view of this question of whether the mayor sort of overplayed his hand, even if he won all his races? Did he burn too many bridges here? Did he use political capital and gain more political capital, but also lose political capital because of the people he upset? What's your sort of general view of the state of play in New York politics, especially when we now see that the mayor and DSA are quite obviously head and shoulders above everybody else in terms of being able to really move votes?
- [27:45]
B
Yeah. First, I love and admire Tish James and Nydia Velasquez, and they both won their first seats in insurgent campaigns against party regulars. Nydia Velasquez defeated Steven Solars, who had a lot of support from his colleagues. And Tish James I supported on the Working Families Party line against Jeff Davis, who had won the Democratic primary. Like, so this is just not so different. I mean, and Speaker Jeffries also ran his first races. Our leader Jeffries, hopeful. Speaker Jeffries ran his first race also against Ed Towns, an Aspay challenge wrangle.
- [28:26]
A
I mean, that's, you know, you can go down the list.
- [28:29]
B
Boy, I hope I don't get in there and become that a kind of, you know, that when people say establishment, that's part of what they mean. You thought it was worth running that primary. It can't be that you're. It's good to have collegial relationships with your colleagues and try to work together with people. It's not good to start thinking that those collegial relationships are some kind of entitlement. Jumani Williams often says that you just have to remember that the people you serve are more important than the title you have. And politics can pull you in a different direction. Not personally. I mean, neither Tish nor Didia were thinking about themselves, but this is pretty normal in our politics. And the bruises are normal also. And you gotta figure out how to move forward from them. In terms of the mayor, boy, he has been way more pragmatic than many people would have thought a year ago. After the primary, finding a way to work with the governor to deliver on big expansions in childcare helping, you know, and then not. In backing XI against Hakeem, you point out, not backing open seat. I mean, assembly members against incumbent assembly members in order to kind of preserve and strengthen the ability there to deliver for New York City. I could keep going. If you look at the list, on balance, is Zoran Mamdani willing to be a thoughtful, constructive team player with people he has ideological disagreements with to deliver on the affordability agenda? And for New Yorkers, the answer is very clearly yes. He made a choice here to back a candidate he thought had a chance to win with his support. And he was right. You know, there are some bruises from that. Now our job is to start moving forward and figure out how we can. Everybody agrees we've got to deliver on the affordability agenda for New York City. It would be a bad idea for any of us to say, I'm gonna let those bruises or those factional fights get in the way of working hard both at the federal, the state and the city level.
- [30:50]
A
Were you surprised by the results in the seventh District? I mean, this is again, a district that's seen so much change and so much turnover and so transient. And, you know, even Antonio Reynoso himself has said, you know, I've got this record in the district, but most of the voters don't really know about it because they haven't been around that long. Some people were expecting him to squeak it out or to be close. And it wasn't close.
- [31:15]
B
I mean, I had an object lesson on this one. I mean, I ran a very similar race for mayor last year in which I, my thought was that a broad center left coalition around someone with a good track record and a lot of experience could be what unified Democrats and be, you know, first it was going to be Eric Adams and then Andrew Cuomo. And I had a front row seat as Zoran's talent and charisma and ability to excite and energize voters. And, you know, DSA is on the ground organizing, built a movement that excited people. So I can't say I was surprised by what happened in New York 7 because I, you know, I had an up close, you know, viewing seat. You know, I am very. Antonio is a, is a dear friend and someone I care about a lot. I stayed out of that race. I didn't endorse in any of the Congressionals. You know, I hope for him a strong and bright future. I think he's doing a great job as borough president. We need to build a coalition that has room for DSA insurgent candidates for working families, party unifiers like Antonio and me. And yes, in swing seat or frontline districts for more moderate Democrats. That's not Easy to do. Primaries, given the system we have, are the place to work that out, put people on the field, see what resonates, learn the lessons from it, and then head toward the general election in a way that tries to bridge those divides without ignoring them.
- [32:52]
A
As someone who is now really part of this sort of, I would call it like a progressive establishment,
- [33:01]
B
do you
- [33:01]
A
have any mixed feelings about sort of the socialist younger socialist insurgency now coming up and replacing people who I think, as Antonio Reynoso and Jumani Williams and others, you know, have put it, have sort of laid the groundwork for the further left to come along and challenge the left. I mean, how do you think about that? Is a DSA candidate gonna come after your seat in another cycle or two?
- [33:25]
B
You know, like, how do you think about that?
- [33:27]
A
Because there are a lot of people frustrated with this idea that there couldn't be more of a compromise between the democratic socialists and the WFP left on a candidate, you know, and even Reynoso said he might have been willing to step aside for a compromise around a Tiffany Caban or Julius Salazar or somebody like that.
- [33:49]
B
At a personal level, because I'm friends with these people. Sure. I like the idea of people being able to work things out in a way that doesn't leave bruises and have friends fighting each other. I mean, I was sorry that race got so bitter because I think very highly of both Clairvaldez, who I'm excited to serve in Congress with, and Antonio Reynoso, who is a dear and longtime friend. So sure, at the personal level, but at the political level, no, I really fully embrace this dynamic. It's how things are supposed to work. I mean, young people who are looking at American politics right now and coming up and saying what is it about democracy that I'm supposed to believe is fighting to make our lives in common better, that's actually gonna confront the cost of housing or help get me a good job or, or regulate AI or remember that how are our kids public schools going to be at a good place to educate them? If I were a 20 something, and I mean I happen to have two that you know, are in my, in my household, I would be furious and I would be organizing in a more disruptive way. And sure, as a 50 something who's been there, I will sometimes try to persuade people that it's worth having, you know, more strategic or thoughtful or coalition building approach in order to achieve your goals. But I hope I never get to the point where I'm trying to gatekeep young people's passionate Energy for change. It is a strong motivator. And if Sunrise and AOC hadn't sat in Nancy Pelosi's office, we would not have gotten the inflation Reduction Act. We wouldn't. If young people hadn't sat in a lunch counters in the south, we wouldn't have had a civil rights movement. Of course, you then need a balance, a dialogue. You want some people with, you know, hopefully a little experience and ability to shape it with strategy. But I don't want to become a person that is, you know, saying kids these days.
- [35:57]
A
You mentioned AOC a few times. She stayed out of, of these primaries. She's taking a very strategic approach here. What's your sense of what that's all about? You know, it was, I think, pretty surprising to a lot of people that she didn't get involved in some of these races. She's obviously been serving with Dan Goldman and Adriano Espayat, but. And she's, you know, been allied with Nydia Velasquez. So there's different reasons why. But what is that all about in your view? And is that again, a pragmatic strategy for. Clearly, she's looking at either running for US Senate or the presidency in 2028. Does this all make sense to you? Are you in the camp of people who will be looking to get behind her for one of those two campaigns? There's, you know, I mean, when the DSA co chairs were on this podcast right before primary day, they were talking about how so these primaries, including New York 7, were some of their proof points to continue building momentum to support, they hope, her in a presidential bid. How are you thinking about her as a leader of the Democratic Party here and where that's heading?
- [37:07]
B
You'll have to get her on the podcast to ask questions about hers.
- [37:11]
A
I've tried. I've tried.
- [37:13]
B
But in terms of my view of her as a leader of our party and the progressive wing of our party, 100%. I mean, when asked in the debate who I thought should be our Democratic presidential nominee, I did not hesitate to say that I, you know, if she runs, I will, I will support her. If she were to choose to run for Senate instead, I would support her.
- [37:36]
A
She is even against Chuck Schumer.
- [37:41]
B
Let's see how that race shapes out. You know, I.
- [37:44]
A
People are starting to expect him not to run again.
- [37:48]
B
She is a, you know, she's a tremendous leader of our party and she has the, you know, excites people. You know, you know, the fact that her race in many ways, I mean, I Guess Bernie was there earlier. But, you know, she was the first of the young generation here to spark excitement and energy. Though she, you know, of course, is, you know, associated with the progressives and Democratic socialists. I believe she has the capacity to speak to people in that broader way that's more, you know, fighters versus folders or, you know, 99% versus 1% and can be a unifier in that way. So, yeah, I'm excited to see, I'm excited to serve with her in Congress and absolutely consider her a future leader of our party.
- [38:37]
A
But you just said I would be excited to support her for Senate. But then as soon as I asked if it was going to be against Chuck Schumer, you hedged.
- [38:44]
B
So.
- [38:44]
A
So are you unequivocally sort of behind her as the next big leader of the Democratic Party or. There's, there's.
- [38:52]
B
I'm unequivocally behind her. But first, let's see if she runs for, you know, I mean, if she runs for president, then I won't support her for Senate and vice versa. You don't need to. Yeah.
- [39:02]
A
Last couple things, and I appreciate the time, is there sort of going to be a, in your view, like A Squad 2.0 here with, with the Democratic Socialists and some further left progressives trying to unite as a block here to move a potential Democratic House majority that could be a very thin majority and be a significant force, even if it's a small number. And would you be part of a group like that?
- [39:32]
B
I will absolutely be working with other progressives strategically to advance shared goals. When I was elected to the City Council the first time in 2009, and I helped create the New York City Council Progressive Caucus, which did not exist. The Working Families Party and other progressive allies and I and some other council members teamed up and, you know, Melissa, Mark Viverito and I were its first co chairs. That was disruptive. I mean, Chris Quinn was the speaker of the council at the time and she did not like that we formed the Progressive Caucus. Maybe that's why she endorsed Dan Goldman. I don't know. So it happens in this case that Greg Cassar, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is a good personal friend. We work together through this national network called Local Progress when we were both council members. So I'm excited to be a very active, organizing oriented member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. You know, I have been talking to some of the other, you know, I was on the, you know, Zoran slate along with Claire and Darieliza, and they'll be organizing to do you know, in the New York delegation, but with a lot of members, you know, there that I've worked with for a long time as well. And even in the space of progressive Jewish members, there are some. It's funny, I changed one thing in my speech to election. I have been campaigning saying I'm gonna be the Jewish member of Congress who is the most committed to standing up for Palestinian human rights as well as fighting anti Semitism. And I changed that to one of the most because Sarah Jacobs and Becca Bailint and Jamie Raskin and now Daniel Biss out in Chicago. There's a great group of progressive Jewish members of Congress who love our history and tradition and teachings and also care passionately about Palestinian human rights and that reset of the US Relationship to Israel. And there's times to be a broader team player like when I'll go out and knock doors for Kate Connelly and other frontline Democrats. And I will also absolutely be organizing alongside other progressives, you know, to get corporate money out of politics and push that, you know, pro working families agenda.
- [42:04]
A
You talked about wearing a disguise to knock doors, you know, half jokingly or fully jokingly. But do you have concerns that sort of the rise of Mamdani and Democratic socialists are going to hurt purple district frontline Democratic candidates in New York and beyond? I mean Republicans and others are seizing on this, you know, obviously quickly shifting it from Democratic socialism to communism. But you know, that's politics and that's what people will do. So are you concerned that winning some of these further left seats in New York City is going to hurt Democrats in the swing districts and even, you know, Senate races presidency?
- [42:47]
B
No, I really am not. Republicans will try to do that, of course, and Democrats, moderate Democrats should not help them. Like that's my plea again to the Jamie Harrisons of the world and the J. Jacobs of the world don't help Republicans weakened Democrats. But there is such a clear agenda. That's not moderates versus progressives, that's fighters versus folders that we can unify around. That is focus on affordability and deliver for working families. There's such a broad agenda on healthcare and housing and utilities and good jobs that unite us. And if Democrats getting corporate money out of politics, that's a winner in every district. No voter thinks it's a good idea. So I believe, I love how I'll use. I haven't talked about Pat Ryan maybe as we close.
- [43:37]
A
Well, that's the example. That's the example I gave Jay Jacobs. I said you can take Pat Ryan approach or the Tom Suozzi approach. And he said, whatever you need to do is fine.
- [43:45]
B
Well, I mean, I admire and appreciate and like the Pat Ryan approach a lot. I think he has shown how you can represent a frontline district, build bridges in both directions. He's done things in his district with. With aoc. He's done things in his district with the governor. His voters know he is working hard to deliver for them and that he's passionate about it and that his agenda is to help working families and not billionaires. And that's good politics in the Hudson Valley just like it's good politics in Brooklyn and in Maine and in Iowa and in North Carolina and in all the places we gotta win.
- [44:27]
A
Sorry, I'm keeping you long last, very last thing. Just a quick thought. You seem to have a little bit of trepidation about some of Darrylisa Villa Chevalier's past statements or her politics generally. Are you working to build any bridges there? I know obviously during a campaign where you're both running your own districts, you don't necessarily have time to get to know each other that well. But are you. Are you trying to, you know, sort of reach her on anything and make sure she's taking a balanced approach to some of the issues we've been talking about, especially when it comes to, you know, Jewish New Yorkers and Jewish Americans or, you know, what sort of any. Any quick thought on.
- [45:06]
B
I look forward to building that relationship. It's true. I didn't know her before this cycle. We, you know, we have not had much of a chance to get to know each other a little bit,
- [45:16]
A
you
- [45:16]
B
know, and there are a lot of things we agree on. That broad agenda I just talked about, there are places we disagree. Being able to have good conversations across the. Those differences is important. Some of that you obviously do privately. Sometimes you have to make your differences clear publicly. When people ask, you know, that's what politics are about. And I look forward to building the relationship with her and having the broader conversation amongst New Yorkers and amongst Democrats that we need to have to win.
- [45:46]
A
Brad Lander, Democratic nominee in the 10th congressional district. Thanks for the time and thoughts. Appreciate it. We'll be in touch.
- [45:52]
B
Great to talk to you, as always.
- [45:53]
A
Take care. Thanks, Sam.