NEW YORK — Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander defeated Rep. Dan Goldman in Tuesday’s Democratic congressional primary, ousting the two-term lawmaker after a bruising campaign that focused heavily on their differences over Israel.
On the campaign trail, Lander concentrated much of his attention on immigration and his opposition to U.S. military aid for Israel — and he was buoyed by an early endorsement from Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Goldman, who staked out more supportive views on Israel on the campaign trail, became a household name after helping lead the first impeachment of President Donald Trump in 2019. A former federal prosecutor and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, he was first elected to Congress in 2022 by a razor-thin margin, making his seat a target for progressives seeking to expand their footprint in the city’s congressional delegation.
The race was called for Lander shortly after polls closed in New York City as early ballot returns showed him trouncing Goldman by more than 30 percentage points.
Mamdani’s endorsement provided Lander with a major edge in Goldman’s district, which Mamdani won handily in last year’s New York City mayoral election. Lander ran unsuccessfully for mayor last year before endorsing Mamdani — and they have since formed a close alliance, as evinced by the fact that the mayor introduced Lander at his election night party at a brewery in Brooklyn.
After lavishing praise on Mamdani, Lander said his win shows that the future for the Democratic Party lies in its left wing.
“We ran this campaign like a team sport, because that’s what it takes to stand up to billionaires and bullies,” Lander told his supporters. “And that’s what I intend to do in Congress. Our team of progressive champions has been winning across the country, and our ranks will keep growing, tonight and in the months ahead.”
The result wasn’t unexpected, as a recent poll showed Lander holding a commanding lead. With the primary in the bag, Lander is expected to coast in November’s general election, since there’s no competitive Republican candidate on the ballot.
Goldman’s district is safely Democratic, so Lander’s victory will not impact the party’s broader push to reclaim control of the House in November’s midterm elections.
Lander’s win is, however, a boon for the Democratic Party’s ascendant left wing — and a feather in the cap for Mamdani, who endorsed Lander the same day he launched his campaign in mid-December. The two other congressional candidates in New York City endorsed by Mamdani also prevailed in their runs, making Tuesday a very good night for Mamdani, who’s likely to seize on the results as evidence that he’s a kingmaker in local politics.
The primary victories give Mamdani stronger allies on Capitol Hill who are more likely to push his priorities, a sharp contrast with Goldman, who never offered support for Mamdani during last year’s New York City mayoral race.
“I’ve known Brad for some time, first as a colleague, as a friend and over the course of that race and beyond, as a partner in this work,” Mamdani told reporters before departing Lander’s party.
In many ways, Lander and Goldman, who are both Jewish, do not differ that much from each other politically. They are both ardent critics of the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration agenda and agree millionaires should be taxed at higher rates.
Lander found an edge, though, by making the race about Israel.
Fashioning himself a “liberal Zionist,” Lander attacked Goldman relentlessly on the campaign trail over the perception that the incumbent hasn’t been forceful enough in speaking out against Israel’s war in Gaza, which has left more than 75,000 Palestinians dead after being launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack. Lander has blasted Goldman for not supporting legislation to block more U.S. military aid for Israel and accused him of kow-towing to pro-Israel lobbying groups by not calling the country’s war a “genocide.”
In his victory speech, Lander kept taking shots at Goldman on that front — and even took aim at former President Joe Biden.
“Our party needs to admit that Joe Biden’s ‘hug Bibi’ strategy was a catastrophic mistake. I believe it made us complicit in genocide,” Lander said, refrring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Neyanyahu. “Bombs we paid for killed more than 70,000 Palestinians — most of them women and children. Tanks we paid for left a million people homeless. Humanitarian aid still is not getting in.”
Lander was boosted by supportive super PACs, including one funded by prominent business owners who also backed Mamdani’s mayoral run, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads knocking Goldman over his Israel support in the leadup to the election.
The issue took an ugly turn this past weekend, when a coffee shop in Brooklyn wrote on social media that Goldman was not welcome because of his views on Israel — an attack many local Jewish leaders said reeked of antisemitism.
“As history has taught us: Antisemitic tropes and stereotypes, some of which I heard personally on this campaign, will ultimately be the undoing of our democracy if we all don’t lean in and speak out, even if it’s not politically expedient,” Goldman said in a brief concession speech at his election night party in downtown Manhattan.
Lander was also able to capitalize on his deep ties to the district, especially in the Brooklyn portion, which he represented for 11 years while serving as a member of the New York City Council.
Goldman tried to fend off Lander’s challenge by committing to spend as much as $1 million of his own money on the race. Ultimately, the money didn’t move the needle enough for Goldman, who serves on the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees.
Lander mounted his challenge after placing third in the city’s Democratic mayoral primary last June. Initially, he angled for a top job in Mamdani’s administration after the mayoral race, but he switched gears to run for Congress after the mayor reportedly informed him there would be no position available for him at City Hall.
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