Brad Lander, a former New York City comptroller backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, is projected to win Tuesday’s Democratic primary for New York’s 10th Congressional District, setting up another progressive victory as the race becomes a direct referendum on how D
When Brad Lander stepped into an early-voting line on Sunday at John Jay High School in Brooklyn. the campaign message was already clear—and confrontational. Lander, a longtime progressive, cast his ballot while accusing incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman of being too moderate and too accommodating of the Israeli government.
“It’s time to elect Democrats who’ll fight, not fold, against the forces of authoritarianism & corporate greed,” Lander wrote in a social media post as he cast that early ballot.
Lander’s path toward Tuesday’s primary victory has been framed by his challenge to Goldman’s approach on Israel and his push to the left of the party. The race. held in New York’s 10th Congressional District—covering lower Manhattan and several Brooklyn neighborhoods—has carried extra voltage because of who lives there and what’s at stake in Washington.
More than 1 in 5 of district residents are Jewish, according to a 2024 study, and both Lander and Goldman are Jewish. The district has also become a key political testing ground for how Democrats intend to address the war in Gaza after Oct. 7, 2023.
Lander has called Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide” and has advocated for pausing U.S. military aid to the country. Goldman, by contrast, has been portrayed as closer to the mainstream Democratic position on Israel. Lander’s campaign has turned that gap into a central dividing line: he has argued he would not be “doing AIPAC’s bidding. ” referencing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
That difference has mattered politically because. in this contest. support from the most influential pro-Israel organization in Washington has been part of the calculus. Goldman has been endorsed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), and also by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Goldman even acknowledged recently that AIPAC’s involvement might have hurt his cause.
The endorsement that helped power Lander’s bid came from within City Hall. Lander earned an endorsement from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who campaigned for Lander and several other left-wing congressional hopefuls and downballot candidates ahead of Tuesday’s primary.
Their relationship runs deeper than this cycle. Lander and Mamdani co-endorsed each other ahead of last year’s New York City mayoral primary campaign. when the city’s ranked-choice voting system for local elections helped boost both candidates. In that contest, Lander finished third behind Mamdani and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Goldman, meanwhile, declined to endorse Mamdani even after he became the Democratic Party’s nominee for mayor. In backing Mamdani, Lander broadened the reach for his eventual congressional run and earned valuable political capital.
Lander launched his congressional campaign in December, the month following the conclusion of the mayor’s race. By that point, he had secured Mamdani’s endorsement as well as that of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other progressives. Goldman’s campaign leaned on top party and statewide allies—Jeffries, Hochul, and AIPAC.
The campaign’s contrasts also show up in Lander’s public record of protest. A campaign launch advertisement featured Lander being arrested by federal agents when he attempted to accompany a man attending proceedings in immigration court. Prosecutors did not bring charges in that case. Lander was arrested a second time during a sit-in protest with other elected officials. In that instance, Lander opted for a bench trial and was recently found not guilty of a misdemeanor obstruction charge.
Those moments helped shape how Lander presents himself: on the campaign’s terms, he is the fighter, not the peacemaker. On policy. his platform includes abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. instituting “Medicare for All. ” building new housing. and pausing U.S. aid to Israel. He has also sought to push New York’s congressional delegation to the left.
In a recent debate, Lander framed the race as a choice about U.S. foreign policy and the risk of political division in his district. “If people want someone who is really going to fight to end Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. to make it so that Jewish New Yorkers and Muslim New Yorkers can work together instead of be divided from each other. and try to address the failures of U.S. foreign policy, the choice is clear,” Lander said.
Tuesday’s primary, with Lander projected to unseat Goldman, is therefore not just another intra-party contest. It is a referendum on whether the Democratic coalition should broaden its willingness to challenge Israeli government policy—and on how far that push can go in a district where Jewish residents and Jewish candidates are deeply rooted in the local story.
There is also an internal power shift unfolding in parallel. Lander’s win would be another victory for Mamdani. the democratic socialist who backed a slate of left-wing candidates ahead of the vote. The two men’s co-endorsement history in last year’s mayoral primary—shaped by ranked-choice voting and a crowded path to political momentum—now feeds into a bigger fight for Congress.
At the center of that bigger fight sits Lander’s promise to cut closer to the political instincts of progressives while directly targeting Goldman’s positioning as too accommodating. If the early ballot Sunday was any signal. the message is meant to land with voters: in this district. the future direction of Democrats in Washington may hinge on how they respond when the question isn’t abstract. but immediate—how the U.S. supports a government at war, and what that support costs in lives, money, and trust.
Brad Lander Dan Goldman New York 10th Congressional District Democratic primary Zohran Mamdani Bernie Sanders AIPAC Israel Gaza U.S. aid Medicare for All immigration ICE