Voters in parts of Brooklyn will head to the polls Tuesday to decide who will represent them in Washington during the final two years of the Trump administration. For former City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is seeking to unseat incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in the NY-10 race, the choice is clear.
“It’s a pretty straightforward choice between this movement, progressive energy reflected in Zohran’s win… and a corporate Democrat who doesn't know what time it is on the other,” Lander said.
Lander, who is endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, has been a stalwart of Brooklyn’s progressive political scene since the 90s. For 12 years, he served as the City Council member for Brooklyn’s District 39, a district that stretches from Gowanus through Park Slope and into Borough Park.
Throughout his political career, his community organizing roots have remained a steadfast characteristic of his governance style.
“Change is not going to come because you elect the right person and that person goes to Congress and asks good questions or writes good laws,” Lander said. “Change happens because it’s done in deep relationship with people who need change… They organize, and then they find a legislator who's like, ‘Wait a minute, we could have a law that makes that illegal.’”
When Lander ran in the mayoral primary last year, he was widely praised for cross-endorsing Mamdani in the final stretch of the race—a decision which Lander said, “really was motivated by a white-hot hatred of Andrew Cuomo.” The move, which helped Mamdani surge past the former governor in the ranked choice vote, earned Lander a new degree of name recognition.
Now, Lander is vying for his first national-level seat, campaigning in a district that Mamdani took by an impressive margin.
New York’s 10th Congressional district is home to a sizeable Jewish population. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this year’s primary has been framed as something of a referendum on Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza. In both televised debates, Lander and his opponent immediately clashed on the issue.
Both Lander and his opponent are Jewish and identify as liberal Zionists. But Lander says he has long been a critic of the Israeli government. Lander has openly described Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as genocide and apartheid, has urged the U.S. government to stop sending military aid to the country, and pledged to refuse donations from pro-Israel lobbying groups.
“I think it's important to play a role there, helping the Jewish community grapple with complicity in genocide, which is not an easy thing to grapple with,” Lander said. “But also remember that inclusive multiracial democracy is what keeps us safe, and we have an important role to play in it.”
Foreign policy is one of a handful of issues on which Lander has sought to distinguish himself from his opponent, whom Lander repeatedly describes as out of touch with the district.
On the issue of immigration, Lander has positioned himself as a candidate who is not afraid to put his “body on the line.” In September, he and 10 other elected officials were arrested while attempting to inspect Immigration and Customs Enforcement rooms holding detained immigrants at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan.
“One of the best parts of the last year has been people saying, ‘Hey, when I saw you get arrested, that was the day I signed up to do court watching, or, you know, go out and start doing ICE watch,” Lander said.
It was not Lander’s first time getting arrested while engaging in civil disobedience. In 2015, Lander was arrested while standing in support of striking car wash workers in Park Slope. Since then, he has been arrested while protesting at least three other times, including at another ICE protest in June of 2025.
Throughout the campaign, Goldman has criticized Lander’s decision to reject the plea deal, calling the trial a “performative, self-promoting case”. He has also accused Lander of failing to center national legislation in his discussion of ICE accountability.
But for Lander, grassroots organizing is a foundation of effective progressive governance that cannot be pushed to the wayside. This is especially true when Congress is as stunted as it is now, he said.
“Donald Trump is the [expletive] president, so what is the point of Congress passing a bill that is going to restrict Trump's ICE that he's going to veto?” Lander said.
Lander has called for House Oversight Hearings to be called in Minnesota, where Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by federal ICE agents.
“That's an opportunity to connect movement organizing with the work that Congress is supposed to do,” Lander said. “And Democrats, just with the House, can hold that hearing, can shine the spotlight, and get the prosecution.”
At a time when New York remains vulnerable to federal immigration action, Lander said that he hopes to serve as Mamdani’s “ally in Washington." If elected, he will push to pass legislation that would raise taxes on the rich, fund public transit, and build much-needed affordable housing.
When asked how he feels about stepping up to the national stage, Lander expressed no trepidation.
“If we're gonna defeat fascism, it's going to be with the kind of energy that was moving in New York City this weekend,” Lander said.
