Brad Lander beat incumbent U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman in the Democratic primary for the NY-10th Congressional district spanning lower Manhattan and a big chunk of brownstone Brooklyn, one of several congressional races in left-leaning districts where Mayor Mamdani sought to flex his muscle, according to unofficial results from the Associated Press.
Lander, a former city comptroller and 2025 mayoral candidate, took a solid lead with 64% of the vote compared to just 36% for Goldman with more than 50% of votes counted.
“We’ve got to fight harder for working families and have people see us fighting for them, and we have to reset the U.S. relationship with Israel,” Lander said as results rolled in.
The wide victory margin for Lander amounted to a big boost for the mayor, who put his political credibility on the line for three progressive allies.
Lander was considered the favorite over Rep. Dan Goldman from the moment he jumped into the race, and cleared the field of other potential progressive challengers with the help of Mamdani.
The two-man race was shaped by Mamdani putting his finger on the scales to help Lander, extending their media-friendly bromance that started when they endorsed one another in the ranked-choice mayoral primary.
With decades of experience in his Park Slope community, Lander was counting on racking up huge margins in the more populous Brooklyn section of the district while holding his own in progressive Manhattan neighborhoods like the East Village and lower East Side.
Goldman, a former lawyer for the first congressional impeachment of President Trump, first won the seat after a crowded 2022 primary in which several more left-leaning candidates split the vote.
He won a reputation in Washington, D.C. as an effective lawmaker and eloquent critic of Trump. He also racked up a string of establishment endorsements, including Gov. Hochul and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.
The two candidate sparred most aggressively over two big issues: Israel policy and President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Goldman is a strong supporter of Israel who enjoys the backing of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee while Lander, who frames himself as a liberal Zionist, opposes all military aid to the Jewish state after the wars in Gaza and Iran.
On immigration, Lander grabbed headlines when he got arrested seeking to protect an undocumented immigrant from federal agents. He was later acquitted of the charges.
Goldman countered by claiming he won improvements for undocumented immigrants at a detention center in lower Manhattan, He accused Lander of grandstanding.
They even fought over the Knicks. Goldman regularly posted photos of himself in team garb or attending games during the team’s playoff run.
But Lander appeared in a Knicks themed ad alongside Mamdani and the popular mayor’s “team” of three lefty congressional candidates.
