Election Q&A: Meet NY-12 Candidate Micah Lasher

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Democratic candidate Micah Lasher is running for Congress in District 12 in New York City's primary election on Tuesday, June 23.

Lasher will face off against fellow Democratic candidates for Jerry Nadler's seat, including Assemblymember Alex Bores, Jack Schlossberg, George Conway, Nina Schwalbe, Laura Dunn and Chris Diep.

NY-12 includes the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Midtown, Hell’s Kitchen, Central Park, Union Square, Chelsea and Stuyvesant Town.

Ahead of the election, Patch posed several questions to Lasher about his platform, priorities, experience, and district. See his replies below.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article contains information about one of several candidates who have announced their campaigns for NY-12 in the 2026 primary election. Patch has contacted the other candidates with the same questions and will post replies as they are received. None of what Lasher said during this interview has been fact-checked.

PATCH: What neighborhood are you from?

LASHER: I am a proud New York patriot. I was born on the East Side, grew up on the West Side, and have lived here in Manhattan my entire life – minus six regrettable childhood years in New Jersey! Today, my wife Elizabeth and I are raising three children here — Nate (15), Ben (14), and Phoebe (10) – on the Upper West Side.

It was a strange and wonderful feeling, playing with my own kids in the same playgrounds I grew up in. We belong to the same synagogue, Rodeph Sholom, that I grew up attending. And we are a proud public school family, with many weekend hours spent at Little League games and scholastic chess tournaments.

I cannot imagine living anywhere but our great city, and it would be the honor of a lifetime to represent the community that raised me in Congress.

PATCH: What languages do you speak?

LASHER: English

PATCH: What’s your professional and educational background?

LASHER: I am fortunate to be a New York City public school graduate. I attended Stuyvesant High School and then attended New York University, where I graduated in 2003 with a degree in sociology.

I am proud to have dedicated my career to public service. I served as Policy Director for Governor Hochul, Chief of Staff in the New York State Attorney General’s Office, Director of State Legislative Affairs for the City of New York under Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and as an aide to Rep. Jerry Nadler. I played a key role in passing landmark laws to strengthen gun control, protect abortion access, and raise and index the minimum wage. I was also the author of a comprehensive package of legislation to expand the supply of housing in New York, which The New York Times called the “first serious attempt by a New York governor since the 1960s” to tackle the state’s massive housing shortage. I have also served as a trustee and officer of Everytown for Gun Safety, the Riverside Park Conservancy, and the Community Service Society.

I am currently a member of the New York State Assembly, where I’ve been the legislature’s leader in using state power to fight back against the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans. I have passed significant legislation to protect New Yorkers from housing discrimination, update our consumer protection laws for the first time in over 40 years, expand wind and solar energy supply, and protect immigrant New Yorkers from the terrors of ICE.

PATCH: Renter or owner?

LASHER: My family owns our apartment.

PATCH: The cost of living in NYC is going up. What’s your plan to make New York City more affordable?

LASHER: Everywhere we turn, New Yorkers face rising costs — from a growing housing shortage and steep rents, to higher insurance premiums and utility bills, to skyrocketing child care costs. We need a Congress that aggressively works to solve the affordability crisis, and the Democratic party must make it a top priority. I am committed to doing that, and plan to address the cost-of-living crisis by championing dramatic investments in housing construction, raising and indexing the federal minimum wage, and fighting for Medicare for All.

Addressing the housing shortage should be a top priority in the fight to tackle the affordability crisis. More than half of New York’s tenants are considered rent-burdened. I am proud of work I’ve done on this issue throughout my career — from helping enact the largest affordable housing capital plan in New York State’s history ($4.5 billion of State investment), to proposing New York’s first public revolving loan fund for affordable housing, to my work in the Attorney General’s Office returning 1,800 apartments to rent stabilization after landlords had illegally taken them out of the program. I would continue this work as a member of Congress — working to increase Federal funding and support for affordable housing of all kinds and the tenants that depend on it. In Congress, I would fight for a substantial increase in Federal investment in low- and middle-income housing creation; an expansion of the Section 8 voucher program; investment in Section 9 that flows through to NYCHA; the repeal of the Faircloth Amendment; the Green New Deal for Public Housing; and the Build More Housing Near Transit Act.

Child care is another major driver of the affordability crisis, and one where we need to start delivering tangible results. If we are serious about lowering costs for working families, we must expand access to affordable child care. In the Governor’s office, I was centrally involved in efforts to more than double income eligibility for New York’s child care assistance program, from a maximum of $55,000 for a family of four to $113,000. But there are far too many families who remain excluded from that program for a host of reasons, and more still for whom it doesn’t fit their needs or who can’t find a provider. Meanwhile, New York State’s increased income threshold, which still leaves out many middle-class families — particularly in the city — is now at the maximum level for Federal dollars to be used. This is why we must dramatically expand federal funding for childcare and pass Sen. Warren’s Child Care for Every Community Act.

Finally, the cost of utilities is far too high and contributes in a substantial way to the affordability crisis we face. In Congress, I will proudly support H.R.6758, the UPLIFT Act, which would establish a federal tax credit for residential utility costs. I would also support H.R.2486, the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, which would increase funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). And I would be a strong voice for greater oversight and regulation of utility companies that are hiking rates and driving profits to shareholders on the backs of working families.

PATCH: What is your position on bike lane expansion and street redesigns?

LASHER: We must make sure our streets are safe and navigable for all. I support street design that provides for safe cycling, the smooth flow of traffic, and ensures that pedestrians can walk without risk from either cars or bikes. We also need to address the fact that e-bikes have become a serious concern for many New Yorkers. In my capacity as a State Assemblyman, I conducted a quality-of-life survey, and constituents reported the proliferation of e-bikes, often flouting basic rules of the road, as their number one concern. That is why I support requiring registration, licensure, and insurance for e-bikes, and why I will continue to work closely with our local police precincts to ensure that our traffic laws are enforced and that our streets remain safe for all.

PATCH: List two ways you plan to make New York safer.

LASHER: A big part of being a Congressman is focusing on issues in the district, and coordinating with state and local agencies and elected officials to address them. No local issue is more important to New Yorkers than crime, and making sure that everyone is safe in their neighborhood and as they move through the city. As a State Assemblyman, I have worked closely with local NYPD precincts and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to address crime and quality-of-life issues, including local crime and drug-dealing hotspots, and I would broaden this focus to the entirety of the 12th Congressional District if I am fortunate enough to represent it. I will also continue my work to tackle the mental health crisis. I previously helped craft New York State’s $1 billion investment plan in mental health, and worked to strengthen our laws on involuntary hospitalization for individuals whose mental illness poses a danger to themselves or others. Federal law, however, substantially restricts the use of Medicaid funding for the most acute psychiatric care, and I will work to fix this.

PATCH: What are your thoughts on the buffer zone bills sparked by protests in the district?

LASHER: I am proud to have been the State Assembly’s lead sponsor of buffer zone legislation, to ensure that New Yorkers can enter and exit from their houses of worship without having to run through a gauntlet of hate. I introduced this bill after an awful incident outside Park East Synagogue in the fall, and saw it through to passage in the State budget enacted last month. These issues affect all New Yorkers, but are of particular concern in the Jewish community, where we have faced a dramatic increase in antisemitic incidents and violence. My legislation is an important part of the response, and appropriately balances constitutional protections for free speech with every New Yorker’s right to move freely and safely in our city.

PATCH: What type of relationship will you have with the Trump administration?

LASHER: My top priority in Washington will be to lead an aggressive, strategic, and effective resistance to the cruel and corrupt policies of the Trump administration. Over the past year, we have seen Donald Trump and his sycophants terrorize our immigrant communities, attack American democracy, and engage in acts of corruption that have no precedent in the history of our country. Congressional Democrats aren’t doing nearly enough to fight back. My relationship with the Trump administration will be one of fierce, principled opposition.

I have written detailed plans for Democrats in Washington to use their power to slow and stall the Trump agenda — a 65-page “Project 2026” — that lays out exactly how we will throw sand in the gears of the Trump agenda, hold those in charge accountable, and Trump-proof our laws. We must repeal Trump’s tax breaks for the rich and ensure that the wealthy contribute their fair share, support the PRO Act to make it easier for workers to join unions, increase funding for public schools and public higher education so that every child has the tools they need to succeed, and stop Trump abuses across the board — from abolishing ICE to investigating lawbreaking by Trump officials across his entire cabinet

PATCH: It’s a large field: what sets you apart from the other candidates?

LASHER: Everyone talks about protecting New Yorkers from Donald Trump and tackling affordability. I have been doing the work and getting results.

On issue after issue, I have been a leader in passing laws that fight back against Trump and his administration. I wrote the bills — now taken up by the Governor — to keep ICE out of sensitive locations and to allow New Yorkers to hold individual ICE agents legally accountable. I sponsored legislation to fight fire with fire when it comes to redistricting and allow New York to redraw our congressional lines. I wrote the law to protect the right to organize in New York even as Trump whittles away at the NLRB. And I worked with Attorney General Tish James to strengthen state laws so she could protect New Yorkers in areas where Federal agencies are being shut down.

I am the only candidate with detailed plans for Democrats in Congress to use their power to thwart the Trump agenda. Politico called me ‘one of the field generals’ in the ‘fight between red and blue America,’ and I’ll take this experience and fighting spirit to Washington.

I still believe — even in these dark times — that the government is uniquely able to improve the material conditions of people’s lives at scale. Throughout my career, I have a long record of using government as a tool to make a difference for working families: enacting the largest affordable housing capital plan in New York’s history, more than doubling income eligibility for New York’s childcare program, and indexing New York’s minimum wage to inflation. I will make the case that voters should not have to choose between energy and experience — and with my candidacy, they can vote for someone who has both.

Finally, in a crowded and noisy primary, voters will look to leaders they trust to help figure out which candidate deserves their support. I am proud of the broad coalition of support that my campaign has assembled: Congressman Jerry Nadler, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Governor Kathy Hochul, Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Comptroller Mark Levine, Councilmembers Gale Brewer and Shaun Abreu, State Senators Erik Bottcher and Brian Kavanagh, and Assemblymembers Linda Rosenthal and Deborah Glick, have joined forces to support this campaign. This coalition has grown to include seven of the ten political clubs in the district, as well as a number of significant labor unions and advocacy groups, including Actor’s Equity Association and the League of Conservation Voters.

PATCH: What local experience most shaped your politics?

LASHER: Without knowing it, I rented my first apartment out of college from one of the city’s worst landlords, Steve Croman. After a horrific electrical fire destroyed our apartment, we had to take Croman to court just to get our security deposit back. It was eye-opening to me how little power tenants have when they’re in a fight with their landlord, and how important our systems of government and justice are to ensuring fair outcomes. (This is a big part of the reasons I have focused on tenant issues throughout my time in government — from helping bring 1,800 apartments back into rent stabilization when I was in the Attorney General’s office, to passing legislation just last month to better enable our District Attorneys to prosecute systemic tenant harassment.)

My basic political philosophy — and the idea that has animated all of my involvement in politics and government — is that government remains the best force we have to solve problems at scale and improve the material conditions of people’s lives. I see that as the basic proposition of the Democratic Party — or, at least, what it should stand for — and precisely the proposition that the Republican Party and Donald Trump aim to discredit.

I got my start in public service working as an aide to Congressman Jerry Nadler nearly twenty years ago. It was a defining and formative chapter of my early career, allowing me to see firsthand how dedicated leadership can serve a community and make a material difference. It is a privilege to have Congressman Nadler’s support now as I work to continue that mission for the district where I was born and raised.

For questions, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.