Down to the Wire: NY-12 Candidates Participate in Contentious Debate

With early voting for the Democratic primary for NY’s 12th Congressional district (NY-12) nomination starting June 13, the candidates are in their final push to show how they would address New Yorkers’ everyday issues and also take on President Trump.

Spectrum News NY1 invited five candidates, all of which passed a fundraising criteria, to the final June 9 debate: Assembly Member Micah Lasher, lawyer George Conway, Assembly member Alex Bores, Kennedy family member Jack Schlossberg, and public health expert Nina Schwalbe. At a previous debate, hosted June 4 by PIX11 News, Nina Schwalbe had not participated, due to invitations being extended to the four frontrunners of a May 21 poll (taken May 16-17). That poll, run by Emerson College, the most recent in the crowded eight candidate race, reported the following tally among likely voters: Lasher at 22%, Bores at 20%, Schlossberg at 11%, Conway at 9%, and the excluded Schwalbe at 3%. But the top choice for likely voters was the 32% who made up the undecided block.

The 12th Congressional district is the wealthiest Congressional district in the state and the third wealthiest in the nation with 40 percent reporting household income over $200,000. The district spans a huge swarth of Manhattan including Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Midtown from East to West and Roosevelt Island. The five democratic candidates, as well as three others not invited to NY1’s debate--engineer Chris Diep, civil rights lawyer Laura Dunn, and lawyer Patrick Timmins, are seeking to replace current NY-12 Congressman Jerry Nadler, who is not seeking after reelection U.S. House after his current term ends at year end.

At the debate, shots were fired over PAC funding, work experience, and stances on climate and foreign policy. Here’s a quick snapshot of where the candidates stand.

Schwalbe focused the majority of her debate remarks highlighting her expertise in public health and science, as well as touting her to stand up against Trump.

“I’m not a celebrity, I’m not a billionaire, and I’m not backed by the party. I’m a fighter, I’m a scientist, and I’m a Mom, and I know how to rebuild systems that are broken because I’ve built them.” Schwalbe said at the debate.

Bores and Lasher, the two frontrunners, spent a majority of the race throwing punches at each other for over their respective PAC funding and how it represents their interests in Congress -- particularly in regards to artificial intelligence (AI) and crypto. Almost all candidates brought up Bores’ history working as a data scientist for tech giant Palantir, while Bores in turn pushed back against Lasher, questioning him on the outside funding he has received from former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Bores, who has faced criticism for being ‘overly friendly’ to big tech, said the bills he has passed and the opposing Super PAC spending against him shows how he is ‘leading the fight’ in regulating AI technology.

“I know what actually happens inside these companies and that’s what terrifies them. If people think I’ve been overly friendly to tech, someone should tell the executives at Palantir that are funding the Super PAC against me,” Bores said at the debate.

In defending himself against his Super PAC backers, Lasher said Bloomberg’s endorsement is substantially better than Bores’ Super PAC supporters.

“We should be clear, there is a big difference between support for my campaign between Mike Bloomberg, whose administration I served, who lives in this district, who has no agenda he’s looking for me to carry out in Congress, who’s supporting me because he thinks I’d be a good Congressman, and the AI companies that have spent millions supporting Mr. Bores,” Lasher said at the debate.

Aside from their back and forth, Lasher emphasized his long tenure in public service while Bores stressed his efficiency in lawmaking and passing bills.

Conway’s debate centered on impeaching Trump, saying that the everyday issues will not be able to be passed with Trump still in office: “To deliver for New Yorkers through statutory means, by passing laws in Congress, requires a veto-proof majority.”

Schlossberg stood strong in his ability to take on family member Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., vaccine skeptic who is Trump’s secretary of health and human services.

When Lasher poked at Schlossberg about his family, Schlossberg responded saying he is not ashamed of his position as a grandson of President John F. Kennedy.

“I have made my way here myself,” Schlossberg said at the debate. “Do not ever invoke my family name to try to denigrate who I am.”

Schlossberg and Schwalbe closely aligned on most lightning round questions, saying they would stand with Taiwan against China and that they would both support the ’Block the Bombs’ act, requiring Israel to show the uses of American weapons abroad, while the other candidates said they would be in opposition. All five candidates answered that they would support building new housing, support congestion pricing, and want to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In a fun question, the candidates were asked how long it takes to be considered a real New Yorker. While Schlossberg and Lasher made statements saying all are welcome from the moment they associate with the city, Bores described the attitude of being a New Yorker and Conway getting stuck in an elevator in your office building. For Schwalbe, the answer was “when you realize when somebody is yelling at you on the street, they’re not actually yelling at you.”

Following the debate, Reddit users commented on the candidates, with @Necessary-Share2495 saying “I have been leaning towards Bores but was impressed by Nina Schwalbe. But realistically speaking, does she have any real chance or is it definitely going to be between Bores & Lasher?”

Others seemed to be less impressed with any of the candidates. User @champben98 wrote: “NY12 is such a depressing race relative to some of the other competitive races in the city. All of the major candidates are fully dependent on a bunch of oligarchs to fund their campaigns. Whatever they tell us, it’s those oligarchs that they are going to be responsive to.”