By Gus Saltonstall
Micah Lasher, the former policy director for Gov. Kathy Hochul, launched his campaign Wednesday in the race to succeed Daniel O’Donnell in Assembly District 69, the candidate told West Side Rag exclusively .
Lasher, a lifelong Upper West Sider, joins already-announced Democratic candidates Eli Northrup, Melissa Rosenberg, and Barry Weinberg in the contest to represent a district that stretches from West 80th to West 125th streets, including significant sections of Riverside Park and Central Park.
“I’m running for Assembly to be an independent, progressive voice for our community on the toughest, most complicated issues of our time: from building housing and reducing homelessness, to strengthening public education and mental health care, to protecting New York’s laws and freedoms from a reactionary Supreme Court and Donald Trump,” Lasher said in his announcement.
“I would bring to the job a lifetime of lived experience on the West Side, deep experience spent getting difficult things done in Albany, and a drive to make lasting, progressive change,” he added.
Lasher’s entrance into the race for the state assembly seat comes with a slew of high-profile endorsements, including Congressmember Jerry Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, Councilmember Shaun Abreu, former New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, and former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger.
“Micah Lasher will bring not only a wealth of policy expertise to the State Assembly, he brings valuable experience serving the West Side and solving constituent problems — work he began years ago as a community representative in my office,” Nadler said in a news release about Lasher’s candidacy announcement.
Danny O’Donnell, who has represented the 69th District for more than 20 years, announced in November he would not be seeking reelection.
Lasher, who has been rumored to be a candidate for the District 69 seat for months, stepped down from his job within the governor’s office last week.
While working under Hochul, he played a central role in writing gun safety laws following mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, as well as helping to enact legislation to protect abortion providers and patients. Lasher has also served on the Riverside Park Conservancy board for the last nine years, and as chair for the last four and half.
Lasher started out in public service locally as an aide to Congressman Nadler, before going on to work within the city’s Department of Education and then as director of State Legislative Affairs under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
He then went to become the chief of staff of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and in 2016, he ran and lost a close race for a state senate seat that included the Upper West Side.
“The West Side, Morningside Heights, and Manhattan Valley will be lucky to have his (Lasher’s) voice — and experience — in Albany,” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said.
You can find out more about Lasher’s campaign on his official candidate website — HERE.
Read More:
-
Daniel O’Donnell, Longtime UWS and Morningside Heights Rep, Won’t Seek Reelection
-
Race to Replace Danny O’Donnell: Candidates Competing to Represent the UWS and Morningside Heights
Subscribe to WSR’s free email newsletter here.
How about decreasing crime, increasing police, decreasing homeless, drug, and immigrant shelters, decreasing weed shops, and bringing in more business and jobs in Broadway corridor.
the (legal) weed shops bring in a ton of business and jobs, not to mention tax revenue.
According to NYS, there are no legal weed shops in the UWS.
https://cannabis.ny.gov/dispensary-location-verification
Let’s please reduce any/all illegal shops, weed or non-weed.
I’m sorry to see Daniel O’Donnell go.
He has been so helpful so many times in so many ways and has been a real service to the Upper West Side community.
Good experience. If you want to stand out in a candidate field, perhaps do not use the word “progressive” so much. Progressive is not the same as common sense. Which is what we really need.
Agree. “Progressive” has become a very loaded term. Lasher is a smart guy. Unfortunately, he is probably right in using it because a lot of our neighbors would rather be “progressive” than “safe.”
Lasher seems like a good guy but also is too much of a politician. And all of those endorsements are not necessarily a positive.
I will withhold final judgement until he issues a position on crime and his plans to deal with it. This is a top priority for many of us, and I believe the position he is running for actually can do something about it. What say you, Mr. Lasher?
Anyone who supports DeBlasio; Adamas; AG James; and Bragg is not an ideal candidate in my view. As a life-long UWS, my biggest fear is safety. The safety of my neighbors, family, and myself. Crime is unchecked; fare beating is the norm; and criminals are rarely punished!
Crime is 25% lower than the best year of the Giuliani administration and I’m betting that you thought we were safe then.
The overall crime rate has been stable for about 15 months now so no, it’s not unchecked.
Dpn’t care what you say, I never had to watch my back more and never felt more unsafe taking the subway than I have over the last 4 years. Have lived here 20 years and I’ve never felt worse. I don’t care about any statistics.
I know. Feelings top facts for many. And I feel for those people because it harms their quality of life and keeps them home needlessly.
The fact remains that crime today is lower than when you got here.
Ask any woman, truly, ask any woman how she feels taking the subway after 10pm now vs five years ago. I don’t care what the stats say. I felt more safe in the Bloomberg and Giuliani administrations and that matters to me every day as I walk in my city. I want to feel safe again and not threatened at a moment’s notice. Again, ask the women how they feel.
No amount of police will make women feel safer. Women didn’t feel safe even in those years. What makes women safer is alternative transportation like being able to drive their own cars and express buses where the riders tend to know each other.
Please don’t presume to speak for women. I’ve been on the UWS since 1989, when it was not safe. But from some point in the mid 90s until 2020, I absolutely felt safe. I feel safer now than in the early 90s, but I have definitely adjusted my behavior to be more in line with those years, particularly regarding the subways .
Women will feel safer when criminals are arrested – and the district attorneys go through with prosecuting the crime. Not like now where they lessen the crimes because they can’t make the case in the new shortened time. Yes, that’s happening. Ask a DA’s office. And the severe mentally ill are given the real care they need indoors not put back on the street after an hour in the hospital. Won’t happen in this administration.
You can arrest all the criminals you want but there’s a sense of safety and security in your own car that can’t be beat. There’s also a sense of safety and security on an MTA express bus that can’t be beat.
Glad to hear that our District includes “significant sections of Riverside Park and Central Park” – I had no idea we had voters there! I’m sure all those squirrels & raccoons in Riverside Park, at least, will turn out for Micah.
“progressive voice………protecting New York’s laws and freedoms from a reactionary Supreme Court and Donald Trump,” :YAWN: ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
What will he do about racial profiling by police? Muslims even those who condemn terrorism and Hamas are being harassed by police and its just as bad as the Bloomberg era.
As a Muslim who condemns Hamas and all Islamic extremism and fully support Israel I don’t feel completely welcome on the UWS
Do any of the candidates describe themselves as amoderate Democrat?
None of them do. Moderates and conservatives can’t win on the UWS. The only way they’ll win is if you force city workers like cops to live on the UWS.