By Gus Saltonstall
Of the candidates vying to succeed longtime Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler in Congress, there is one who is already an elected official representing the Upper West Side: State Assemblymember Micah Lasher.
Since early 2025, Lasher has represented Assembly District 69, which covers a large chunk of the Upper West Side and the entirety of Morningside Heights.
Since announcing his bid for New York’s 12th Congressional District in September, he’s been endorsed in the race by multiple prominent elected officials, including Nadler, who has backed Lasher as the person to succeed him.
Some of Lasher’s other endorsements include former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and Upper West Side Councilmember Gale Brewer.
Lasher got his start in politics as an aide to Nadler, before working as a legislative director for then-Mayor Bloomberg; prior to his run for the State Assembly, he served as Hochul’s policy director.
Including Lasher, there are 10 Democrats still running for the NY-12 congressional seat, along with five Republican and four Independent candidates. West Side Rag is looking to profile as many of these candidates as possible.
Most recently we spoke with Lasher. Our interview focused on his stances on central campaign issues such as affordability and immigration; on his reasons for running; on what it means to have Nadler in his corner; and on his favorite spots in the neighborhood.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
WSR: Why was this the right time to seek new office and why this congressional seat?
Lasher: From day 1 in the Assembly, I focused on the question of how to use legislative power to fight back against the Trump administration. In the Assembly, that was state legislative power. When Congressman Nadler announced he wasn’t going to run again, it felt like a logical extension of that work. To bring that same fighting spirit to Congress.
More generally, in a moment of genuine existential crisis for the country, all of us are asking the question of what can we do. What is the role that each of us can play in standing up and fighting back? I believe that all of us in some small way have a role to play, and I want to know, when it’s all said and done, that I did everything that I can. I know how to use legislative power to make change. That is the skillset I have, and by being the representative for my community in Congress, is the best use I could put it toward right now.
WSR: Can you point to some of your legislative successes in the Assembly?
Lasher: The first significant bill that I introduced was to respond to Donald Trump’s longstanding assault against the Fair Housing Act by bringing the full force of that law into state statute. So, I introduced legislation to empower the state attorney general and New Yorkers to enforce the Fair Housing Act fully, using state law, at a time when Trump has shut down those efforts at the federal level. Along the same lines, I introduced and passed the most significant expansion of our state’s consumer protection law in four years, working together with Attorney General Tish James, at a time when Donald Trump is turning the lights off at the [federal] Consumer Protection Bureau.
WSR: I want to make sure we discuss Jerry Nadler. He’s been a figurehead of the Upper West Side for decades. What does it mean for him to back you as a successor and how would you look to continue his legacy?
Lasher: He is someone who has had an iconic status in this community for my entire political consciousness. It is an extremely humbling thing to have him say that I would be a worthy successor. I think the reason he is viewed with such respect by so many people in this community is primarily because they know how thoughtfully he approaches issues and how fearlessly he takes his positions. Even when people don’t agree with him, there is no question that he is operating from a place of enormous intelligence and integrity. To earn the respect of one’s constituents in that way is not an easy thing and will take whomever succeeds him, time. It would be an incredible achievement to earn even a fraction of the respect that he maintains from the people of this district.
WSR: Nadler was also known locally as being a regular at Utopia Diner. Do you have a favorite diner in the neighborhood?
Lasher: We’re sitting in it. [WSR conducted this interview in City Diner]
WSR: Your background is more connected to the Upper West Side, but I was curious in what ways you think the Upper West Side and Upper East Side, along with the entire district in general, are similar?
Lasher: I was born at Lenox Hill Hospital. From the very beginning, my life has been bi-coastal. It’s not just East Side vs. West Side. This is a district that runs from 14th Street to 96th Street, and then some. There are lots of neighborhoods and micro-neighborhoods within this district that have their own unique character and nature. I don’t want to gloss over those differences. At the same time, one thing that is true throughout the district is a very strong sense of liberal values. I use that phrase broadly speaking. A real belief that we need to fight for more than just our needs, we need to fight for our values. And, at the heart of those values is a belief that we should be concerned with the welfare of our neighbor, and both sides of the park want to send someone to Congress who will fight not just for the needs of the district, but for the values of the district.
WSR: How would you look to balance the global and national issues you would focus on in Washington D.C., with still making sure you show up for residents within NY-12 on more local subjects?
Lasher: I’ve done that in my time in the Assembly. If you look at the legislation that I have advanced, it is significant in its scope and substance. I have tried to tackle issues of consequence in the context of state government, while at the same time sweating the more local stuff. But that’s the important stuff in the district, from sidewalk sheds, to small businesses, to e-bikes. I have demonstrated an ability to be both a thoughtful big picture legislator and a focused local representative.
WSR: If elected, you would be brought into a relationship with the executive branch. What would your guiding light on that front be?
Lasher: We are in a fight for the preservation of our democracy with the Trump administration. Anyone who doesn’t get that shouldn’t be a Democrat in Congress. Anyone who thinks we’re in a negotiation with the Trump administration has lost the plot. The job of whomever represents this district in Congress is to use every tool we’ve got to fight back, and to hold off the assault on, not just the rule of law, but on New Yorkers, that is coming from this White House for hopefully long enough that Democrats can take back power and begin rebuilding.
WSR: Immigration is a leading issue nationally and on the local level in New York City. You visited Minneapolis earlier this year to see what was happening there in regards to ICE’s activities. What would you look to accomplish on the immigration front?
Lasher: In the immediate, we need to shut down ICE, which is a rogue agency that is terrorizing communities like what I saw in Minneapolis. Nobody voted for this type of cruelty and violence. I fundamentally reject the idea that we can’t have a rational immigration policy that isn’t rooted in cruelty and violence. In the longer term, we need comprehensive immigration reform that is focused on the foundational principle that we want people to come here, build lives here, and be full participants in our society.
I would observe that this is not just a moral issue, but it is an issue of enormous economic importance for New York City. We have not had a single year where NYC has seen a net population increase, if you do not account for international migration. If we shut the doors to this country, New York will be enormously worse off for it. New York has an interest in fundamentally restoring a sense of decency to how our federal government approaches immigration.
WSR: Affordability is another one of those leading issues. How would you look to make life more affordable in NY-12?
Lasher: I’ve worked a great deal on housing issues. We need the federal government more robustly investing in the creation of affordable housing. This community was the epicenter of Mitchell-Lama housing, which exemplifies the power of the public sector to make a meaningful difference for middle class families, and we need to bring that spirit back. I also think that the federal government should be leveraging the large amounts of money that we spend on transportation and infrastructure to push for laws and policies that promote the creation of housing.
We also need to end the decades-long dereliction of the federal government when it comes to public housing. New York City today has more public housing than any city in America, and we are suffering enormously, and the New Yorkers who live in public housing are suffering enormously with the federal government being an absentee landlord. We must turn that around.
WSR: What does improving public safety look like to you at the federal level?
Lasher: The federal government needs to provide financial support for public safety efforts that are the primary responsibility of local government. David Dinkins worked with the federal government to get significant amounts of federal funding to strengthen the police department. I certainly think the federal government has an important role to play in that regard.
WSR: Among these issues, or others we haven’t spoken about, do you have a first bill you would look to sponsor?
Lasher: I would do two things. One is significant voter protection and voter rights legislation because we are inching closer and closer to fully imperiled elections by an administration that is not interested in free and fair elections. I would pair that with legislation to double the minimum wage and index it to inflation because I believe that Democrats need to act in concrete and aggressive ways to address economic concerns and hardships that Americans are facing.
WSR: And then locally, how long have you lived on the Upper West Side?
Lasher: More or less for my entire life. There was a six-year interregnum in my childhood that didn’t take in New Jersey, and we moved back. I’ve lived in the same building for the last 17 years. I’m raising my three kids in the same streets and playgrounds that I grew up in. My oldest son goes to Stuyvesant High School where I graduated from. If nothing else, I am a fierce New York City patriot and proud Manhattanite. I have enormous pride of place and that is very much part of the fuel of my campaign.
WSR: And any favorite places on the Upper West Side or in the district that you could share?
Lasher: I’m loyal to Riverside Park, where I was on the board of the conservancy for a decade and served as chair for five years. My favorite burger in the city is J.G. Mellon. Favorite potato latke, among other things, is Barney Greengrass. One of my favorite spots in the city is sitting in the Delacorte Theater overlooking Belvedere Castle. I spent a lot of time and countless joyful moments in this district. There’s no other place I ever want to live.
WSR: To end, if someone came up to you on the street and said, ‘Tell me why I should vote for you in one minute,’ what is your response?
Lasher: There is no one else in this race with a record of making change on as many important issues as I have developed over the course of a career serving as an aide to Congressman Nadler, as a director of legislative affairs at City Hall, as chief of staff to the Attorney General, as policy director for the governor, and as a member of the State Assembly. We are all running for the job of legislator. In this moment, the question at the top of people’s minds is how can we use legislative power to fight back against a hostile and fascistic regime, and there is nobody in this race who has done that more effectively than I have.
We are also in a moment where there is an enormous need for change. Not just change from the Trump administration but change from a status quo that has failed to meet the needs of far too many Americans and far too many New Yorkers. The work of change is still work. I know how to do that work.
You can find out more about Lasher on his campaign website — HERE.
Read More:
- A WSR Conversation With Candidate Nina Schwalbe in the Race to Represent the UWS in Congress
- Meet the UES Candidate Running to Represent Both the UES and UWS in Congress
- Meet Karen Ortiz, an Independent Candidate Running to Represent the UWS in Congress
- A WSR Conversation With Candidate Laura Dunn in the Race to Represent the UWS in Congress
- Meet Caroline Shinkle, a Republican Candidate Running to Represent the UWS in Congress
- A WSR Conversation With Candidate Patrick Timmins in the Race to Represent the UWS in Congress
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I WISH democrats in these interviews would proposals other than “get the federal government to spend more on topic X.”
You want to increase housing? Reduce the regulations that hamper construction. There is far more residential housing being built in red states (who supposedly don’t care about poor people).
I am not crazy about the flood of mailings I’ve been receiving. But Lasher seems to touch on a lot of important points.
To me: yes, resistance to attempts at authoritarian takeovers of the political system. In addition: public safety, transit, funding of cultural things, housing (not nec in that order)