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Brad Lander, an ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, won the Democratic primary in a progressive New York House district on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, in a race that hinged largely on the candidates’ different stances on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

With 53 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Lander, a former city comptroller and mayoral candidate who has criticized Israel’s war in Gaza, was almost 30 points ahead of the incumbent, Representative Dan Goldman, a pro-Israel former federal prosecutor who helped lead the first impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

Mr. Lander benefited from his deep roots in the 10th District, which covers Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. His victory makes him the likely winner of the general election in November.

Mr. Lander, 56, was one of three progressive primary candidates endorsed by Mr. Mamdani, with whom he has had a political alliance since last year’s Democratic mayoral primary.

The two men began as rivals, but cross-endorsed each other as the primary date closed in, saying they wanted to work together to keep former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo from winning the nomination. Their alliance has elevated them both — Mr. Mamdani to City Hall, and Mr. Lander to the cusp of a congressional victory.

Mr. Lander reflected on the decision to team up with Mr. Mamdani during a televised debate last week, saying it had modeled a new kind of politics for New York.

“It unleashed a nice sense of solidarity,” he said on the debate stage. “People said to me, ‘Wait, you mean politics doesn’t have to be a sour, selfish ego trip — it can be a team sport for the values you share?’”

Among several closely watched primaries across the city and state, the contest in the 10th District was notable for the degree to which it was dominated by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both Mr. Lander and Mr. Goldman are Jewish and describe themselves as liberal Zionists, but they approach the issue in very different ways.

Mr. Lander has spent decades in the world of progressive Jewish activism, working with organizations like Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and cofounding the New York Jewish Agenda, a left-leaning group.

He has also been a longtime player in Democratic politics in New York City, and entered the primary with a committed base and a groundswell of good will in the district.

He spent many years running a community development organization in Park Slope, then served on the City Council for more than a decade representing several of the congressional district’s neighborhoods. After he left the Council, he served as city comptroller, during which time he chose not to repurchase State of Israel bonds that had matured.

Mr. Lander has been an outspoken critic of Israel since the start of the war in Gaza, which began after the Hamas-led terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Mr. Lander has backed claims by human rights groups and a United Nations commission that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, frequently using that word on the campaign trail, and has said he supports legislation to block U.S. military aid to the country until it meets human rights standards.

Mr. Goldman’s views hew more closely to the longtime status quo in American politics regarding the U.S.-Israel relationship. He is a critic of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, but has said he supports continuing to provide the military aid that underpins the decades-long alliance between the two countries.

And he has said he does not believe Israel has committed genocide in Gaza or that its treatment of the Palestinians can fairly be described as apartheid — another word Mr. Lander frequently uses — calling them ideologically charged terms.

Mr. Goldman accepted the endorsement of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a hard-line pro-Israel lobbying group increasingly shunned by Democrats, but was also endorsed by J Street, a more liberal pro-Israel group.


https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/nyregion/ny10-primary-lander.html

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[–] 17 points 2 months ago (55 children)

Better than Goldman, who is a megazionist

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  • [–] 35 points 2 months ago (33 children)

    Israel was clearly not a top issue however. This is a "blame Netanyahu not Israel" kind of guy.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 months ago*

    The netanyahus and Ben gvirs only exist to be used as scapegoats, to shift the blame of the genocidal zionist project to simply a few rotten apples. Liberal zionists are just sly foxes instead of wolves, both will try to eat you.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago (31 children)

    Would you rather have him or the "Israel did nothing wrong" kind of guy?

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  • [–] 26 points 2 months ago (10 children)
  • [–] 35 points 2 months ago (9 children)

    literal vote blue rhetoric that shows up everytime we discuss new york democrats

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  • [–] 28 points 2 months ago (6 children)

    And I have actually been seeing a rise in just straight Zionism here. It's a bit disturbing.

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  • [–] 29 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (5 children)

    not hard when the mod teams’ zionism was never dealt with. if you don’t cut it out, it spreads and festers, especially as arab and muslim users peep the vibe and leave the site

    for example, the tolerance and celebration of a zionist being elected is zionist. the idea that jewish votes can only be attained through zionism is zionist. working with zionists is normalization of the colonial state

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  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    working with zionists is normalization of the colonial state

    i think statistically you'll struggle to find principled antizionists anywhere in american politics.

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  • [–] 24 points 2 months ago (19 children)

    Malcolm X said the fox was deadlier than the wolf because the wolf doesn't pretend to be your friend while the fox makes you let your guard down.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (18 children)

    You're assuming nobody knows Lander is a Fox; he's a Fox on a leash who will try to bite us later on, but he's also a useful shield that insulates DSA from anti-semitism accusations, which reality check, does hurt in New York

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  • [–] 32 points 2 months ago (18 children)

    "Small genocide better than big genocide". Nah, fuck off.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    NY-10 is 25% Jewish, it's amazing to get someone elected in that district who has called the Gaza genocide a genocide. Lander is better than 99% of Congress on Israel

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  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago

    It is opportunism responding to a much larger and impactful series of world historical events and hard organizing work on the topic of Palestine. Nobody should be surprised that liberals will begin doing an apparent about-face to get elected via that strategy, nor that its form will be liberal Zionism.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (13 children)

    Nobody said that, he's useful as a shield that defends the movement from anti-Semitism smears, you know that shit that tanked Corbyn's ass, and allows for real anti-Zionists to be elected more easily in the future

    It's not theoretically, doctrinally or politically illegal for the left to have useful idiots

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  • [–] 11 points 2 months ago (12 children)

    Nobody said that

    Of course they did, it's what it means to lesser evil a liberal Zionist. Zionism is inherently genocidal.

    he's useful as a shield that defends the movement from anti-Semitism smears

    1. Now *that" is a topic nobody was talking about.
    2. That barely works either. JVP was not particularly effective, for example. This is the logic given for working with or promoting JVP and every single person I organized with who had that logic became opportunist or was coopted into liberal projects and NGOs.

    you know that shit that tanked Corbyn's ass

    Corbyn lost for many reasons. Incompetency in responding to false smears of antisemitism was just emblematic of his meant strategic failures in the face of relentless media attacks. Having one Jewish guy saying, "I like Corbyn" would not have mattered. There werec meant Jewish people who did that. I know this becauss Corbyn had people like this, like Alex Sobel and JVL.

    and allows for real anti-Zionists to be elected more easily in the future

    Unprincipled liberal wishcasting.

    It's not theoretically, doctrinally or politically illegal for the left to have useful idiots

    The only case anyone can point to of the left trying to get Lander to do anything was when there was a campaign to divest from Elbit in his role as comptroller. He infamously pushed back and did not, and previously bragged about the investment.

    "The left" is the useful idiot for liberals like him. He actually owes you nothing.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (11 children)

    So to summarize this gish gallop gallery of doomer takes: Even if "liberal zionists" oppose genocide and sending money to Israel, that somehow doesn't matter and the fact American Jews voted for him over the ultra-Zionist is also irrelevant

    The anti-Semitism smears somehow never hurt Corbyn at all and insulating against accusations and smears by centrists and the right-wing shouldn't be a priority for the American left

    Anti-Zionists being elected is "liberal wishcasting", presumably because you think it's impossible or some shit, despite the fact anti-Zionists are getting elected?

    And somehow the left are useful idiots for liberals like Landers despite the fact we just defeated an actual genocidal ultra-zionist and Landers was forced over the last year to change his positions and rhetoric on Israel

    You realize you're just an ultra wrecker right?

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  • [–] 10 points 2 months ago (8 children)

    So to summarize this gish gallop gallery of doomer takes: Even if "liberal zionists" oppose genocide and sending money to Israel

    Why the scare quotes. That is a fairly common position for liberal Zionists to hold. Most of JVP is like this. Anyone who has organized on this topic it's familiar with what liberal Zionism looks like and questions of strategy when considering working with them.

    PS, Gish gallop? What is this, a Sam Harris stan forum from 2008?

    that somehow doesn't matter and the fact American Jews voted for him over the ultra-Zionist is also irrelevant

    The Gish Gallop is "flooding the field", it's putting out so many points that nobody could ever respond in the time they have. It's an intellectually dishont approach to an in-person debate. I mention this because even though I am supposedly doing this, you are instead taking the time to invent positions on my behalf and respond to them instead.

    The 2000s internet atheist reference of choice for this is "straw man". It is also a form of deflection, as you are specifically not responding to what I said. In our previous interactions this combination of invention and deflection was, unfortunately, the norm. But it is not comradely nor acceptable and I ask that you stop doing it.

    The anti-Semitism smears somehow never hurt Corbyn at all

    That is the exact opposite of my position. Please stop misrepresenting me.

    and insulating against accusations and smears by centrists and the right-wing shouldn't be a priority for the American left

    This is too vague to mean much. Of course protecting yourself from smears stated in vague terms is a benefit to yourself. It means the bad thing doesn't happen to you, or happens less. But that isn't what I'm arguing over. The deficit is in assigning so much significance to "this Jewish guy supports me", when that literally happened with Corbyn and it did. Not. Work. You are citing a future possibility as an important definite, I am pointing to the actual history you appealed to.

    Anti-Zionists being elected is "liberal wishcasting", presumably because you think it's impossible or some shit, despite the fact anti-Zionists are getting elected?

    Lander is a Zionist. What are you talking about?

    And somehow the left are useful idiots for liberals like Landers despite the fact we just defeated an actual genocidal ultra-zionist and Landers was forced over the last year to change his positions and rhetoric on Israel

    This is just going in circles. My proposition is that you look at liberal cooption as what it is rather than simply "the left" forcing him to do something. He hasn't actually done anything yet aside from use rhetoric to try and win an election and even then he is still Zionist. This is not a new phenomenon, not particularly to Zionism.

    His name is Lander, by the way.

    You realize you're just an ultra wrecker right?

    I wonder what you even think that means in this context.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago (7 children)

    If being a liberal Zionist now means being anti-genocide, anti-apartheid, and anti-funding and then running on those policies in the heart of Jewish America, NY-10, and the winning on those policies, then WE THE LEFT ARE WINNING

    Sorry the 'Nuke Tel Aviv' faction of the hypothetical socialist workers party in your head lost the seat to a liberal like Landers, but for those of us in reality who care about that a genocidal zionist monster like Dan Goldman ate shit, then this outcome is pretty optimal given current conditions

    Now go back to arguing pseudo-Marxist semantics about why ultra-zionists winning is actually good for the Western left

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Thank you for being a rare voice of reason here. Even if we don't agree with Lander on a truly critical matter, it's important that he supported Mamdani and defended him from smears. It's the opposite of what Elizabeth Warren did. It's good that he's being rewarded from this behavior.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    Thanks, it's not easy but it has to be done, doomerism and anti-electoralism are dead ends, and people on this forum who wallow in that nonsense are simply self-marginalizing themselves from a growing anti-zionist and socialist movement out there

    Socialists have to live in reality, not dreams of 1917

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