NY-10 Democratic primary: Interview with Brad Lander

On the eve of perhaps the most crucial election in his nearly 20-year career in New York City politics, Brad Lander sat down with the Red Hook Star-Revue to discuss his political journey from representing Gowanus and Carroll Gardens in the City Council to today.

Lander is set to face incumbent Congressman Dan Goldman on June 23 to decide who will receive the Democratic Party’s nomination in the general election. The winner of this contest will be the overwhelming favorite to be elected in November.

The race will be one of the first since Zohran Mamdani’s election to the mayor’s office last fall disrupted the balance of power in New York City politics. Lander has played a crucial role in this movement, cross-endorsing Mamdani in last year’s mayoral primary and campaigning for the then-assemblyman all the way through the general election.

His opponent, on the other hand, did not endorse Mamdani even after he secured the Democratic nomination.

“I’m a better fit for the values of the district at this moment,” Lander told the Star-Revue, pointing to Goldman’s refusal to endorse Mamdani, his billionaire background and willingness to accept PAC money, and his unwillingness to end unconditional military aid to Israel.

Lander’s attempt to unseat Goldman, who received the support of party leaders including Governor Kathy Hochul and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, marks one of the first major tests of the strength of his and Mamdani’s nascent progressive coalition.

Deep ties to the district
Lander’s ties to the 10th District stretch back to 1993, when he took a job as the executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee in Park Slope. In 2009, he ran and won election to replace Bill de Blasio as the City Council member for District 39, where he would serve three four-year terms until 2021.

“I’ve been organizing alongside my neighbors in this district for 30 years on housing and tenants’ rights, on public schools, and participatory budgeting,” Lander said. “I’ve worked with a lot of people in the district in a long and deep way, and you see that in the kind of Mr. Rogers character in my ads. That doesn’t mean we agree all the time, but people see me. I show up a lot, and I do think that matters.”

The Gowanus rezoning
As both a member of the City Council and later as comptroller, Lander left his mark on the district when he championed the Gowanus rezoning, a project that paved the way for thousands of new housing units, including a significant number of permanently affordable apartments along the historically polluted Gowanus Canal. 

“The most important lesson I learned from the Gowanus rezoning is for communities to have strong civic infrastructure,” Lander said, pointing to the work of groups including the Fifth Avenue Committee, Gowanus Canal Conservancy, and the Gowanus Alliance as huge boons to the process. “When people feel they’re part of an organization that has their backs and they have some trust, then they can engage in these processes in a much deeper way.”

The rezoning went into effect in 2021 and five years later Lander believes that, “in terms of redevelopment or rezoning projects in the city, it’s one of the best in recent decades.” However, local environmental activists have expressed concerns that the level of new development could threaten to overwhelm the area’s sewer system. Lander acknowledged that there could have been room for improvement with the project, especially with regard to transportation.

“I wish we had been able to win a little more by way of transit investments,” Lander said. “It was hard to get the MTA and city planners to work together, so I think future rezonings need to be able to center transit investments. Something I hope to be able to do in Congress is connect the dots between transit investments, environmental investments, and housing investments.”

The Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment
Another major land-use overhaul now lies on the horizon for the 10th District as the Brooklyn Marine Terminal is set to undergo a revitalization that would transform the surrounding waterfront into a 122-acre mixed-use community. The issue recently became a point of attack for Lander as he criticized Goldman, claiming he strong-armed members of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force into voting for a plan that did not properly address local stakeholders’ concerns.

“Part of the problem with the Adams-Goldman process is everyone knew what answer Mayor Adams wanted before the process started,” Lander said. “It didn’t, therefore, feel real to people, and the new administration has an opportunity to engage people more constructively, make a decision, and then move forward with a plan that has more input and broader support.”

While Lander critiqued the BMT process on the campaign trail, Crain’s reported that behind the scenes he helped sway his successor Shahana Hanif and Brookly Borough President Antonio Reynoso to vote yes on the plan last September.

Collaboration, not division
For Lander, the race is not only about policy differences but also about the kind of politics Democrats should practice in an increasingly polarized era. While arguing that his grassroots approach better reflects the district’s values, he also urged voters and activists not to lose themselves in political conflict, emphasizing the need for joy, compassion, and empathy even in the fiercest fights.

“We need to fight fiercely and stand up to bullies, but sometimes in the midst of the fight we can take on the bitter characters of our opponents,” Lander said. “That’s what Donald Trump wants. He wants you to come down to his nasty level. But we have to do the opposite. We have to fight with empathy and compassion and love for our neighbors… Al Smith did that, Fiorello La Guardia did it, Zohran does it, and I’m trying hard to do it too.”