Candidate Answers to JOLDC: Brad Lander for US Congress NY-10

Candidate Name: Brad Lander
Office Seeking Election for: US Congress NY-10
Campaign Website: https://www.bradlanderforcongress.com/

Based upon your life experiences and accomplishments, why do you believe you are best qualified to represent your district?

At this urgent moment, a five-alarm fire for our democracy, New York’s 10th Congressional District needs a representative in Washington who makes change by organizing together with the remarkable communities of this district. Who knows that the fights for democracy and against economic inequality are inextricably linked. Who has the courage to stand up to Trump, and ICE, and AIPAC. And who is a team player, who can help win real change in Washington, and deliver for New York City at this moment of local excitement and opportunity. We don’t have that now, and we need it.

Over the past three decades, I have served the residents of NY-10 as a non-profit leader and public official. Before I was elected to the City Council, I led the Fifth Avenue Committee and the Pratt Center for Community Development, where I built hundreds of units of housing for low-income families, kept thousands of tenants from being evicted from their homes, and launched programs that have helped over 10,000 people get living-wage, career-path jobs. I learned that the work for justice and opportunity is built from the bottom-up, not from the top down. By organizing and working with communities to empower people, and win change.

In the City Council, I co-founded the Progressive Caucus, secured the passage of the Community Safety Act to end discriminatory stop and frisk, won paid sick leave, a fair work week for fast-food and retail workers, first-in-the-nation minimum pay laws for deliveristas and Uber drivers, and the “Freelance Isn’t Free Act” to protect freelancers from wage theft (all of which I hope to pass in Washington – the law for freelancers passed 51-0, I even won over the Republicans on that one). We brought participatory budgeting to New York City, and integrated the middle-schools of Brooklyn’s District 15.

Under my leadership as New York City Comptroller, our pension funds took the boldest action of any large U.S. public pension fund to combat climate change (becoming the first U.S. pension fund to divest from fossil fuels), created and preserved affordable housing (saving the 35,000 rent-stabilized units put at risk when Signature Bank failed with an innovative pension investment), and supported the rights of workers at companies we own (helping thousands of workers win good union contracts).

My audits rooted out Eric Adams’ corruption, canceling his $432 million crony contract to DocGo, and saved the City billions of dollars. We created the first NYCHA Resident Audit Committee, launched new work to make NYC more accessible for people with disabilities, and brought the lawsuits that helped implement congestion pricing. When Elon Musk stole $80 million from New York City, I found it, and forced the Adams Administration into court to get it back. We found creative ways to support immigrant New Yorkers, helping strengthen the network for immigrant legal support, child care, and services – and then I joined court-watch groups weekly, putting my body on the line in partnership with a remarkable network of people standing up for our immigrant neighbors. Time and again, we worked with community and advocacy groups, deploying the tools of the office to rise to the key challenges of the moment.

The Mayor’s race obviously did not go exactly as I had mapped out! But I am hugely proud of the work we did together to prevent Andrew Cuomo from being elected mayor – and to support Zohran by cross-endorsing in the primary, and then working hard to help him win in the general election. That’s what Democrats are supposed to do: compete in primaries, and then unite in the general election to make sure we win together. In this case, I supported a candidate to my left.

In so many swing districts, though, I have supported Democrats much more moderate than me. I’m a proud progressive, but also a strategic team player. The incumbent has failed this test on multiple occasions.

It did not take a primary challenge for me to support Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and a wealth tax. I didn’t make millions of dollars trading stocks as a Member of Congress before proposing legislation to stop it. It did not take two years of devastation, tens of thousands of deaths of women and children, and videos of starving families before I spoke out in support of Palestinian human rights and freedom; and I certainly would not have voted to censure a Democratic Member of Congress for speaking up for them. I’m a proud Jewish New Yorker, and I support the vision of a Jewish and democratic Israel. But I believe that AIPAC, and unrestricted U.S. support for Israel’s destruction of Gaza and occupation of the West Bank, have come to play a corrosive role in our politics and foreign policy.

You can trust that I will fight authentically and effectively for the progressive policies priorities that we share. More than that, I will not just vote the right way, I will continue organizing our neighbors, putting my body on the line, and building strategic coalitions to achieve real change.

Despite being the challenger, I am grateful to have already built the broadest coalition of support in this campaign from Senators Bernie Sanders and Eliabeth Warren, Mayor Mamdani, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, State Senators Julia Salazar, Andrew Gounardes, and Jabari Brisport, Assemblymembers Bobby Carroll, Emily Gallagher, and JoAnne Simon, Councilmembers Crystal Hudson, Tiffany Caban, Shahana Hanif, Lincoln Restler, Alexa Aviles, and former elected officials like Ruth Messinger, Liz Holtzman, Sal Albanese, and Steve Levin. I’m supported by the Working Families Party, Indivisible, Make the Road Action, 504 Democrats (NYC’s political club for people with disabilities), the UAW, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, Chelsea Reform Democrat Club, Downtown Progressive Democrats, the Christopher Street Project, and a broad and growing coalition.

What LGBTQ+ organizations have you been involved with, either on a volunteer basis or professionally?

I have been an active ally and supporter of the city’s LGBTQ+ clubs for the past 20 years, attending events, rallies, and protests, marching together, supporting fundraising events, and am proud to have received the endorsement of Jim Owles, Lambda Independent Democrats, and Stonewall Democrats in past races. In this race, I am proud to have the endorsement of the Christopher Street Project. In my work across all my jobs (Fifth Avenue Committee, Pratt Center, City Council, and Comptroller), I have worked closely in partnership with LGBTQ+ social service and advocacy organizations, including the Brooklyn Community Pride Center, Audre Lorde Project, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, Ali Forney Center, New Pride Agenda, SAGE, the Center, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and others. I funded many of these groups with discretionary funding when I was a City Councilmember. As Comptroller, I joined with Councilmember Caban after Trump’s election in advocating for a significant expansion of funding for organizations representing and serving trans New Yorkers.

In addition, I have worked hard to support LGBTQ candidates for office, including Danny Dromm (2009, 2013, 2017), Jimmy van Bramer (2009, 2013, 2017, 2021), Carlos Menchaca (2013, 2017), Ritchie Torres (2013, 2017, 2020), Judge Debra Silber (2015), Cynthia Nixon (2018), Tiffany Caban (2019, 2021, 2023, 2025), Emilia Decaudin (2020), Elisa Crespo (2021), Samy Nemir Olivares (2022), Crystal Hudson (2021, 2023, 2025), Chi Osse (2021, 2023, 2025).

What press conferences, demonstrations, rallies and protests in support of LGBTQ+ issues, pro-choice legislation, racial justice, criminal justice have you attended, including rallies specifically against Donald Trump and his policies?

I’m proud to have a decades-long track record of both protest and progress on issues of LGBTQ equality, civil rights/racial justice, reproductive rights, and criminal justice, dating back to long before I was in office.

At our wedding in May 1996, the same time President Clinton was pushing the hideous Defense of Marriage Act, Meg and I distributed a “wedding manifesto” that outlined our objections to the bill and urged attendees to call their representatives to stop it.

At the Fifth Avenue Committee, we developed supportive housing for people with AIDS/HIV, to make sure our community would be welcoming and inclusive, and we partnered with LGBTQ+-owned businesses like Rising Cafe and Aunt Suzie’s Restaurant.

As a City Councilmember, I co-sponsored many pieces of legislation that made New York City a more welcoming and safe place for our LGBTQ+ and TGNC neighbors, including a resolution supporting marriage equality, banning conversion therapy, allowing people to change the gender identity or utilize an “X” marker on their birth certificate, requiring HIV & AIDS education in public schools, compelling the City to collect gender pronouns on agency forms, and mandating gender-neutral single-stall bathrooms. I introduced a bill and resolution to adopt an inclusive dress code in our city’s public schools, developed in partnership with Girls for Gender Equity, that would be inclusive of different body types and gender identities, ensuring that TGNC students are not unfairly targeted or suspended for their personal appearance. Alongside Public Advocate (then Councilmember) Jumaane Williams, I introduced and passed the Community Safety Act, which prohibits bias-based profiling in law enforcement, including strong protections around gender identity and sexual orientation, which has been used as a precedent to protect Trans New Yorkers who have been profiled by the NYPD, like Linda Dominguez.

In the wake of the 2016 election, I founded #GetOrganizedBK, which brought thousands of Brooklyn residents together to stand up to bigotry, corruption, and injustice of the Trump administration.

As Comptroller, my office published a yearly LGBTQIA+ Resource Guide, a comprehensive directory of organizations and services designed to address the various needs of the community in this city and as a commitment to protecting every New Yorker, irrespective of whom they love or how they identify.

And, after Trump’s re-election, Council Member Caban and I convened an emergency roundtable of trans leaders to discuss concrete steps the City can take to protect TGNCNB New Yorkers in response to the Trump administration’s attacks on this community. The roundtable was hosted with New Pride Agenda, the Ali Forney Center, Trans Equality, PFlag NYC, GLITS Inc., Black Trans Liberation, Trans Latina Network, and Trans formative Schools. In follow-up to this meeting, I wrote to the NYC Commission on Human Rights, asking them to begin an investigation into whether any health care institutions in New York City have violated the human rights law. When the Trump Administration took down the pride flag at Stonewall, I joined advocates and elected officials to re-raise it. And I recently joined the Christopher Street Project in their work to defend trans New Yorkers.

In light of the Trump Administration’s war on women, the LGBTQ+ community, minorities and immigrants, what are your plans to organize and combat the Trump agenda?

Our neighbors want a representative who will fight back with more than press releases and strongly-worded letters. I am not afraid to put my body on the line to stop Donald Trump and his continued abuse of power. Across my entire career, I have viewed public service as a place for organizing — with community organizations, labor unions, advocacy groups, political organizations, religious leaders, and of course, with neighbors. At this urgent moment, I am running for Congress to do just that.

I’ve put racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and immigrant empowerment at the center of my work: through innovative approaches to mixed-income homeownership at FAC, the work with Jumaane Williams and Communities United for Police Reform to combat discriminatory policy and pass the Community Safety Act, the successful effort to desegregate the middle schools of District 15, the first-ever “racial impact study” for the rezoning in Gowanus (showing that the rezoning would make the neighborhood more inclusive and integrated), and the first-ever analysis of NYC’s racial wealth gap and massive expansion of MWBE investment managers as Comptroller.

I will continue this approach to justice work in Congress, across the domains of housing, education, the economy, healthcare, criminal justice, climate justice, voting rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. But, I will not just legislate, I will organize. Since last June, I have focused much of my co-governance work on fighting Trump and protecting immigrant neighbors. I have participated in weekly court watching and accompaniment to help protect our neighbors (working with Immigrant ARC, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, New Sanctuary Coalition, and an array of legal service groups). In September, I helped organize a large-scale civil disobedience event on September 17th, when nearly 100 New Yorkers (including 15 elected officials) took arrest to disrupt ICE deportations and call attention to the inhumane conditions on the 10th floor at 26 Federal Plaza. In recent months, that work has expanded from court-watching to include neighborhood-watch work as well, in partnership with Hands Off NYC and a wide range of partners. When I’m in Congress. I will continue to work closely with the broad coalition of organizations mobilizing against Trump, bringing people together, drawing attention to issues and key moments, developing strategy, and putting our bodies on the line.

Will you seek or accept endorsements from individuals who oppose LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights?

No, I will not seek or accept an endorsement from any individual who opposes the LGBTQ+ community and reproductive rights. When Mayor Eric Adams appointed two individuals with a record of homophobic and anti-choice statements, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams & I issued a joint statement denouncing their appointments.

Do you support the unrestricted right to reproductive care and abortion?

Yes, reproductive rights are deeply personal. I’m the proud husband of Meg Barnette, who was General Counsel at Planned Parenthood of Greater New York for a decade. Our daughter Rosa is named after women who fought fiercely for freedom, and she expects we’ll do no less. I have been a champion for reproductive justice throughout my career, both in the City Council and Comptroller’s office, but also out on the streets where I’ve organized to defend our neighbors.

As a City Councilmember, I supported legislation to prevent crisis pregnancy centers from lying to New Yorkers. As Comptroller, I demanded that Walmart, Costco, and other chains dispense mifepristone and refused to back down when the treasurers of 15 red states attacked me.

In Congress, I will fight to codify a right to an abortion and repeal the Hyde Amendment, but you will also see me building in coalition with partners around the country, working with state and local officials to protect reproductive care in New York, mobilizing our community, and working with legal partners to challenge restrictive abortion laws in states around the country.

And you’ll never, ever find me talking out of both sides of my mouth on abortion coverage, as the incumbent did in Hamodia, expressing openness to state laws restricting abortion.

Have you hosted, funded or otherwise supported Drag Story Hours in your community?

Yes. As a City Council Member, I funded “Drag Story Hour,” at the Brooklyn Public Library branches in my district.

Do you support right-wing attempts to ban the teaching of “critical race theory”?

No, I do not support right-wing attempts to ban the teaching of “critical race theory” and will be a strong defender of New York City’s right to teach diversity, equity, and inclusion, the things that make our city great, in its schools. In the City Council, I led the push to desegregate the middle schools of Brooklyn’s District 15. Instead of allowing educators to do their job, MAGA Republicans are attempting to censor and police our school children and their learning, putting their political agenda over what is best for our students. I will defend our students' right to a quality education free from partisan censorship.

How will you work to enhance protections for immigrants and uphold New York’s role as a Sanctuary City?

Our immigrant neighbors are under attack. The federal government continues its unconstitutional assault on our neighbors, kidnapping New Yorkers off the street and at their hearings. Families in our community are being ripped apart. A third of households in this Congressional District include at least one immigrant. 192 thousand immigrants live in this Congressional District and a third of households here include at least one immigrant. The district includes Manhattan’s Chinatown and Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, two historic and continuing communities of Asian-American New Yorkers, significant Latino communities, and of course the Lower East Side. We have both a present duty and a historic one to fight against Trump/ICE’s authoritarian and increasingly violent assault on immigrant neighbors.

When I heard in June that masked ICE agents were abducting our neighbors at 26 Federal Plaza without due process, and that NYPD officers had arrested ministers and volunteers who were there to bear witness, I knew I needed to show up as well. So I started participating weekly in courtwatching and accompanying neighbors. After I was arrested the first time while accompanying an asylum-seeker named Edgardo out of the building, I organized a civil disobedience action with 15 more elected officials and 70 other New Yorkers – and I am currently taking that case to trial. Donald Trump thinks he can use armed agents to intimidate us – but he is wrong. I am running for Congress to show Donald Trump that the greatest immigrant city the world has ever known will not back down. When we win the majority in the House, we must commence investigations immediately to hold ICE accountable for its crimes.

Do you support New York becoming a Transgender Sanctuary State?

Yes, I will fight to ensure that our state protects the rights of transgender residents to access gender-affirming care. The New York City Human Rights Law – which I helped strengthen through a package of legislation in 2016 (including removing language offensive to LGBTQ+ New Yorkers placed there in 1986 that the law did not “endorse any particular behavior or way of life”) – prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. That means New Yorkers are entitled by law to gender-affirming care and civil rights protections. I also joined advocates to call out NYU Langone when it made the cruel and cowardly decision to stop providing gender-affirming care due to threats from the Trump Administration, and I will continue to be a vocal advocate for the rights of LGBTQ+ people, including the transgender kids and adults who are the most vulnerable to Trump’s attacks.

If elected, will you commit to supporting legislation that raises taxes on the richest New Yorkers and large corporations in order to fund the services and investments our communities need?

Yes, I will support efforts to raise taxes on the wealthiest household and corporations – not only in Congress (e.g. the Billionaires Income Tax Act and Equal Tax Act in Congress), where my opponent says he supports them, but they are sadly unlikely to pass in the Trump Administration, but also in Albany, where they have a chance right now, and Dan Goldman opposes them. This month, thanks to their inclusion in the State Senate and Assembly one-house budget, we have the opportunity to modestly raise taxes on multi-millionaires, corporations, and holders of gold bullion, in order to pay for the expansion of child care and other essential services. I support these efforts; multi-millionaire Dan Goldman does not.

Working-class New Yorkers continue to pay their taxes, knowing that it contributes to so many of the benefits that we all share. Currently, they are subsidizing the wealthiest among us (including our current Congressmember) through our tax system, which continues to reward the wealthy over workers. The ultra-wealthy also continue to hoard their fortunes as a result of inheritance tax breaks that allow the intergenerational transfer of wealth and privilege, while working families across New York’s Tenth struggle to make ends meet. This system has been perpetuated by wealthy elected officials in both parties who continue to protect an unfair tax system that has resulted in the worst economic inequality since the Great Depression. I am running for Congress because New York’s Tenth Congressional District needs a representative who will fight to fix a broken system of wealth concentration, not one who benefits from it.

How will you represent the most vulnerable, including individuals experiencing homelessness and asylum seekers? Have you ever opposed any shelter in your district?

Approximately one quarter of people sleeping on the street suffer from serious mental illness. Lacking a stable home makes it far more difficult for people to stay on medication or access care. Homeless individuals with severe mental illness can be particularly vulnerable or even sometimes present a danger to themselves and others.

I recently proposed a federal "Street-to-Home Vouchers” program that utilizes a “housing first” model. In 2008, the federal government began funding Section 8 “VASH” vouchers designated exclusively for homeless veterans. The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimated that the program helped cut veteran homelessness by more than half. In little more than a decade, 178,000 veterans received vouchers, and 91% of the vouchers resulted in permanent housing. Brad would create a new program, similar to VASH, to serve any individual who is sleeping on the street with a serious mental illness.

While more housing is necessary overall to address the affordability crisis, New York City already has enough supportive housing units to house those who are unsheltered and seriously mentally ill. On any given night, nearly 4,000 units of supportive housing sit vacant in New York City; more than the number of people sleeping on the street with serious mental illness.

Federal "Street-to-Home Vouchers" solve this problem. These vouchers would be available through HUD for any individual who is sleeping on the street with a serious mental illness. Social workers, as part of municipal outreach programs, would know that they could move an individual from street-to-home with a voucher that would cover the rent as part of the highly successful “housing first” model. “Housing First” recognizes that access to stable housing, without onerous, bureaucratic hoops, is a pre-condition to addressing every other need, including serious mental illness. It has been extremely successful in cities across the country at getting and keeping people off of the street, without criminalizing them, and can work in New York City.

I am proud to have a track record of supporting shelters and supportive housing in my district, even when there was substantial neighborhood opposition. When I was City Councilmember, I helped lead efforts to welcome and support two large homeless shelters in Park Slope around the corner from my house (which would up becoming critical in efforts to welcome asylum seekers) despite local opposition, the expansion of the shelter in the Park Slope Armory, and a CAMBA shelter in Kensington (for which we won a “compassionate community” award from the Coalition for the Homeless). At Fifth Avenue Committee, we built a number of supportive housing developments for homeless families and people with special needs.

Do you oppose the death penalty?

Yes, I oppose the death penalty and will support legislation in Congress like Adriano Espaillat’s bill to ban the death penalty for violations of federal law. Those without lawyers and without means are disproportionately sentenced to death in America. The execution methods are cruel and ineffective, often resulting in horrific, drawn-out executions. All too frequently, evidence emerges to exonerate those on death row. It is a cruel, unjust practice that should be abolished across our country, and I will do everything in my power to oppose it.

Do you support outlawing solitary confinement?

Yes. I proudly supported the HALT Act to ban solitary confinement in New York, which is both cruel and dangerous. I will support similar legislation at the federal level, like Cori Bush’s End Solitary Confinement Act, which would have prohibited solitary confinement in federal detention centers and incentivized ending it at the state level, as well. Solitary confinement has been shown to make detention centers less safe and has exploded, especially in immigration detention centers, under the Trump Administration. I will organize against this cruel practice and work to legislate it out of existence.

Do you commit to visit constituents who are incarcerated? Will you work to secure the release of individuals who have demonstrated sincere remorse, worked toward rehabilitation and are not deemed a threat to society?

Yes, as I did as City Councilmember and Comptroller, I will continue to visit constituents who are incarcerated and inspect federal detention facilities in my district. I will work with advocates and legal service providers to ensure the incarcerated receive the resources they need and work towards decarceration while building the programs and support networks needed to reduce recidivism.

Do you commit to make applications for clemencies available to your constituency including a link to an application in a constituent newsletter? Will you submit it to our club?

Yes, I will make clemency applications available to my constituents and include them in my newsletter. I will be happy to share it with the club and dedicate staff towards working with incarcerated residents of the district.

Did you rank Andrew Cuomo on your Democratic primary ballot in 2025? Who did you support for mayor in the 2025 Democratic primary and general election?

No, I most certainly did not rank Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic Primary. I was proud to be part of the “DREAM” (Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor) slate, to team up with Zohran Mamdani to eviscerate him on the primary debate stage, and to move a significant amount of my campaign spending to highlighting the reasons that Cuomo should not be Mayor (my campaign was one of the top spenders against him).

As you know, I ran for mayor, and therefore ranked myself #1 in the primary. As it became clear that Zohran was the progressive candidate with the best chance to win, I proudly cross-endorsed him in the primary, and then endorsed and worked hard to help elect him in the general election.

This is in stark contrast to my opponent, who did not endorse or vote for Zohran, even when he was the Democratic nominee, running against sexual harasser and turncoat Andrew Cuomo in the general election. At this moment when we need to elect Democrats to take back the House, we can’t afford someone who will not even support the party in his own backyard. I will work to elect Democrats in swing districts across the state, even those I disagree with, to take back the House and bring the fight to Donald Trump.

In view of the fact that Ed Koch has been documented to have caused the deaths of scores of people with AIDS, excused city council members who voted against the gay rights bill and was blatantly racist, would you support renaming the former Queensboro Bridge?

Yes. I support renaming the bridge.

Do you support naming the soon to be reconstructed 42nd street bus terminal the Bella Abzug Port Authority?

Yes, I support naming the new bus terminal after Bella Abzug.

If an incumbent, how did you vote on House Res. 719 “Honoring the Life and Legacy of Charles Kirk”? If not an incumbent, how would you have voted?

Of course I condemn political violence in all forms, and the assassination of a political figure. But I do not think that our government should honor Charlie Kirk for his legacy of Islamophobia, homophobia, and virulent racism. Had I been in office, I would have joined Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nydia Velázquez, and Yvette Clarke in voting “no” on this resolution. Dan Goldman voted “present.”

Do you support the immediate impeachment of Trump and other administration officials? If yes, which?

Yes, I support the impeachment of Donald Trump and the many cabinet officials who have violated the law and their oath of office in the rabid pursuit of Trump’s authoritarian and cruel agenda. In Congress, I will not only investigate Trump officials but also fight to expose the corruption that plagues our government and economic system at all levels.

When Democrats regain power, do you favor Justice Department prosecutions to hold Trump’s administration officials accountable for criminal offenses?

Yes, I support investigating Trump officials who continue to break the law with impunity and believe that an impartial justice system, which we do not have under the Trump Administration, will find that many officials committed criminal offenses. In many cases, we continue to see these officials commit blatant crimes in plain sight. When Democrats take back the House, though, we must do more to expose this administration’s lawless activity through investigations. When Democrats take back the White House, Congress needs to legislate protections from future wannabe dictators and re-balance the judicial scales by expanding the supreme court.

Would you vote to defund ICE?

Yes, I have been calling for defunding and abolishing ICE since 2018, the second year of the first Trump Administration, because I could see what it had become. Dan Goldman continued to vote to fund it and say it should not be abolished until last month.

If an incumbent, how did you vote on House Resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib? If not an incumbent, how would you have voted?

I would not have voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib and look forward to working with her when I am in Congress. Dan Goldman was one of only 22 Democrats who joined Republicans in voting to censure her. Instead of attacking fellow Democrats for criticizing Israel, he should be condemning the MAGA Republicans consistently spewing Islamaphobic and anti-Semetic bile. As a result, he has sabotaged his ability to work with many of his Democratic colleagues. I will work with my colleagues to go after hate in all forms and organize together to fight the economic inequality and rising fascism.

If an incumbent, how have you voted on allowing NSA to conduct warrantless searches? If not an incumbent, how would you vote?

I would I would not have voted to allow the NSA or FBI to conduct warrantless searches, and I would vote now to change the law to require warrants.

Goldman, voted to give the President, the NSA, and the FBI the power to spy on American citizens with warrants. He opposes commonsense privacy reforms that would prevent the Trump Administration from boosting their mass deportation sweeps, building massive databases used to surveil Americans, and reading our email without a warrant. In April 2024, Rep. Dan Goldman voted against the Biggs Amendment – adding a warrant requirement for U.S. person queries under FISA Section 702 – and against the Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act – prohibiting law enforcement from purchasing Americans’ personal data from third-party data brokers to sidestep Fourth Amendment warrant requirements.

I have always fought to ensure appropriate oversight of facial recognition and mass surveillance technology. In the New York City Council, I co-sponsored the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology Act, which would provide oversight of the NYPD’s use of surveillance technology. As Comptroller, I also proudly testified in support of bills to strengthen its enforcement. I also authored the KEYS Act to limit landlords’ ability to use facial recognition technology on their tenants.

In Congress, I will investigate the Trump Administration and ICE’s use of mass surveillance technology, organize against it, and creatively legislate to regulate it. I will never green light the Trump Administration’s warrantless surveillance.

If an incumbent, how did you vote on House Res 58 “Denouncing the Horrors of Socialism”? If not an incumbent, how would you have voted?

I would have voted against House Res. 58, “Denouncing the Horrors of Socialism.” I have supported socialists in office here in New York City like Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Council Member Shahana Hanif and Tiffany Caban. I am proud to have the support of many democratic socialists in office including Mayor Mamdani, State Senators Julia Salzar and Jabari Brisport, Council Members Alexa Aviles, Tiffany Caban, Shahana Hanif, and Chi Osse.

If an incumbent, how did you vote on a resolution directing the removal of all troops in foreign nations not authorized by Congress?

Congress must reassert its power and force the President to halt all military action not authorized by Congress. New York’s Tenth Congressional District is looking for a fighter who will stand up to President Trump’s abuses overseas. But let’s be clear: Presidents of both parties have usurped authority that properly belongs to Congress under Article I of the Constitutions (and to the states, under Article X). And representatives in both parties have meekly allowed Presidents to co-opt and wield nearly unlimited warmaking powers. Congress must reassert its status as an independent check and repeal the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force and vote to restrain Trump’s lawless military action in Venezuela, Iran, and elsewhere. I look to the legacy of retiring Congressmember Jerrold Nadler, who was a strong advocate for Congress’ Article I prerogatives, regardless of whether a Democratic or Republican President is in the White House.

Do you support allowing DC to fund its own government, including the criminal justice system, without oversight by Congress?

Yes, the residents of Washington, D.C. continue to face disenfranchisement and be unjustly denied representation. This has monumental effects on their ability to advocate for themselves, and is part of MAGA Republicans efforts to rig the balance of power in the United States Senate. This year, the Trump Administration has subjected the District of Columbia to hideous and unjust abuse of federal power, taking over its policing power and arresting thousands of DC residents. Our capital needs representation and independence to help fight back, and we all need elected officials who are willing to stand up to the abuses of this Administration to join in the effort.

What is your legislative remedy to secure the building of low and moderate-income housing around the state?

Housing is a human right and I will champion H.R. 4457, the Housing is a Human Right Act in Congress, to ensure everyone has access to a home. Building and preserving affordable housing has been the throughline of my career. Before I was elected to the City Council, I led two not-for-profit, affordable housing groups (Fifth Avenue Committee, Pratt Center for Community Development), where I built hundreds of new social housing units for low-income families, kept thousands of tenants from being evicted from their homes, and worked together with WFP and tenant advocates to save and strengthen the rent laws.

In the City Council, I championed legislation to protect tenants from harassment and displacement, provide a right to legal counsel for tenants, create safe and legal basement apartments, and combat housing discrimination. I initiated, championed, and built broad community and political support for the Gowanus neighborhood planning and rezoning process that is currently generating 8,500 new housing units, almost 3,000 of them affordable to low-income and working-class families.

As Comptroller, I issued the City’s first social bonds, generating over $3 billion to finance over 12,000 new units of low-income housing. I initiated a pension fund investment to acquire the multifamily loan portfolio of the failed Signature Bank that saved 35,000 affordable rental units (most of them rent-stabilized) while yielding strong returns for the City’s retirees. And I created the first-of-its-kind NYCHA Resident Audit Committee, which involved resident leaders in developing, conducting outreach for, and overseeing the Comptroller’s office audits of NYCHA, including a groundbreaking audit of NYCHA repair vendors that generated a model for a “Yelp for NYCHA Repairs” that will improve quality-of-life, restore resident trust, and insure that public dollars spent for repairs at NYCHA actually achieve those repairs.

Increasing our housing supply is one essential component in combating our dire housing shortage, which is why I have supported efforts like the Gowanus Rezoning, City of Yes, and recent ballot propositions (with a goal of generating 500,000 new homes).

But I am also clear about this: the market alone cannot and will not meet the housing affordability challenge that New York’s working families face every day. We must: strengthen tenant protections (as we did successfully together in 2019 with the HSTPA, and in 2024 with Good Cause); preserve the social and affordable housing we already have (including NYCHA, publicly subsidized, and rent-stabilized housing); and build more social housing – permanently-affordable, democratically-controlled, removed-from-speculation – to provide low-income, working-class, and middle-income families more housing options they can afford. Right now, about 10% of our housing in New York City can be classified as social housing – I believe we should double that share by building or converting 300,000 new units of social housing in the coming decades.

In Congress, fighting for affordable housing for families will continue to be the touchstone of my public service, as it has been of my career. I will fight like hell for the housing vouchers that keep tenants in their homes and enable homeless families to move off the street or out of shelter into permanent housing, for the McKinney-Vento funds that enable us to build the supportive housing that will allow us to end homelessness (so we don’t have to be a city where our neighbors sleep on the streets), and for the CDBG, HOME, Affordable Housing Trust Fund and other resources that enable us to build new homes, so all our families can have a safe, decent affordable one to live in. As noted above, I will co-sponsor Senator Warren’s American Housing and Economic Mobility Act, which which will make it easier for families to afford a home and help right historic wrongs, and connect that to our local land use work to combat exclusionary zoning, and continue to build a fairer and more inclusive city – one that is less segregated, and as a result works better to create opportunity, safety, creativity, and value for all.

Will you refuse donations from AIPAC, SolidarityPAC, police and corrections associations, the fossil fuel industry, and the charter school industry?

I follow the Justice Democrats pledge: I refuse donations from AIPAC and its related PACs. I do not accept contributions from corporate PACs, including crypto PACs, from fossil fuel executives (following Sunrise), from police or corrections associations, from the NRA and weapons manufacturers or sellers; and from private prison corporation executives.

Do you support removing criminal penalties for consensual commercial sex work between adults?

I support the decriminalization of sex workers, and will work to ensure their safety, dignity, and access to critical support services. Enforcement should shift away from punitive approaches and toward harm-reduction strategies that prioritize safety, health, and community-based support, and identify and prevent trafficking.

What additional information would you like the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club to consider when we are making our endorsement decision?

I am excited to speak with the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club and work together when I am in Congress. We are building a broad, progressive coalition in this race, which includes Senators Bernie Sanders and Eliabeth Warren, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Working Families Party, Indivisible, UAW, Make the Road Action, CUFFH Action, and Christopher Street Project, which supports champions for trans rights running for public office. I hope to have Jim Owles support in this race, as well.

If you receive our endorsement, do you agree to identify the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club on all appropriate literature and electronic materials?

Yes, proudly!