NEW YORK — Brad Lander, a leftist Jewish ally of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, won his primary race for New York’s 10th Congressional District on Tuesday, ousting the centrist incumbent Dan Goldman.

The winner of the primary race in the district, covering lower Manhattan and part of Brooklyn, is the presumed winner of the general election and next US House representative in the Democratic district.

The Associated Press called the election for Lander soon after polls closed at 9 p.m. With 80% of the vote counted, Lander had 66%, compared to Goldman’s 33%.

Lander and Goldman are both Jewish, but Lander ran further to the left in the race, in which Israel was a major issue.

Lander accused Israel of genocide and apartheid and attacked pro-Israel lobbying, while acknowledging that the attack line made him “queasy” because it played into antisemitic tropes.

Goldman has been harshly critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and the war in Gaza, but is more in line with the Democratic Party center and the mainstream Jewish community.

In his victory speech, Lander again accused Israel of genocide and said the US was “paying for Netanyahu’s wars with our tax dollars.”

“I will be one of the Jewish members of Congress most willing to stand up for Palestinian human rights, and I will stand firmly against bigotry aimed at Jews,” he said.

Lander was a member of the New York City Council and became the city comptroller, the second-highest elected position in city government, in 2022.

He stepped down as comptroller to make a run for mayor in 2024 and allied with Mamdani during the mayoral campaign, contributing to Mamdani’s upset........

© The Times of Israel