Will NY-12’s Democratic Primary Be Another Battle of the East vs. the West?
Recently, when Manhattan’s races come down to East versus West, the West has won. However, this crowded race may complicate the pattern.
| 15 Jun 2026 | 11:28
NY-12’s frontrunners, Micah Lasher and Alex Bores, are from the West Side and East Side respectively. But, they’ve both been making it a point to campaign on their rivals home turf in recent weeks. (
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As the candidates for New York’s 12th Congressional District’s Democratic primary make their final pushes, they are showing up all throughout Manhattan — including in each other’s neighborhoods.
Micah Lasher, an Assemblymember representing the West Side, opened a campaign office across the street from Stuyvesant Town. Alex Bores, an Assemblymember representing the East Side, canvassed outside of the Upper West Side’s P.S. 87 William Sherman during drop-off one morning. And Bores was at Knicks watch party on West 47th St. Kennedy heir Jack Schlossberg, who was raised on the Upper East Side, also visited the West Side for a campaign rally and dance party at Terminal 5.
Recently, when the race comes down to East versus West, the West has won. In 2022, incumbent Jerry Nadler ended Carolyn Maloney’s tenure in Congress representing East Side. The pattern extends beyond just this race; last year, west side city council member Brad Hoylman-Sigal beat east side council member Keith Powers for Manhattan Borough President.
Veteran political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said in the case of NY-12, there’s a reason for this.
“The district was originally cut to benefit outgoing Congressman Nadler, tilted geographically toward the historically more intensive Democrat-voting West Side,” Sheinkopf said.
In addition, if voters do side with candidates from their neighborhoods, Bores and Schlossberg could end up splitting the East Side constituents. Chris Diep, a software engineer running for the nomination, is also from the Upper East Side.
“With several East Side candidates running, this is likely to give incumbent Assemblymember Nadler-endorsed Micah Lasher an edge,” Sheinkopf said. “Alex Bores has run a very good campaign, and an upset is not impossible.”
If the pattern holds true, one aspect that could complicate it is that Lasher isn’t the only candidate running from the West Side. Public health researcher Nina Schwalbe, civil rights attorney Laura Dunn, and lawyer Patrick Timmins are all from the West Side. Though George Conway’s roots are in Washington, D.C., he currently resides in a luxury Chelsea apartment. And while Schlossberg grew up on the UES, he’s resided in Chelsea in recent years.
But Lasher and Bores, the two frontrunners of the race based on recent polls, have strayed away from aligning too heavily with their respective neighborhoods.
“I am a proud product of the 12th Congressional District,” Lasher said. “I was born on the East Side and raised on the West Side.”
Lasher also mentioned that he has received support from all corners of NY-12, including Governor Kathy Hochul, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and Hoylman-Sigal, in addition to incumbent Nadler.
Bores said he was getting good reception on the West Side, though, and noted how Nadler won both the East and the West in his race.
“New Yorkers are tired of being told that they are supposed to vote for someone based on geography or decaying political machines,” Bores said. “Our problems, and opportunities, are too big for this kind of small thinking.”
Among Bores’ endorsements are many of the city’s labor unions and former Congresswoman Maloney, as well as assemblymembers and city councilmembers from all throughout the city.
Early voting began on June 13, but a clearer picture of whether the pattern will hold won’t be available until election day on June 23.