Assembly Member Micah Lasher is rolling out a cross-endorsement with newly elected City Council Member Carl Wilson, amNewYork has learned, adding another West Side ally as the latest public poll shows Lasher narrowly leading the crowded NY-12 Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler.
Wilson, who won the April special election in Council District 3, is backing Lasher’s campaign for Congress in New York’s 12th District.
Lasher is endorsing Wilson in return, but the political weight of the announcement falls mostly on the congressional race, where Lasher is trying to turn support from Manhattan’s local political class into votes ahead of the June 23 primary.
“Over the past few months, I’ve gotten to know Micah along the campaign trail, and I have been extremely impressed by his dedication, compassion, and fearlessness,” Wilson said in a statement. “Micah is a natural leader with an incredible mind for creative policy designed to help New Yorkers. He will be a great representative for Manhattan in Congress, and I am proud to endorse him.”
Lasher gains institutional backing in NY-12 primary
The endorsement gives Lasher another elected ally in Council District 3, which includes Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen and the West Village.
It also reinforces one of Lasher’s central advantages in the race, the breadth of his institutional support. His campaign’s public endorsement list includes his former boss, Rep. Nadler, Gov. Kathy Hochul, Rep. Nydia Velázquez, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Gov. David Paterson, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, City Comptroller Mark Levine, Council Member Gale Brewer, state Sens. Erik Bottcher and Brian Kavanagh, Assembly Members Linda Rosenthal and Deborah Glick, former Council Speaker Christine Quinn and several Manhattan Democratic clubs.
That list also includes 32BJ SEIU, Broadway Democrats, Hell’s Kitchen Democrats, Village Independent Democrats, West Side Democrats, Three Parks Independent Democrats, Eleanor Roosevelt Independent Democrats and the Samuel J. Tilden Democratic Club.
The announcement comes as Lasher is showing signs of momentum in the race. A new Emerson College Polling/PIX11 survey released Thursday found Lasher narrowly leading the field with 22% support, followed by Assembly Member Alex Bores at 20%, Jack Schlossberg at 11% and George Conway at 10%. Thirty-two percent of likely Democratic primary voters remained undecided. The poll was conducted May 16-17 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8%.
Other recent surveys have shown a fluid race, with Bores or Lasher near the top and a large share of voters still uncommitted.
Wilson’s endorsement adds the newest elected official from Council District 3 to Lasher’s coalition, reinforcing a West Side support network that already includes some of the area’s most prominent political figures.
That existing strength has led some local political observers to argue Wilson’s endorsement is less a shock to the race than a reinforcement of a pattern already underway.
“In a normal race, this would be a really big deal, because City Council District 3 is a bellwether of the NY-12 map, and all three major candidates desperately need to perform well there in order to hit their numbers,” said Eli Miller, who writes the local politics Substack Ghost Runner and hosts a podcast dissecting the NY-12 race. “But in this case, Lasher has enjoyed such a dominant run with local politicians and their neighborhood political clubs already that Wilson’s endorsement barely changes anything.”
Miller added that Bottcher, Hoylman-Sigal, and Quinn all have higher profiles than Wilson in that area and had already lined up behind Lasher.
Still, Wilson’s backing gives Lasher support from the newest elected representative in a key West Side district and ties his campaign to Wilson’s recent victory over Lindsey Boylan, who had been endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The mayor has not made an endorsement in the Manhattan House race.
Wilson’s April win was closely watched as a test of Mamdani’s influence in city politics and marked a setback for the mayor’s endorsement operation. However, the same Emerson College Polling that has Lasher in the lead in NY12, also has the House race candidates in NY7 and NY10, backed by Hizzoner, at the top of the polls.
In a statement, Lasher praised Wilson as “the next generation of leadership” in the City Council.
“Carl Wilson embodies the next generation of leadership we need in the City Council — someone who is gracious, effective, and deeply committed to the people he serves,” Lasher said. “I look forward to working in partnership with Carl to build political power and deliver tangible results for our neighbors. Carl has hit the ground running representing Council District 3, and I am honored to give him my full support.”
