The Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler turned into what one candidate called a “triangular firing squad” Thursday night, as three contenders spent a PIX 11 debate hammering Assembly Member Alex Bores over how much AI and crypto money is flowing into his campaign. City and State first reported the exchanges from the debate for New York’s 12th congressional district, a middle-of-Manhattan seat that is one of the most Democratic in the country. That makes the June 23 primary winner all but certain to take the seat.
Bores is running as the candidate who stands up to Big Tech. He successfully pushed a major AI regulation through Albany. But an OpenAI-funded super PAC has spent millions trying to sink him, while a separate super PAC tied to rival AI company Anthropic has spent millions to boost him. When the first question of the night asked how candidates would protect jobs in the age of AI, his opponents had their opening.
Assembly Member Micah Lasher, who was narrowly leading Bores in a recent PIX 11/Emerson College poll, took it in the first 30 seconds of his first answer. “There’s one candidate on this stage that’s been standing up to Big Tech for more than a decade, one candidate on the stage who has voted consistently for regulation of artificial intelligence, one candidate on this stage who is not backed by any of the big AI companies,” Lasher said. “That candidate is not Alex, that candidate is me.”
Jack Schlossberg, the social media commentator and grandson of President John F. Kennedy who was polling in third, went after Bores on the same ground. “The most important question is whether the regulators are disinterested, and whether or not they are in the pocket of the AI industry,” Schlossberg said.
Lasher pointed to a super PAC backing Bores funded by crypto billionaire Chris Larsen, and to Bores earning an “A” rating from a pro-crypto group, as proof he is beholden to that industry too. Larsen put $3.5 million behind Bores, Politico reported, one of the largest single cash infusions in the race.
Bores brushed the attacks off as MAGA talking points and mocked the pile-on. “They’re so feisty today,” he said after another dig at his backers. His counter was that OpenAI would be thrilled if any of his opponents won, casting himself as the candidate the AI industry actually wants to beat. George Conway, the former Republican and Trump antagonist polling fourth, was the one who called the whole thing a “triangular firing squad.”
Lasher did not let up in the post-debate spin room, telling reporters, “I commend Alex for doing a very good job perpetrating a fraud on the voters.”
The money in this race is enormous. According to City and State, outside spending totaled more than $7.5 million in support of Lasher and $129,000 against him, and more than $6.3 million in support of Bores and more than $4.1 million against him. Lasher’s biggest backer is Stand For New York, a super PAC seeded with $5 million from former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whom Lasher once worked for. On Bores’ side, a group called Jobs and Democracy PAC, backed by the AI-regulation-friendly Anthropic, has spent around $1 million supporting him, per Politico.
For all the crossfire, the four candidates on stage agreed on plenty. They all support banning congressional stock trading, banning private immigration prison contracts, taking former Mayor Ed Koch’s name off the Queensboro Bridge, and, yes, “Knicks in four.” Schlossberg tried to set himself apart as the only candidate committing outright to legislation blocking offensive military aid to Israel.
Conway spent the night on his single campaign theme: none of the policy fights matter, he argued, unless President Donald Trump is out of office. He called his opponents’ proposals “great” but the debate itself, in his words to reporters afterward, “weird and beside the point.”
The May Emerson College Polling survey for PIX 11 had the primary tight at the top, with Lasher at 22 percent, Bores at 20 percent, Schlossberg at 11 percent and Conway at 10 percent, and 32 percent of likely Democratic primary voters undecided. Voters get the final say on June 23.
