Democratic Primary Debate for the 10th Congressional District | Full Debate
158 claims analyzed
Transcript(158 claims)
Good evening. Welcome to New York one's debate for the 10th Congressional District. Tonight kicks off our coverage of this year's Democratic congressional primary races, several of which are hotly contested. I'm Merrill Lewis, political anchor at New York one.
And I'm New York one's investigative reporter Courtney Gross. Tonight's broadcast is also streaming live on the Spectrum News app and on our YouTube channel. Early voting starts on Saturday, June 13 in both congressional and state legislative primaries across New York, including tonight's race. And the June twenty third primary is just three weeks away from tomorrow.
New York's tenth congressional district stretches from the West Village to the East Village. It includes Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, including all or part of Brooklyn Heights, Red Hook, Park Slope, and Sunset Park.
Tonight, we're joined by the two leading Democratic candidates. Daniel Goldman is the incumbent congressman serving in the role since 2023. He's a former federal prosecutor who worked as the lead counsel for house Democrats in the first impeachment trial of president Trump. Brad Lander is a former city controller and 2025 mayoral candidate. He also served in a city council for twelve years.
The rules you see on your screen have been agreed to by both candidates. Each man will have sixty seconds for an opening statement, and then answers to our questions will generally be limited to sixty seconds with thirty seconds to answer rebuttals or for follow ups at our discretion.
And there will be both the cross examination round where the candidates get to ask one question to his opponent and a lightning round where their answers should be yes or no or something very short.
You can see this full debate on the Spectrum News app at any time. And for those of you at home, feel free to join the conversation online using the hashtag n y one debate. We begin now with one minute opening statements. The order was determined by a random drawing this morning on live television. Brandlander will go first.
Good evening.
Thank you, Arrow and Courtney. Our neighbors in New York 10 care about democracy and about each other, and it has been my honor to work alongside you shoulder to shoulder for thirty years to prevent evictions of seniors and families, to build thousands of affordable homes, to protect our retirees' healthcare. Now our values are under existential assault. Trump is abducting our neighbors and corrupting our government while the cost of living skyrockets and the gap between the rich and the rest of us has never been greater. But meanwhile, corporate Democrats like Dan Goldman, instead of taking on special interests, take money from them, from Wall Street, crypto, and APAC.
New York 10 voters want leaders who fight billionaires and deliver for working families who put their bodies on the line to protect our immigrant neighbors. That's why I'm proud to be endorsed by mayors around Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, the Working Families Party, and why it would be an honor to serve you in congress.
Thanks very much. Mister Goldman, good evening.
Thank you, Errol. These are serious times with serious challenges, and this is not a moment for career politicians desperately seeking another job. We have a fascist in the White House pulling strings with the secret police abducting our neighbors and a system rigged by his billionaire buddies. My life's work has prepared me for this exact moment. I prosecuted Wall Street cheats and mob bosses.
I impeached Donald Trump. And for the last three and a half years, it has been my honor and privilege to represent New York's 10th Congressional District. I'm not only a fighter. I am a fighter who knows how to win. And when we take back the majority, I will once again beat Donald Trump, and we will move forward with a bold progressive agenda that will make billionaires pay their fair share so that the working families can get access once again to the American dream with universal health care, free childcare, and affordable housing for all.
I humbly ask for your vote, and, of course, let's go Knicks.
Okay. Thanks very much, gentlemen. Let's start with our first topic. This district has been home for a long time to a large number of Jewish voters who make up about 20% of the district is one estimate. You are both self described liberal Zionists who support Israel as a Jewish and democratic state while also supporting Palestinian self determination and a two state solution.
While you are aligned on many broad policy positions, you also have meaningful differences, and I wanna explore those. And let's start with yesterday's Israel Day Parade. Mister Goldman marched. Mister Lander did not. For each of you, what symbolic statement were your actions intended to convey?
And we'll start with you, mister Goldman.
Well, I was proud to march in the Israel Day Parade to celebrate the nation and state of Israel, a Jewish and democratic state, that is distinct from its government. I strongly oppose this government of prime minister Netanyahu. And apparently, I was unaware that Bezalil Smotrich, one of the most radical extremists in that coalition government, also attended uninvited. I was unaware of that, and I am incredibly disappointed that that occurred because I have called for his removal. I have called for sanctions against him.
And I think another area where Brad and I agree is that what is going on in the West Bank that is being led by Smotrich is absolutely unacceptable. I have been a leader on that from the beginning. I have, in congress in opposing the settlements and exposing, in opposing the expansion of the violence, and I will continue to lead in that so that Palestinians have human rights, self determination, and there can be peace and security in the region. Okay.
Thank you. Mister Lander.
We have some profound differences here. While Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, violating international law, violating Palestinian human rights, I believe we should not be sending additional US military aid to Israel, and I won't be marching in the Israel Day Parade alongside government ministers in Netanyahu's government like Betzal El Smotrich, a war criminal who called it moral and just to starve Palestinians. Representative Goldman has voted for every stand alone aid package to Israel for all the 2,000 pound bombs that destroyed all of the hospitals and schools and most of the homes in Gaza where Netanyahu and the IDF now occupy 70% of the territory. So, no, I won't send any additional US military aid to Israel. I will sign on to the Block the Bombs Act and the Ceasefire Compliance Act with representative which representative Goldman does not view what's happening there as a genocide.
I've been fighting against Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza since 1990. I've never heard him say the word occupation in that context if you want a fighter for Palestinian human rights.
The Christian's fair. Just just to follow-up, what was it of those that those lists of complaints that you have with the actions of the Israeli government that led to you not participating in the parade?
I mean, I I'll go through it again. I mean, you know, Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. Israel is violating international law and Palestinian human rights. We shouldn't be sending unconditional military aid. We shouldn't be marching with war criminals.
Okay. What did each of you make of that recent vote at the Park Slope Food Co op, which, of course, is in the district to boycott the purchase of Israeli produce? I'll start with you, mister Landon.
Yeah. Look. This one, there were very strong feelings on both sides, and it's important to listen to them. Majority of the members the Park Slope Food Club abhor what is happening. Watch while they won't even allow bathrooms into Gaza right now.
I mean, the families there are it is really extraordinary how horrific it is. And so people wanna find some way to do something. They don't feel heard by their government because their congressman just keeps voting to send military aid there despite the atrocities they see with their own eyes. At the same time, of course, Jewish members of the coop who believe, as we do indeed both do, in a vision of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, don't wanna feel unwelcome in their own grocery store. So I don't support the global BDS movement, and I would have voted no on the resolution.
But to me, the answer is to end US complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza, in the apartheid that is imposed on Palestinians. Israelis will not be safe until Palestinians are free.
Well, look. I agree with rabbi Rachel Timonar, who is the esteemed rabbi of congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope, who pointed out as she agrees with both of us that what has happened in Gaza is horrific and that there needs to be Palestinian self determination. But as she said, this is not the way. And the reason this is not the way is because the BDS movement, first of all, was founded on the premise that Israel should not exist. Second of all, what the Park Slope co op does in Park Slope, Brooklyn, in terms of whether or not it has products from Israel is not going to impact Israeli foreign policy.
But what it does do is it makes Jewish members of that coop and the community very uncomfortable. And it gets worse when in the conversations, there are discussions of and the use of a term Jewish supremacism. That is antisemitic, and that's where the line needs to be drawn. You can oppose the Israeli government, but you cannot espouse anti Semitic views, and that's why I opposed this resolution.
Mhmm. Did you wanna respond?
Look. I agree charges of Jewish supremacism in this context were anti Semitic, and we should not be leveling them. It is a time of rising antisemitism and hate. But the way to respond to it is to listen to the concerns that voters have and actually do something about it.
And, you know, and that's when I'm that's why a
big part of why I'm I'm running for congress. I want a representative who isn't gonna keep voting for unconditional US military aid who's gonna actually push for real
change. Let me let
but wait a minute. You don't I mean, don't understand how you say Jewish supremacism is antisemitism. You oppose BDS. That's what that resolution was. I know you like to talk about everything else, but why why do you not why do not think it was worth a resolution?
You don't think that resolution was antisemitic even though Jewish
supremacists Well,
there's a big difference between the one person who said Jewish supremacism in the debate and the 8,000 voters at the food court, quite a few of whom are Jewish, who are looking for some way to express their anger and frustration.
Well, look. I agree with that. A congressman
And I would stop say voting for unconditional military aid, who could call it genocide, who could say the word occupation
Right.
Who didn't march with war criminals. The problem, though, focus on violence.
Let let let
let let The problem is that I know you like to accuse, you know, me personally of doing all this, but the reality is we have laws on the books that require any country that we give military and or security assistance to to follow international human rights law. They are called the Leahy laws. I work closely with the Biden administration to implement the Leahy laws in the West Bank and to withhold 2,000 pound bombs to Gaza. We don't need new laws. We need to Donald Trump to enforce the laws that we have as president Biden did.
Do you really think that president Biden was in enforcing international law and upholding
I actually know he was because I was there at the time having conversations with the administration where they were holding
back 2,000 Let me let is an area where we have a significant me just to to clear up something before we move on. We're gonna move on to a different topic. But, there were a couple of pieces of legislation. There was the Block the Bombs Act, the Ceasefire Compliance Act. I know that was a point of of difference between you.
You've said on those and other issues, mister Lander, that you support a a full scale restriction, not an outright halt, on the sale of arms to Israel, as a way, I guess, put pressure on them to comply with international law and do some other things policy wise.
US complicity.
And and you feel differently about that. I wanted to invite mister Goldman to explain what you think is the the right path to put pressure on the Israeli government.
Well, I can tell you what I think is not the right path, which is that when you are in office as a city controller and you have the opportunity to, either support or withhold support from something that you apparently believe in as Brad seems to believe so strongly against, the Israeli government. And then you go on Orthodox Radio and you brag about the investments in the city controller's office in four Israeli companies, including Elbit Systems, which is the largest Israeli arms manufacturer. It is one thing to speak out from the peanut gallery. It is another thing when you actually are in office and you have the ability to have an impact on something. And, ultimately, Brad had that chance and he failed even though he promised to do opposite.
And this is what you're gonna see because Israel Errol, with all due respect, we've now ten minutes into this, and we've only spoken about Israel. Israel is not the most important issue in this district. What is most important that I hear from the voters is Donald Trump in the White House tearing our immigrant neighbors away, destroying our democracy, corrupting everything from the White House, and taking away health care, food benefits, so many of the concerns. We we that's what we're
definitely gonna get to those He answered none of response.
He well, first, answered none of your questions, Errol. So you should know he doesn't support the Block the Bombs Act. He doesn't support the Ceasefire Compliance Act. He voted for every US military aid package to Israel. He won't recognize it as genocide.
He's never used the word occupation to describe Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. I'm proud of my record as city controller. We grew the pension funds over $300,000,000,000. I stopped buying Israel bonds because they did not news, individual publicly traded companies. Rep Goldman knows that you're probably gonna hear it again in another context tonight.
But if that's the most significant criticism he has when he's been in congress and failed so seriously on, yes, not the issues that matter most in people's daily lives, that's affordable housing and health care and Trump abducting our neighbors. But this is one of the significant moral and humanity challenges of our time
Okay.
And our representative failed
to If I may just say one thing, Errol. You say you can't that you don't pick and choose the investments, but you go on television and you tout specific investments. Okay. We gotta So we we You can't have it both ways.
We will come back to that. Britney has a question.
We are gonna move on to a different topic, and that is immigration enforcement. 26 Federal Pla Plaza, the city's immigration court and holding facility, is in this district. You both have been a name for yourselves outside of that site or inside of that site, Goldman, with unannounced inspections and a triage center for assistance in your off with your own arrests. With criticism of ICE mounting, some in the Democratic party have said ICE should be abolished. Do you agree?
If so, what is its replacement? And we will start with mister Goldman.
Yeah. I do think ICE should be abolished. What ICE has been doing over the last year, and we just had a a press conference this morning with some of the advocates and activists and, faith based leaders who have been helping us with this triage center is absolutely unconscionable. It is un American. It is unacceptable.
And ICE needs to be abolished because it cannot continue to violate the law this way. But you raise, I think, a very good point, and I would like our viewers to really analyze how the two of us have approached this immigration sit situation at twenty six Fed. We both have been active. I have not only been appearing at court preventing arrests from happening, But I've created a triage center in my district office with advocates, a coalition with lawyers, where we are helping over more than a 100 families, and we have freed 39 people. I also filed a lawsuit that we won to allow members of congress around the country to conduct oversight of those ICE facilities, and I have been there at least once a week.
I am the one who is going to do the work and to make a difference, and you'll hear Brad talk about putting his body on the line, but so he's getting arrested. Okay. But all he's doing with that is fundraising. He's not actually helping any immigrants.
Thank you. And, mister Landor, can you please respond to the question?
So I first called for abolishing ICE in 2018. Representative Goldman first called for it a month or two ago. He's a Danny come lately to the movement to abolish ICE. What they have been doing this last year is indeed especially egregious. They've known the entire year.
They don't have the authority to abduct immigrants in the hallways of immigration court. The US attorney for the Southern District even admitted it in court. What I have been part of for this entire year, I started going a couple of weeks before I got arrested. Joining Neighbors, it's a movement of thousands of people here at 26 Federal Plaza and 290 Broadway and 201 Barrack Street, accompanying young people, accompanying asylum seekers, being there to bear witness to, yes, absolutely, connect people to lawyers so they need to file habeas proceedings. That's an area where I will give some praise to the representative.
That movement is in Minneapolis. What enabled neighbors to push ICE and Bovino out of their cities. We've got a fascist in the White House. We've got a rogue ICE agents in our streets. But around here, neighbors showing up for each other.
And, yes, putting their bodies on the line is how we fight back and how we win. I'd like the hearings in congress on ICE oversight to start in Minneapolis to get justice for Renee Gooden and Alex Freddy.
May I
ask for question? Can Sure. Rebuild a better system.
Well, first of all, we've already done hearings in Minneapolis on this issue. And in 2018, when you called to abolish ICE, you were about ten years into your political career. I had not even thought about entering into politics. I was one of the first ones in in congress to call for it, and I have been leading the fight against it to protect and actually make a difference on the ground for our immigrant community members who are so wrongfully and illegally, taken away. I have introduced the bill to unmask ICE.
I introduced a bill to prohibit arrests at immigration court, which as Brad correctly said now, ICE has admitted that they should have never been able to do. I have been leading the charge from legislation to litigation to cross examining Christy Noem and making her admit that they are violating the law to the Triage Center and helping 39 individuals get out of detention.
Goldman. We'll go we'll go back to mister Lander. The the state legislature recently approved legislation to prohibit cooperation between ICE and federal law enforcement for civil matters. When should local police departments if do you believe local police departments should ever work with ICE to deport someone? And if so, when?
Yeah. First, let me praise the state legislature for this legislation, which prohibits collaboration, but also allows individual whose constitutional rights are violated by ICE officers to sue them in state court. That's something that we're gonna have to be doing around the country. And that congress can come together, those hearings we should have in Minneapolis to bring the killers of Renee Goode and Alex Freddy to justice. They'll be prosecuted in Minnesota, and folks who violate the law ICE officers who violate the constitutional rights of their neighbors can now be prosecuted here in terms of when collaboration should and should not take place.
The NYPD and other law enforcement should absolutely not be working with ICE to deport neighbors. Now if someone commits a crime, the NYPD investigates, arrests, and works with prosecutors to prosecute. But that is not what is happening right now, what ICE is doing right now. And I was down there this morning because ICE is now doing these mega master calendar hearings, calling people in in droves, ripping rights away from young people. We need all of our state and local jurisdictions on board showing up for our neighbors.
Thank you, mister Leonard. Mister Goldman.
Well, I think the way that it works right now is the proper way. And the misinformation that the Republicans use to say that sanctuary cities do not cooperate at all with ICE is preposterous. What New York City does, what New York State does is that when somebody has a criminal conviction that warrants removal from this country, the Department of Corrections in both city or state cooperates and coordinates with ICE to turn over that person when their sentence is finished. Anything short of a conviction and a completion of a sentence is not due process to turn them over. And we cannot have our law enforcement helping the federal government with civil immigration enforcement.
And the shame of it is that none of this stuff is the worst of the worst as Stephen Miller and Donald Trump said. It is lawful lawful people pursuing lawful pathways. I have been in the Homeland Security Committee, and in fact, I did cross examine Christy Noem, and I got her to admit that she was violating the law by deporting people with open asylum cases. That is gonna be exhibit a when I initiate the investigations into Christy Noem and ICE next January from my perch as a chairman of a subcommittee in the judiciary committee.
Thank thank you, mister Goldman.
Okay, gentlemen. We're gonna move on to our next topic, which is the high cost of housing. It's an issue throughout the district. It's an issue in Park Slope, and it's an issue in, Borough Park, the Lower East Side, Sunset Park, West Village, every part of the district. What would you do as a member of congress, we're gonna start with you, mister Lander, to help renters and small homeowners who are getting priced out of the district?
I mean, this issue is the biggest one facing folks on the ground. And we all feel it. Tenants getting pushed out of their homes. All our kids can't afford to find a place to live in our community. This has been the work of my adult life.
I helped organize the effort to fight against the evictions of seniors at the Prospect Park residence or residents in dozens of buildings bought by the private equity backed landlord, Green Brook. Thankfully, we strengthened laws in New York State, strengthening rent stabilization laws. I also help bring together the biggest affordable housing plan in recent decades around the Gowanus Canal where 8,000 new homes, 3,000 of them genuinely affordable to low income and working class families are rising. And I'm gonna bring that expertise to congress. I know how the federal housing programs work.
Most of them were developed in the eighties and nineties. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who's supporting me, has a great twenty first century road to housing act, which is build more housing, put more money into affordability, don't allow private equity to buy up all the housing, and more strongly protect tenants. I'll be a champion in the US House of Representatives for the housing that our neighbors need.
Okay. Mister Goldman.
Well, since I've been in congress, I have actually helped to increase affordable housing supply, and that is exactly what we need. We need more supply to bring down rents at all levels. The low income housing tax credit is the largest federal program to help build 100% affordable housing, and I played a central role in getting that passed. Reforms that it doubled the opportunities to use those. New York City is going to use build 70% more a 100% affordable housing because of that bill.
And Brad mentioned the Gowanus development, was in in theory a great development. Unfortunately, the way it has transpired is that the market rate and luxury apartments have been built first, and the vast majority of affordable were put on the worst environmentally in just unjust land and are still waiting to be built. I shepherded through the Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment project, which has 6,000 units of housing at 40% affordable, and we made sure not only to reduce gentrification, but also to ensure that the affordable housing is built at the same rate as the market and housing.
Let's be clear. There are zero units of housing in the Brooklyn Marine Terminal so far, while thousands of units in Gowanus are rising.
Yeah. Because you just misspoke
100%. Every single building that's gone up has affordable housing in it. Many of them also have affordable artist studios. Redevelopment is beginning on nearby public housing because we built the Gowanish Neighborhood Coalition for Justice that won affordable housing for new residents, but also protected tenants and invested more in public housing. And, yeah, the Brooklyn Marine Terminal that Eric Adams convened the task force and Dan Goldman chaired it has a vision plan that many residents wanna see more information about the infrastructure and the transportation.
It is possible to help people get excited about what inclusive growth can look like, but only if you start from real conversations with neighbors. The Gowanus rezoning was the only big one in the city that got the vast majority of its community board to vote for it. That's the kind of leadership that I've been providing, and you can see it with your own eyes.
So, you raised the Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Last summer, as we were trying to finalize a vision plan with a task force of 27 people, elected officials, community leaders, industry experts, I worked with Brad together to try to get that passed. At that time, he supported it. Now that he's running for congress, it's convenient and easy for him to try to get votes by opposing it. That's the problem with Brad Lander is that he will tell you one thing behind a closed door and say something else when it is convenient for him in a electoral race.
And that's why you can't trust him because he absolutely helped to support this program that Zoran Mamdani now supports. So so let's talk Let's talk
about the I mean, I was very proud last year to cross endorse the mayor.
Let's talk about the project.
Well, I mean, first on the Gowanus, the mayor was there to launch his housing plan last week. We did a tour of the Gowanus Canal. It is a template
The marines Yeah.
I mean, Eric Adams convened a task force and appointed Dan Goldman to chair it, And they had a process that people knew what mayor Adams wanted from the beginning, and that was the plan.
So why did you
support it with me? Everyone can check the record. I never supported it. I asked a lot of questions, and I was pleased when borough president Antonio Reynoso and council member Shehana Hanif, said we need more information. We're gonna issue an additional request for expressions of interest to learn more about who's interested in the commercial uses of the waterfront, to find out more about the transportation and infrastructure that would be needed.
We'll get there on Brooklyn Marine Terminal when I am congress member, but it's because I build good consensus and teams and bring neighbors together. That's what we did in one.
It's just it's to be clear, is flat lie.
It's not what happened.
Slat and out lie. I have the text messages
to refute it. We'll we'll we'll leave that for now. I wanna ask you both about the housing authority, has a $78,000,000,000 capital deficit, multiple developments in need of repair or replacement, including several in the 10th District. I'm talking about the the Red Hook houses. The we're talking about all of the developments on the Lower East Side.
Without getting too deeply into these programs, the acronyms like RAD or PACT or the Preservation Trust, do you generally support the use of public private partnerships to improve conditions at NYCHA developments in the district? We'll start with you, mister Goldman.
Well, I'm proud to co lead the bill in congress with congresswoman Nydia Velasquez, the public public housing emergency response act, which would give more than $30,000,000,000 for capital improvements to NYCHA. It is essential, and we are working to push it through over obstruction from the Republicans. There are 31 NYCHA developments in our district, and I am very proud to have nearly every single NYCHA TA president supporting me, including ones that were in in Brad's council district when he was a council member. And the reason they're supporting me is that I am thinking big on these issues, and I am focusing on the ground. We have closed more than 400 cases.
I have also brought back 11 different projects with appropriations funding of $10,000,000 for different NYCHA developments because we need to be thinking all of the above here to help our NYCHA residents. And I've been doing that work, and that's why they are supporting me.
Okay. Mister Lander.
As I mentioned in the Gowanus rezoning, we won $200,000,000 for the comprehensive modernization of both Gowanus houses and Wyckoff Gardens, some of the only places in the city where buildings are being renovated while staying traditional public housing and I'm really proud of that. At the same time, I agree all hands, all tools in the toolkit is needed, but residents need to vote and have a say. When I was controller, I created the first ever NYCHA resident audit committee that published an audit to help people understand if we make different choices of public private partnership, what might happen so that we could they can make good decisions. And I support the way the Mamdani administration is looking to use that information to give residents choices. One thing I really hope will happen that came out of that committee is an app we designed called Yelp for NYCHA repairs.
We we can't trademark it that way, but residents say when contractors come into our units, they don't even do the work. We've mocked up an app that will let them give feedback just like you can on your Uber driver or your Yelp restaurant review. It'll save money. It'll get us scorecards on vendors. It'll deliver better life quality of life for NYCHA residents.
And I agree. That is a good idea.
Okay. We're gonna move on to another topic, and that is both of your experience. You both have an array of experience at different levels of government. Please describe what your biggest accomplishment has been thus far while in public service, and name one thing you admire about your opponent's time while they've served in elected office. And we're gonna start with you, mister Goldman.
Well, I consider public service to be more than just elected office, and I've only been in elected office for three and a half years. I'm very proud of my record as a prosecutor holding Wall Street cheats, mob bosses to account and putting them in jail. I'm very proud of the work that I did in leading the first impeachment investigation of Donald Trump where we proved the case. We got Mitt Romney, the first senator to vote to convict a president of his own party. And then eight months later, Donald Trump was voted out of office.
And that's exactly the kind of experience that is necessary right now with this tyrant in the White House who is abusing, absolutely abusing our constitution and every value that we hold dear. I am a senior member of the judiciary committee, and I will not only have that skills and experience, but I will also be in a position to lead those investigations. My opponent has neither the skills or experience nor will he have the seniority or position to do that when we take back the majority.
Thank you, mister Goldman. Did you wanna mention one thing that you do admire about your opponent?
Yes. Happily. I think Brad has been a long, long time public servant really doing a yeoman's work in trying to bring working families forward. I I think your work on affordable housing is very admirable.
Mister Lander.
I'll be a little more specific. I admire the clinic you set up at 290 Broadway to help immigrant families. I'll keep it there when I win this seat and make sure that we continue to provide the good services that you, have established. The legislation I am proudest of in my time in the city council was legislation that helped workers take on corporate abusive bosses. So Uber drivers came and said, we're getting screwed.
We're only making $6 an hour past the first legislation in the country guaranteeing a living wage for Uber and Lyft drivers. You better believe Uber and Lyft bought it. Then Deliveristas said the same, and we did the same. We're the first city in the country where Deliveristas are guaranteed a living wage, you better believe that Seamless and DoorDash fought against it. Fast food workers were facing really abusive schedules that were getting canceled.
They couldn't get advance notice. They couldn't get full time jobs and therefore health insurance. We passed the first legislation in the country in a big city guaranteeing a fair work week for fast food workers. You better believe McDonald's and Chipotle fought it, but fought back and passed that legislation. And now there's billions of dollars in working people's pockets.
Similarly, the Freelancers and Free Act protects freelancers from wage theft. We desegregated the middle schools of District 15, something people thought could not be done when you bring neighbors together and fight back against bullies and billionaires, you can deliver for working families.
Okay. Gentlemen, we're gonna move on now to the cross examination where each candidate gets the chance to ask one question of their adversary and they'll get, one answer from that adversary. You'll go first, mister Lander.
Congressman, the last time that you were in this room, you told Arrow that you don't take corporate PAC contributions, but you do, not into your current campaign account, but into your leadership account, is called Democracy Action Now or Dan for short, which which is cute. That account, this cycle has cash checks from American Express, from Walmart, from Google, from Aflac. Why do you think it's appropriate to take corporate PAC contributions into your leadership account? And how can voters trust you when you lied about it?
Well, you are right. I do not take any corporate PAC money in my own campaign account to use on my own campaign. And you also are correct that I do take corporate PAC money in my leadership PAC. That leadership PAC cannot be used for me. It cannot be used for my campaign.
It is only used to help my colleagues win back the majority. And I have no problem taking money from anyone who wants to give it to me to help the Democrats take back the majority. That's only the only purpose it's used for, and I have I am proud to be able to be the number one person in my class who has supported Democrats in the last term, and I'll continue to do that so we get the majority.
Okay. Your turn to ask a question, mister Goldman.
Brad, you do like to focus so much on Israel. So so let's talk about it again for a minute. In 2020, you told the New York Times that you were a proud member of the DSA for over thirty years since you were a freshman in college. Last year, at the mayoral election, you said that you renounced your membership of DSA after October 7, you did not seek the endorsement of the DSA. Why did you leave the DSA?
I mean, I think the answer was pretty clear. On October 8, they advertised a a rally that I thought was heinous that spoke about Hamas, in ways that I just thought were were vile, and I could not continue, to be a member. That said, when the choice came about how to handle the mayoral election and the DSA endorsed candidates are on Mamdani was the choice between him and Andrew Cuomo. I did not hesitate to cross endorse him so that we wouldn't live in a city with Andrew Cuomo as our mayor, and you could not even support him in the general election. You're the Democratic congress member.
He's the Democratic nominee for mayor running against a serial sexual harasser who betrayed our party. So, yes, I know how to build good coalitions. When you disagree, you speak up about it. Sometimes you can do that privately. Sometimes you have to do it publicly.
But we can build a coalition that includes democratic socialists and progressives and liberals and moderates who are fed up with the ways corporate democrats are taking cash hand over fist and failing to deliver for working families.
Okay, gentlemen. It is time for our lightning round. We're gonna ask you a couple of questions. A brief response usually, yes or no will get us through it. Mister Lander, where is the last the last vacation you took, where was it?
Oh, the first week of this year, we went to Morocco.
Mister Goldman.
I went to visit my daughter studying Spanish in Argentina.
Are you going to attend an NBA finals game, mister Goldman?
Yes. Absolutely.
Mister Lander?
I'm gonna attend a watch party, but there's no way I could afford those get in prices.
Give us one idea to reform the supreme court, mister Lander.
Expand it to 13 justices. It used to have the same number of justices as there are circuit courts, and it should again.
Mister Goldman. I think what we need to do is put term limits for sure, but also expand the court in a prospective way. The court's credibility is destroyed. I have introduced a bill that would require an ethics and an independent investigative body, which we need. But if we can expand the court so that it is depoliticized, that will maintain its credibility, and that is the way that I think we need to deal with it.
Would you support senator lightning round or
Yes. Okay. Yes. Some short. Yes or no?
Short. As brief as you can. Would you support senator Schumer if he ran for reelection in 2028? We'll start with mister Lander.
I think it's time for a new leadership in the Democratic party, and that's why I'm running in this race again rep against representative Goldman.
Have not thought about it. I have no idea whether he's gonna run or not. We'll deal with that when the time comes.
Mister Goldman, should New York City allow self driving cars like Waymo on the streets?
I think if we can Yes or no. Ensure as long as they are safe. Mister Lander.
I've offered a plan for how we can do it in a way that achieves a real transition a bit at a time so that work workers actually can keep getting the income they need to pay their mortgages and their rents.
Okay. When was the last time you used an AI chatbot, and what did you ask to mister Goldman?
Probably yesterday, I would imagine. I have no idea. I do not remember. I use it pretty frequently.
Mister Lander.
I used it today to check on one of representative Goldman's votes.
An all important question. Name of one of your favorite restaurants in the district, mister Lander.
I love Masala Wala on 5th Avenue. I love Miriam. I'll go with those two.
Mister Goldman.
Casa Adela on the Lower East Side.
That's good, g.
Alright, gentlemen. We're gonna talk now about, the direction of the Democratic Party. Mister Lander, this is for you. Mister Goldman currently sits on the judiciary of the intelligence committees, two panels that have direct oversight over the Trump administration. If Democrats take back congress, he'll be directly positioned to take on Trump.
Why should voters trade that for a freshman member?
I mean, look, we we absolutely need to take back the house and have control of it, but we also need better democrats. And I believe that corporate democrats who take money from Wall Street and private equity and crypto and APAC are not getting the job done. I'll use crypto as an example. The representative has an a rating from Stan with crypto. Their super PAC has supported him in the past.
And then he Republicans for the two crypto bills, the Genius Act and the Clarity Act, that make it so that crypto investors would get bailed out if there was a bank failure before regular working people that have helped Donald Trump enrich himself that would allow corporations to issue their own cryptocurrencies. So I think we need bold new leadership, and I will work to serve on the House Financial Services Committee, which has oversight of housing policy. And I can bring my controller background to rooting up financial corruption and the foreign affairs committee to make sure we have a human a foreign policy that's consistent with human rights and international law. Okay.
Did you
wanna answer that? Yeah. I I agree, that we need a new type of leadership, and that's what I provide having been in congress now just for three and a half years. Brad is a career politician who has changed back and forth any number of different positions over the years just to get elected. This is exactly what the problem is with our party.
I am there with bold, creative, new ideas, and aggressiveness. And I will, as you indicated, Errol, be in position to lead the charge with my skills and experience to hold Donald Trump accountable, but also to push forward with an affirmative agenda to tax billionaires and make sure our working families are getting the support that they need. Now those working families that Brad says I do not support are all supporting me. NYCHA is supporting me. The overwhelming number of unions, the teachers, the building trades, all supporting me.
Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, Brady Action Fund, they're all supporting me because I have been doing the work on the ground for the last three and a half years. And they know it because those are the people who need the most help, and that's who are supporting me.
I'm supported by the United Auto Workers, by New York State Nurses, by SEIU thirty two BJ, BJR, building service workers, by a local 100, the communications workers, the working families party, Indivisible, MoveOn, most of the local elected officials and district leaders in the district. So the working families in this district know who the progressive champion is in this race.
I if I could just add one one thing. Yeah. You're talking about what the agenda is, right, when we take back the house. Last week or a week two weeks ago, mister Landers said that we are gonna have to wait until 2029 to change policy. That is exactly the type of weak weak approach that we do not need.
I am not waiting until 2029. I did not wait until the next election when I was denied access to the ICE detention facilities. I filed a lawsuit and I won. And I can assure you that I am not waiting until 2029 to abolish ICE or to change any other policies. We are gonna get it done, and I know how to do it.
Let's get a quick response on that, and then I have a question for you, mister Goldman.
I mean, no one's waiting until 2029. I gave an answer talking about what we can do on health care next term when we use our budget power to restore subsidies on the exchanges and get Medicare and Medicaid back. So we set it up so we can do Medicare for all after we elect a democratic president, and that is what will be required. Medicare for all is another area where he's Danny come lately ran against it when he ran four years ago. He is supporting it now.
I don't know if he really cares about it or not. That we're not gonna be able to do next year, but we can do meaningful work next year and then keep building on it to deliver for working families again. That's why Bernie Sanders That's not
at all what he said. And I'm an original cosponsor of Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. As private insurance companies Mhmm. Have taken over our health care, we need Medicare for All, and that's why I support I
I I got a got a question for you, mister Goldman. You you recently said publicly that you believe president Trump intends to try and cancel the fall elections. Your opponent has said that this is a political moment that has a lot at stake and that leaders have to resort to actions that go beyond the normal sequence of hearings and speeches and bill drafting and that civil disobedience, might even be necessary at this point. I'm wondering if you agree with that assessment given what is at stake. And if so, what are you prepared to do to protect democracy?
Well, I I'm more worried that he's gonna rig the election, because he has put election deniers in positions of oversight of our election system. He has obviously been trying to partisan gerrymander as much as he can. He's been trying to get voter rolls that he is not allowed to. There's no question that he's rigging them. There are a number of things we can do, and public protesting is absolutely essential.
We need to speak up. We need the public to speak up to get out there and make their voices heard. But it would be a waste of my position in congress if that's all I did because we have power that the average person does not have. And if I am just out there protesting and rallying, I'm wasting the opportunity that I have to amplify these issues to introduce legislation, which I have done to prevent DHS from seizing voting machines, and to amplify these issues and put pressure on the Republicans who see Donald Trump's poll ratings drop and are starting to feel the heat. Alright.
That's how things work in congress.
Got it.
Yeah. Look. I see elected public service as a partnership between inside and outside. Every one of those bills I mentioned before for fast food workers and delivoristas and freelancers was organizing with them, sometimes out in the streets, and then writing the bills to get it passed in the city council. That's my style, and I think that's how you get things done.
The place that I saw this work best most recently was in Minneapolis where I went after Alex Preti and Renee Goode were killed. House leadership apparently told congress members not to go, but you could see on the ground how people were pushing ICE and Bovino out of their city through peaceful protest, through ICE watch, through mutual aid. And, yeah, we have to be worthy of that movement at this moment, and sometimes that means civil disobedience. If he disrupts the election, that will be one of those times.
Okay. Candidates, I wanna get you on the record on a a couple of things. By show of hands, do you both intend to join the progressive caucus if you're serving in the next congress?
I'm a member.
You're a member. Do you both support Hakim Jeffries as leader of the democratic conference in the house if you should be a member? Okay.
And to hold him accountable just like voters should hold us accountable.
And and I guess real quick endorse me. Do you both support a third impeachment of president Trump?
Yes. But after investigations.
Okay. Alright. Courtney.
Okay. We're gonna move on to another topic. Mayor Mamdani hinged much of his candidacy on taxing the rich. Mister Lander, you supported that endeavor. Mister Goldman, you have said taxing the wealthy should be done on the federal level.
Why do you have that position, and how should the federal government approach this, mister Bolton?
Well, look. Our system is rigged out of control, and Donald Trump is making it exponentially worse. So we need to do everything that we can do. What I believe is we need systemic change, and that requires federal legislation. And as a federal elected official, that's what my focus is on.
Last fall, I introduced a bill called the Robin Hood Act, which would make billionaires pay their fair share who pay almost no taxes. The top 25 wealthiest Americans pay a 3.4% federal income tax rate. Jeff Bezos pays 1%. And the reason is they don't get a w two or income that it be taxed with income tax. They have their money in assets and stock.
And rather than sell their stock to pay for their yachts or their mansions or whatever it is, they instead borrow against it so they avoid paying capital gains. That's how they pay so little. My bill would tax those loans, and it has broad support in the Democratic party. It has serious interest in the Republican party, And that's the way to actually structurally change things to generate $30,000,000,000 of revenue that can pay for universal childcare and have money left over for health care, housing, and food nutrition.
Mister Goldman, me just ask you a quick follow-up. When you talk about taxing the wealthy, who do you should it just be the the uber wealthy, like you were speaking of, who should receive additional taxes, or should people who are just average wealthy be also taxed at a higher rate?
Well, I don't know how exactly you define it. I I am I support just about every single bill in congress to increase taxes on the wealthy. The reason I am pushing this one is that it is actually targeted at the problem. It is a solution for the biggest problem, not the only problem, but the biggest problem. And, my opponent, likes to say now that he supports taxing the rich in the city.
But when he was running for mayor, he opposed it. Then it wasn't so convenient. Now it is convenient. He will continue to flip flop, and he cannot be trusted.
Mister Lander?
I mean, Dan said he we should do everything we can do. But this spring, when he had a chance to do something, he totally whiffed. It was nowhere to be found. We were fighting for universal childcare in Albany. Mayor Mamdani said we need to tax the rich to do it.
And what our congressman said is I don't think it's a good idea to do state level taxes. And and thought, thankfully, that did not happen. The pied a terre tax is going in, and we are significantly increasing funding for universal childcare. Props to mayor Mamdani and governor Hochul for getting that done. The thing he's referring to is a fight I helped lead to save $400,000,000 in cuts that Eric Adams proposed to our school system.
And when we figured out a way to use pandemic funds rather than tax increases, I said I thought pandemic funds were a great way to fill in the gap. His Robin Hood Act, he also only introduced after I started announced my campaign or got ready to run for congress. It's so he can put a mailer in your mailbox. In addition, that act would raise over ten years less than $300,000,000,000. Senator Warren's wealth tax, 2¢ over $50,000,000, 3¢ on net wealth owed wealth over a billion would raise 6,000,000,000,000.
That's the scale we need to deliver universal childcare and Medicare for all and genuinely affordable housing.
If I could briefly respond, I do support taxing the wealthy at any level that we can, but we have to be thoughtful about it. And while I do support the Piedra terra tax, and I said that, I don't think that's going to make a significant impact on the problem. This we're talking we're running here for congress. We are not running for city council or state legislature. The congress is the one who can make big structural change.
And my Robin Hood Act actually is something that was well developed in advance. That is an idea that has attraction on the other side Mister Goldman. Of the Republicans. Brad continues to cite other people's bills. Mister Goldman.
No ideas of his own.
Mister Goldman, it is also no secret that you yourself are a very wealthy person. In fact, you just announced recently that you're going to be matching some contributions to your campaign that could potentially wreck up to millions of dollars. What do you say to voters who say you cannot understand their affordability concerns?
Well, I urge my voters to look at who is supporting me and look at my record. I have been on record as supporting taxes that would increase in taxes that would apply to me. And I have been doing the work on the ground to fight for universal childcare. I am a founding father of the dad's caucus to advocate for universal childcare, paid family leave, early child tax credit. I support every single one of these critical, critical, progressive programs that our working families need.
Thank you, mister Goldman.
So I I that's all I fair enough. I I just urge everybody to look at the record and look who's supporting me.
Thank you. And to mister Lander, similarly, very wealthy people have served in office before. Everyone from FDR to Mike Bloomberg, some have said that they are beyond any kind of conflict of interest. So what do you say to the that argument when thinking about mister Goldman's wealth?
I mean, first, I do think it's offensive when multimillionaires seek to buy office. It's not illegal, but democracy is supposed to be regular people. That's why the matching fund program that I helped strengthen in the New York City Council, and I passed the strongest independent expenditure disclosure act anywhere in the country, is public dollars to match the contributions of regular people. It's not a multimillionaire saying, I'll match contributions to me. I don't know if his program is like two to one for private equity and three to one for crypto and four to one for APAC donors.
A real matching funds program would be great fed policy.
Respond because he he just attacked me here. We're at June 1, three weeks before the election. This is the very first time that we have been in the same room because my opponent will not debate me until now. He's withdrawn from forums. He's pulled out.
He's actually made forums go back to back so that we wouldn't be actually have to face each other. And the question that I have is that if you can't stand up to me, how are you gonna stand up
to Donald Trump? I'm facing you right now, and we've done 30 forums. Several of them, I was there in person, and you didn't even show up. Like, Stonewall, I was there. You didn't even come.
Yeah. Because I actually have a job in Washington. That's where I was.
Guys guys gentlemen, we're gonna make the best of our last few minutes. For years, the only federal prison in New York is in Sunset Park. It's notorious for horrible conditions, lockdowns, violence. The representative of New York ten will represent this facility very, very quickly. Please try and make it thirty seconds if you can.
What would you do to improve conditions there? You as a as as a candidate and you as an incumbent.
Yeah. So I started going there when the power and the heat were out. I think it was in 2018, and we were part of, like, a series of all night protests to help get the power and the heat back on. That's the first time I was in there. It's another area where I will give some praise to representative Goldman who has shown up there, and demanded access because in addition to some of the high profile people that are in there like, you know, SBF and and others, there are a couple of 100 of our immigrant neighbors being kept in appalling conditions.
There's a Tuesday night vigil that I would urge people to go out and join while fight as a member of congress, but you could get involved right now Mister Goldman. In standing up.
I've been conducting serious oversight of the MDC since I came into congress three and a half years. I have met with the warden and the senior brass. I have met with the marshal of the BOP overall to discuss this. I have introduced a bill that would increase the salaries for staff at the MDC because they are suffering from staffing issues that leads to so many different problems. And, yes, I have visited the immigration wing of MDC three times, meeting with detainees who are there indefinitely, nonviolent, noncriminal, and who are being held in conditions just like a criminal jail.
Very good. It is unacceptable. Okay.
Okay. We're gonna do a few lightning round questions before we wrap up. The first is, do you support the two borough based jail facilities that are within the district? The first being in Manhattan's Chinatown, and the second being in Downtown Brooklyn. Mister Goldman?
Well, I support closing Rikers, and so we do need
Lightning rounds.
Borough yes. We do need borough park borough jails.
You support
the one in Manhattan and the one in Brooklyn? Miss mister Lander.
You support both the Manhattan and Brooklyn jail?
Well, I I am I'm not the the one in Chinatown is is a is a real problem,
but I support I support them both. No one wants to build jails, but Rikers is a
It's lightning round.
Nightmare.
Okay. That brings us to the end of our time. Thank you very much, candidates. That's gonna do it for tonight's debate. I'd like to thank the candidates for joining us and all of you at home for watching.
If you missed any part of tonight's broadcast, you can watch it in its entirety @ny1.com or on the Spectrum News app and, of course, on our YouTube channel as well.
And be sure to tune in Wednesday night for a primary debate for New York's 7th Congressional District in the race to succeed retiring congresswoman Nydia Velasquez. You can watch it right here on New York one this Wednesday night at 7PM.
And don't forget early voting is set to begin across the city on Saturday, June 13. Election day is on June 23. On behalf of New York one, thank you all for watching, and have a great evening.
No claim selected
Click an underlined phrase in the transcript to see the fact-check here.