Brad Lander | BernieCrats.com

Biography

Brad Lander has spent his career building progressive power in New York City. Before entering elected office, he directed the nonprofits Pratt Center for Community Development and Fifth Avenue Committee, working on housing, economic justice, and community planning in Brooklyn. He earned a BA from the University of Chicago and graduate degrees in social anthropology from University College London and city planning from the Pratt Institute.

Elected to the New York City Council in 2009 representing Park Slope and surrounding neighborhoods, Lander served for twelve years and co-founded the Council's Progressive Caucus. He was elected NYC Comptroller in 2021, where he oversaw the city's finances, pension funds, and labor relations — and chaired Local Progress, a national network of more than 800 progressive local elected officials in 45 states.

Lander ran for NYC mayor in 2025, finishing third in a crowded field. He cross-endorsed Zohran Mamdani, who went on to win — and Mamdani returned the favor by backing Lander's congressional bid. In June 2025, Lander was arrested by ICE agents at an immigration courthouse in Lower Manhattan after he linked arms with a man named Edgardo whose case had been dismissed, demanding to see a judicial warrant before releasing him. The agents handcuffed and detained Lander. All charges were later dropped. The moment became a defining image of grassroots resistance to the Trump administration's deportation machine.

On June 23, 2026, Lander defeated incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman with 62% of the vote in the Democratic primary for New York's 10th Congressional District, covering Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. He was endorsed by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

2026 House Campaign

Lander entered the race for NY-10 challenging two-term incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune and lead impeachment lawyer during Trump's first impeachment inquiry. Lander framed Goldman as a 'corporate Democrat' who 'doesn't know what time it is' — pointing to Goldman's acceptance of AIPAC and Wall Street money as disqualifying at a moment of democratic crisis.

His campaign was supercharged by the endorsement of Mayor Mamdani and the grassroots machinery of the NYC left. Lander won decisively on June 23, taking 62% of the vote in a district covering Lower Manhattan, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook, and surrounding neighborhoods — making it the first of Mamdani's three congressional pick-up victories that night.

'This moment is a five-alarm fire for our democracy,' Lander said. 'Donald Trump is abducting our neighbors and corrupting our government, cost of living is skyrocketing.' He has pledged to co-sponsor legislation restricting U.S. military aid to Israel, fight to get money out of politics, and push for robust investment in housing and working-class communities.