David Freedlander

BREAKING from The Atlantic: Kash Patel has given out bottles of a personalized whiskey to FBI staff as well as civilians he encounters in his duties, according to eight people, including current and former FBI and Department of Justice employees and others who are familiar with Patel's distribution of the bottles. theatlantic.com/politics/2026/…

I hope @freedlander never writes a single word about me as long as I live. (complimentary)

NY-12, which includes both the Upper West and Upper East Sides, is the smallest and most population-dense congressional district in the country, one that candidates can crisscross several times over in an afternoon. It is among the wealthiest and oldest districts in the United States and is also the district with the most college graduates. If you listen to the candidates, the battle for NY-12 is not just about who will be the next member of the city’s congressional delegation but a contest among factions of the island’s Democratic base: the old-money elite, the anti-Trump resisters, the tech-world crusaders, and the old-school party Establishment. While nearly a dozen candidates are vying for the district’s congressional seat, the primary is coming down to just four: Micah Lasher, a state assemblyman from the Upper West Side and a longtime political hand who is Jerry Nadler’s anointed successor; Alex Bores, an assemblyman from the Upper East Side whose calls for AI regulation have led to millions of dollars being spent both for and against him; George Conway, the onetime Republican lawyer who has achieved notoriety as a leader of the #Resistance; and a previously little-known social-media influencer who is trying to rewrite the rules of New York City politics. “It’s New York-sized,” that social-media influencer, Jack Schlossberg, said when asked why this campaign is different. Schlossberg’s presence in the race proves the point. For our Cover Story, David Freedlander reports on how four liberal-but-not-left Democrats are racing to be the face of Manhattan: nymag.visitlink.me/Os2_Oz

NY-12, which includes both the Upper West and Upper East Sides, is the smallest and most population-dense congressional district in the country, one that candidates can crisscross several times over in an afternoon. It is among the wealthiest and oldest districts in the United States and is also the district with the most college graduates. If you listen to the candidates, the battle for NY-12 is not just about who will be the next member of the city’s congressional delegation but a contest among factions of the island’s Democratic base: the old-money elite, the anti-Trump resisters, the tech-world crusaders, and the old-school party Establishment. While nearly a dozen candidates are vying for the district’s congressional seat, the primary is coming down to just four: Micah Lasher, a state assemblyman from the Upper West Side and a longtime political hand who is Jerry Nadler’s anointed successor; Alex Bores, an assemblyman from the Upper East Side whose calls for AI regulation have led to millions of dollars being spent both for and against him; George Conway, the onetime Republican lawyer who has achieved notoriety as a leader of the #Resistance; and a previously little-known social-media influencer who is trying to rewrite the rules of New York City politics. “It’s New York-sized,” that social-media influencer, Jack Schlossberg, said when asked why this campaign is different. Schlossberg’s presence in the race proves the point. For our Cover Story, David Freedlander reports on how four liberal-but-not-left Democrats are racing to be the face of Manhattan: nymag.visitlink.me/Os2_Oz

.@AOC responds to this trend: "BOOOOO" "This race to try to see who can be exempt from participating in society is not a conversation that I'm interested in," she tells me. "I'm a Great Society Democrat, and I believe in building that together. And I think that the discourse around 'Everyone, let's all be like billionaires and opt out of our taxes,' I don't find it an inspiring message."