NY's 12th District candidates Lasher, Bores and Schlossberg spar over AI and Camelot

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Jun 10, 2026

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NEW YORK — Front-runners Micah Lasher and Alex Bores sparred over artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency while Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg staked out a more progressive stance on Israel in a NY-12 congressional debate.

Lasher, who narrowly leads most polls, repeatedly trashed Bores for supposedly being in the pocket of Big Tech, while his rival countered that he is the one who would do the most to rein in AI.

“I chose public service. You chose Palantir,” Lasher said, referring to Bores’ past work for the controversial data analytics company. “I will stack our records against each other any day of the week.”

But Bores insisted he’s the one who’s defending the public against AI billionaires who have poured money into the race to defeat him.

“I’ve been leading the fight in regulating this technology,” he said. “Congress is just missing the boat.”

Lasher and Bores lead polls of the June 23 Democratic primary to pick a successor for retiring Manhattan liberal stalwart Rep. Jerry Nadler.

Schlossberg put some distance between himself and the other leading candidates, along with conservative Trump critic George Conway, by calling for restricting military aid to Israel.

“I oppose sending offensive weapons to Israel,” he said. “I oppose sending bulldozers to continue perpetuating the illegal settlements in the West Bank.”

Both Lasher and Bores said they oppose such restrictions and portrayed themselves as strong supporters of Israel, a big issue in the district with the biggest Jewish population in the nation.

The grandson of President John F. Kennedy came under attack for riding his famous family’s coattails to the forefront of the race.

“As someone who grew up enormously admiring the legacy of service in your family, Jack, I say this somewhat sheepishly and mournfully,” Lasher said, “but when we talk about the reasons that each of us are on this stage, I’m on this stage because of nearly two decades in public service.”

“I have made my way here myself,” Schlossberg shot back. “Do not ever invoke my family name to try to denigrate who I am.”

Despite all the back and forth about tech and Camelot, some analysts believe the race could come down to a more mundane factor, namely that Lasher represents an Upper West Side assembly district, while Bores hails from the Upper East Side.

That would advantage Lasher, because the West Side typically produces more votes than its crosstown rival neighborhood.

Most of the debates and forums in the race have only featured the top four candidates, all of whom are men.

But the latest debate on Spectrum cable also included dark horse progressive candidate Nina Schwalbe, a public health expert, who repeatedly stole the show with witty quips.

“I’m very pleased to be here tonight with you all, with the boys,” Schwalbe said, boasting that she had a poster of Knicks superstar Patrick Ewing as a teen despite being a lesbian. “I guess somebody decided there should be a mom in the room.”

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