SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
brad lander
Jewish Group Backs Lander Over Rep. Goldman, Citing Support for Bill to Block Bombs to Israel
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice lauded Lander's "long record as a progressive champion and his commitment to ending US complicity in the genocide in Gaza."
Feb 10, 2026
A leading progressive US Jewish group on Tuesday endorsed former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander for Congress over incumbent Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, citing the former's support for a bill that would block the sale of many offensive weapons to Israel amid the ongoing Gaza genocide.
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) said in a statement that it is endorsing Lander for New York's 10th Congressional District seat in June's Democratic primary due to "his long record as a progressive champion and his commitment to ending US complicity in the genocide in Gaza."
JFREJ specifically cited Lander's recent endorsement of the HR 3565, the Block the Bombs Act, legislation introduced last year by Reps. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.).
The Jewish Vote proudly endorses @bradlander.bsky.social for U.S. Congress in NY10! He’s been a member of JFREJ for decades & we know Brad will bring this courage to Congress, where he’ll join the fight against fascism, oligarchy, and genocide.
[image or embed]
— Jews For Racial & Economic Justice Action (@jfrejnyc.bsky.social) February 10, 2026 at 6:42 AM
Backed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the bill would prohibit the sale of weapons like BLU-109 “bunker buster” bombs, MK-80 series bombs, Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), 120 mm tank rounds, and 155 mm artillery shells to Israel, whose 28-month assault and siege on Gaza have left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing, according to Gaza officials.
Goldman does not support the bill. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was by far the largest single contributor to his campaign coffers during the last election cycle and, along with other pro-Israel lobby groups, has given nearly half a million dollars to his campaigns, according to AIPAC Tracker. There is no record of Lander ever taking AIPAC cash.
Billions of dollars worth of US-supplied weapons have played a critical role in Israel’s war and have been used in some of the deadliest Israel Defense Forces massacres of Palestinians.
United Nations experts, human rights groups, and others including the numerous nations backing South Africa's genocide case against Israel currently before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) contend that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Lander acknowledges the Gaza genocide. Goldman does not. Goldman was also one of 22 House Democrats who voted in favor of a Republican-led resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in Congress, for supporting Palestinian liberation "from the river to the sea."
Goldman told the New York Times last month that had the vote come up more recently, he "would look at it a very different way, and most likely vote differently."
Lander has said he would not have voted to censure Tlaib had he been serving in the House at the time of the vote.
“Brad Lander has been a progressive champion for years, and we are thrilled to endorse him for Congress representing NY-10,” said JFREJ executive director Audrey Sasson said Tuesday. “NY-10 constituents’ calls to end US complicity in Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza have gone unanswered for so long."
"The district deserves a representative who will use the tools of government to fight the war machine, abolish ICE, and work to ensure a better future for all of us," Sasson added, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Brad Lander will be that representative, because he understands that the purpose of government is to serve the people, and he’s a public servant through and through."
Responding to the JFREJ endorsement, Lander said Tuesday that “I’ve been organizing with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice for three decades—and there’s never been a more urgent time than now."
"To fight the fascist in the White House," he added. "To end US complicity in Israel’s destruction of Gaza. To promote domestic and foreign policy that advances people’s rights, safety, and dignity here in New York City, around the country, in Israel and Palestine, and across the globe.”
Israeli forces are still killing Palestinians to this day, with more than 1,600 violations of an October ceasefire, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.
"While the world’s attention has turned away, Israel’s bombs are still falling, paid for by US taxpayers," Lander wrote for the Nation Tuesday. "Hunger persists, as aid only trickles in."
“When I am elected to Congress," he added, "I will support the Block the Bombs Act to protect more Palestinians from being killed by Israel.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Relentless Fighter for Working People': Mamdani, Sanders Back Lander Bid for US House
"I’m running for Congress because we need leaders who will fight, not fold," said Brad Lander, who is aiming to unseat Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman.
Dec 10, 2025
Outgoing New York City Comptroller Brad Lander announced Wednesday that he is running to unseat Democratic US Rep. Dan Goldman, a primary bid launched with the support of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and the nation's most prominent progressive lawmaker, Sen. Bernie Sanders.
"I’m running for Congress because we need leaders who will fight, not fold," Lander wrote in a social media post announcing his run to represent New York's 10th Congressional District.
Lander's campaign launch comes after a closely watched mayoral race in which he and Mamdani endorsed each other during the primary process—a strategic alliance aimed at ensuring the defeat of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo under the city's ranked-choice voting system.
Goldman, who was elected to Congress in 2023, did not endorse Mamdani after he prevailed in the mayoral primary.
In a statement on Wednesday, Mamdani said that "Brad’s unwavering principles, deep knowledge, and sincere empathy are what make him a true leader."
"He has been a trusted ally and partner of mine," the mayor-elect added, "and I’m proud to support him as I know he’ll continue delivering for those who need government to show up for them the most."
"He and Zohran Mamdani proved that when ordinary people stand united, we can take on the billionaire class, and we can defeat corporate-dominated politics."
Sanders, a key early backer of Mamdani's bid to lead New York City, joined the mayor-elect in endorsing Lander, calling him a "relentless fighter for working people."
"He’s spent the past two decades taking on big corporations, winning better wages and fair working conditions for New Yorkers, including major victories for fast food workers, delivery workers, and tenants," the senator said. "During the recent mayoral election, he and Zohran Mamdani proved that when ordinary people stand united, we can take on the billionaire class, and we can defeat corporate-dominated politics."
"Brad Lander is a public servant who will bring a much-needed voice to Congress," Sanders continued. "He will deliver for the people of New York and all working-class Americans. I am proud to endorse him."
Lander also secured the day-one support of US Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and the New York Working Families Party (NYWFP).
“We know that as congressman, Brad Lander will continue to lead the fights to protect immigrants, to stand up for workers, and to make New York a place where working families can afford to live and thrive," said Ana María Archila and Jasmine Gripper, co-directors of NYWFP. "And most of all, we know he will continue to build a movement strong enough to defeat Donald Trump and the forces of authoritarianism by practicing a kind of politics that makes a true, multi-racial democracy possible."
"These are uncharted times—and we know Brad Lander has what it takes to represent NYers in Washington," they added. "We are all in and ready to win!"
Keep ReadingShow Less
Facing the Climate Crisis, Can We Make Politics Move Faster Than Physics?
As Tehran runs low on water, New York City considers divesting from planet-wrecker Blackrock. We need more of the latter to prevent more of the former.
Nov 29, 2025
We are not getting out of the climate crisis without immense amounts of damage—the only question at this point is whether we can extricate ourselves with something like our civilizations intact. And the news from one cradle of civilization isn’t heartening: In Iran, where urban settlements date back to 4400 BC, the deepest drought in the country’s recorded history has now reached the havoc stage.
Tehran, shrouded in truly toxic smoke because the country’s power plants have run short of natural gas and begun burning “mazut, a dark residue of petroleum high in sulphur and other impurities,” is now facing a possible evacuation because it has run out of water. As Yeaganeh Torbati points out in an excellent essay, Iran’s water woes are deeply rooted in agricultural policy that prioritized irrigation above all (see also California); its international isolation has not helped it cope (including with the tragic fires that broke out last week in the Hyrcanian Forest, one of the oldest woodlands on Earth and a biodiversity hotspot). But the savage drought has been the final domino here, in a country where, as the head of one water utility points out, “Higher than normal heat has intensified the evaporation of water resources.” As the Australia Broadcasting Corporation summarized it:
Faced with a perfect storm of weather woes and decades of mismanagement, President Masoud Pezeshkian issued a warning to his country earlier this month that the situation could deteriorate even further.
“We’ve run short of water. If it doesn’t rain, we in Tehran… must start rationing,” he said.
“Even if we do ration and it still does not rain, then we will have no water at all."
“They [citizens] must evacuate Tehran.”
While it may seem like an exaggeration, it is the shocking reality facing the Iranian population—particularly in its capital, which has in excess of 15 million people across the broader metropolitan area.
This particular kind of disaster is becoming more common on a rapidly warming world. We’ve already had severe Day Zero scares in big cities in Brazil and South Africa; a new study earlier this month warns that:
Moments when water levels in reservoirs fall so low that water may no longer reach homes—could become common as early as this decade and the 2030s.
To find out where and when DZDs are most likely to occur, scientists at the Center for Climate Physics in Busan, South Korea ran a series of large-scale climate simulations. They considered the imbalance between decreasing natural supply (such as years of below-average rainfall and depleted river flows).
By some estimates, 2 billion humans are at risk.
The residents of New York are not at present among them. The city’s water supply system is one of the miracles of the modern world, and after six decades the “third tunnel” that will make that water system more secure is almost complete. (As a cub reporter in the early 1980s I spent several happy days underground, watching "sandhogs" from Local 147 blowing up rock walls to extend the shaft).
But that doesn’t mean New York is immune from climate danger, as anyone who lived there during Hurricane Sandy will recall. (As the financial journal Business Week printed in block letters on its cover the week after that catastrophe, “IT’S GLOBAL WARMING STUPID”).
And it certainly doesn’t mean that New York isn’t part of the cause of the global climate collapse. Not from its emissions—subway-riding New Yorkers are fairly green—but from the churn of capital through its financial markets that underwrites the ongoing expansion of the fossil fuel enterprise, in ways that scientists have said for years now simply has to stop.
A huge step in the right direction came Wednesday morning, when the city’s comptroller, Brad Lander, announced that he was recommending the city stop investing its money with Blackrock, the largest single representative of irresponsible capitalism on planet Earth.
Lander is urging three of the city’s pension funds to drop BlackRock Inc. because of “inadequate” climate plans, the latest move to penalize investment firms for failing to tackle global warming.
The guidance to reject BlackRock, the city’s largest money manager overseeing $42.3 billion of index funds for the pensions, follows a review of the firm’s efforts to press companies to decarbonize. Lander said Wednesday he’s also asking plan trustees to terminate much smaller mandates with Fidelity Investments and PanAgora Asset Management.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of this decision. To call Blackrock a “giant” is to pitifully underestimate its size—it has $13.46 trillion under management as of this fall. It owns 10% of the world’s stock market. If it wanted to stop the expansion of the fossil fuel industry, it could, more easily than any other single entity on planet Earth.
Instead it has dithered endlessly, making occasional noises of climate concern and then backtracking when red state treasurers (with far smaller portfolios than Lander’s to wave around) squawked at them. In August, Democratic officials from a dozen states sent warning letters to asset managers, calling on them to “reject pressure from the Trump administration and GOP lawmakers, and instead commit to thorough evaluations of risks tied to global warming, supply chains, and corporate governance.” Lander’s recommendation is the first concrete outcome.
Or, fairly concrete. Lander’s term ends on December 31. The advocates who have pressed for this policy—especially New York Communities for Change—are pushing him to get one of the city’s three pension plans—the New York City Employees Retirement System or NYCERS—to actually commit to the plan at its December 17 meeting. They think that with some prodding by Lander the votes are there to make the change.
If anyone has the political credibility to get it done before Christmas, that would be Brad Lander. Though he finished third in the primary, he emerged from this year’s mayoral contest with more love than any player in the city, maybe even including Zohran Mamdani. Partly that was because stood up for immigrants early, getting arrested by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement thug. Mostly it was because he figured out he was going to lose to Mamdani, took it with exceptionally good grace, and ended up playing the important role of his being his verifier—assuring people with both his insider and his Jewish credentials that the young socialist was up to the job. He comes out of 2025 both a macher and a mensch, and now he’s rumored to be planning a run for Congress; assuming he ties up some of the loose ends here, he will take on any future race with the fervent support of the environmental community, for whom he has delivered big-time. (And with the fervent opposition of Wall Street, which is proving to be a useful credential in itself).
In a larger sense, I’ve been reading accounts for months now of how climate is dead as a political issue. I think this move makes clear that isn’t true; in fact, I’d wager that as energy affordability takes center stage in next year’s midterms, the transition off fossil fuels will be a key issue for progressives to seize.
They will need to do so quickly. As events in Tehran make clear, time is now moving fast. The physics of global warming are implacable: Run out of water and you have to move your city. We’ll have to make politicians move fast to have any hope of getting ahead of the curve.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular