Oh, these kids are

so sweet.

You know, again, I saw one as young as three, a lot of them 10, 12, 14, 16 years old.

So, I mean, there's a conversation to have about whether they're fleeing political persecution or whether they're just fleeing violence and war and poverty, right? That's the legal question here.

Are they entitled to asylum or maybe to special immigrant juvenile status? I mean, one kid I met this year, both his parents were killed by the RSF.

So there's no doubt he's got an asylum case, but also that he doesn't have parents.

So that's the kids we're talking about.

Can you do something about this?

Why did you sign this pledge?

It's great to be on with the three of you.

In India, like the RSS, and of course, for me, this goes along with rejecting money from AIPAC as well, trying to push the U.S. to keep funding Netanyahu's wars.

These struggles are late, and we work together to stand up for multi-faith, multi-racial democracy.

Hindus for Human Rights, which Sunita is one of the leaders of, I've worked together with as a proud Jewish New Yorker to stand up for the rights of immigrants right here in New York City.

We've done a lot of work together.

And so when she reached out to say, I want to tell you about what's going on.

What do you see as the similarities between what you're doing on Israel-Palestine and this struggle that we see somebody like Sunita talking about from Hindus for Human Rights?

Why did you sign this pledge?

It's great to be on with the three of you.

In India, like the RSS, and of course, for me, this goes along with rejecting money from AIPAC as well, trying to push the U.S. to keep funding Netanyahu's wars.

These struggles are late, and we work together to stand up for multi-faith, multi-racial democracy.

Hindus for Human Rights, which Sunita is one of the leaders of, I've worked together with as a proud Jewish New Yorker to stand up for the rights of immigrants right here in New York City.

We've done a lot of work together.

And so when she reached out to say, I want to tell you about what's going on.

What do you see as the similarities between what you're doing on Israel-Palestine and this struggle that we see somebody like Sunita talking about from Hindus for Human Rights?

Why did you sign this pledge?

It's great to be on, uh, with the three of you.

You know, as, uh, Sunita's last point about Steve Bannon makes clear, those of us who care about multi-faith, multi-racial democracy have gotta stick together against right-wing, too often fascist, forces, you know, here in the United States, uh, like Steve Bannon, uh, in India, like the RSS.

Uh, and of course, for me, this goes along with rejecting money from, uh, APAC as well, trying to for, you know, push the US to keep funding Netanyahu's wars.

Uh, these struggles are linked, uh, and we work together to stand up for multi-faith, multi-racial democracy.

Hindus for Human Rights, which Sunita is one of the leaders of, uh, I've worked together with as a proud Jewish New Yorker to stand up for the rights of immigrants right here in New York City.

Uh, we've done a lot of work together, and so when she reached out to say-

What do you see as the similarities between what you're doing on Israel-Palestine and this struggle that we see somebody like Sunita talking about from Hindus for Human Rights?

Why did you sign this pledge?

It's great to be on with the three of you.

You know, as Sunita's last point about Steve Bannon makes clear, those of us who care about multi-faith, multiracial democracy have got to stick together against right-wing, too often fascist forces, you know, here in the United States, like Steve Bannon.

in India, like the RSS.

And, of course, for me, this goes along with rejecting money from AIPAC as well, trying to push the U.S. to keep funding Netanyahu's wars.

These struggles are late.

And we work together to stand up for multi-faith, multiracial democracy, Hindus for Human Rights, which Sunita is one of the leaders of.

What do you see as the similarities between what you're doing on Israel-Palestine and this struggle that we see somebody like Sunita talking about from Hindus for Human Rights?

But how much harm do these types of confrontations do to those who are trying to make the point that in their view, the Palestinian people have been severely affected and hurt, damaged by what's been going on?

Yeah, well, let's start here.

This was a protest against Hindu nationalism.

Mohamed Bagwat, the head of the RSS, this Hindu fascist organization that's, you know, promotes hate and discrimination against Muslims and Sikhs and Dalits in India, that was what I was there for.

I had been invited by the organizers to be there.

And, you know, I'm trying to talk about that so I don't distract from the cause I was invited to support.

But, yes, I mean, I hate what Israel is doing in Gaza and the West Bank and Lebanon.

Do these kind of incidents, in your view, are they anti-Semitic?

Yeah

... from Uganda, that people thought, "Oh, he doesn't-- either he doesn't have a chance," or as he started to be clear, he did have a chance, for people to freak out about it and react, yes, in the Israeli Islamophobic ways, in these ways that, um, suggested that if you are critical of Israel, even while you can watch with your eyes-

Mm-hmm.

And, you know, that's how it will be, instead of saying, "Okay, yes, of course we need to end Palestinian suffering, to rebuild Gaza under Palestinian leadership, to flood in humanitarian aid, to stop settler terrorism in the West Bank, to end Israel's now occupation of Lebanon." But also, that's because we believe in everybody's right to self-determination and freedom and safety.

Um, but, uh, uh, how, how worried are you? H- how much do you think these, uh, M- Minneapolis, you know, like, like organizing tactics can be useful in, in helping to keep these elections free and fair?

Yeah.

Well, Trump has made very clear he, he will cheat and disrupt elections and, you know, if he possibly can.

So w- we would be fools not to take him, you know, not just at his word, at his stated intention.

Um, but I think the good news is we see the tools we need to have for them, and, and they have proved really more robust than one might have feared.

On the one hand, the fact that those Minneapolis good neighbors were able to push Bovino and ICE out of their city with the tactics of showing up nonviolently in the streets, um, are exactly right, and I, I think it's, uh, makes me optimistic that folks will do that in the places where they, they need to.

And yes, of course, there will always be, if people have the courage, many more neighbors who love democracy than there will be, you know, Brown Shirts out there trying to intimidate you.

individual role will be in Congress, what you, what you want to set out to do.

Can you tell us a little bit about their story?

Yeah, so the last two weeks I've been in a docket that's for detained kids.

These are kids who maybe their parents are here, they crossed with a different relative.

So if they were detained, they're put in custody with the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR, but that has gone up dramatically.

There are many more detained children, more than twice as many than there were during the Biden administration, and the length of time they're being separated from their parents has grown.

I was in court two weeks ago.

There was the case of a three-year-old girl who our government has separated from her mother for 10 months.

Visit SpinQuest.com for more details.

Can you tell us a little bit about their story?

Yeah, so the last two weeks I've been in a docket that's for detained kids.

These are kids who maybe their parents are here, they crossed with a different relative.

So if they were detained, they're put in custody with the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR, but that has gone up dramatically.

There are many more detained children, more than twice as many than there were during the Biden administration, and the length of time they're being separated from their parents has grown.

I was in court two weeks ago.

There was the case of a three-year-old girl who our government has separated from her mother for 10 months.

Why is it still happening? [laughs]

What does it say about where we are in American Jewish history?

Yeah, I, you know, I think you're right that something big is shifting and it's, you know, it's unusual to kind of find yourself, you know, standing on tectonic plates or whatever, you know, the right metaphor is.

About, I guess, just a little over two years ago now, when I launched my campaign for mayor, this was six months before Azaran got in the race, I launched in late July of 2024, I The Times very first story at the time Andrew Cuomo hadn't gotten in the race.

It was still Eric Adams who was sort of, you know, my my opponent.

They basically placed this story.

The first story on my race was the story in the Times saying Brad Landers views on Israel make him too far left to be the mayor.

And that is not how it worked out as you noticed.

And I'm curious, which are more difficult for you to deal with? Which are more painful? From the mainstream Jewish community, which says, you know, you've sold us out, you don't care about Jews? Or from people who say, actually, you don't actually care about Palestinians?

Is there still room for liberal Zionists in today's progressive coalition politics? Do you feel accepted? Do you feel embraced as one with your fellow future congressional members, with the mayor? Do you feel like you've had to change or adjust who you are? And if you want to share a little bit of your background background of involvement in pro-peace civil society Israeli politics, but do you feel like you've had to play that down or change it in order to fit in with a group that I would say, you know, defines itself essentially as, if not non-Zionist, anti-Zionist and beyond, do not, as the mayor says, accept or embrace the idea of a Jewish state, democratic or not?

That's a big question, but honestly, for me, a pretty easy one, because the answer is just yes.

I mean, you know, and I think people can see that, at least in me.

On the one hand, I make clear, I want there to be, I believe in the vision of, I long for a Jewish and democratic Israel.

Today, it doesn't feel like it's acting in ways that I recognize as either democratic, like I just don't think there's democracy with occupation, or particularly consistent with Jewish values either, but that's what I want.

Those are my politics.

I'm clear about them.

If you worry that this plays into anti-Semitic tropes, conspiratorial thinking, when you mention greedy oligarchs in the same breath as AIPAC, if you're possibly encouraging or giving oxygen to real hardcore anti-Semites.

Why should American Jews have less of a right to give money to candidates? Well, to be

clear, when I say I think we need dark money out of politics, I always make clear I'm talking about Wall Street PACs and crypto PACs and AI PACs and private equity spending and APAC.

I think that kind of super PAC, dark money, is bad for our politics.

Here in New York City, I passed the strongest independent expenditure disclosure act anywhere in the country.

And I think it's important to... put it in that broader framework.

If you over-focus, particularly on AIPAC relative to other dark money, then I think you have got to dig a little deeper.

But, yes, I also think that AIPAC is upholding unconditional U.S. military support for Netanyahu's wars.

Why?

[laughs]

...

so I wouldn't, uh, wouldn't hurt them.

Um, so there's been plenty of times when I have supported more moderate candidates.

I want the same in the other direction.

You know, part of why Representative Goldman lost is that he didn't support Zohran Mamdani when he was the Democratic nominee for mayor in the general election.

There are candidates like Randy Villegas out in California who are progressive Democrats running against Republicans, and I hope moderates will show up for them as well.

So let me ask you, first of all, do you plan on encouraging her to back Jeffries? And if so, what is gonna be your message to people like her who may be skeptical of his leadership?

How much is that the reason that the two of you won if you agree on almost everything else?

I mean, this was a significant difference in our race.

Representative Goldman, you know, voted for every standalone military aid package to Israel.

Um, and yeah, doesn't consider it a genocide, doesn't insist on accountability.

I, I think Democratic voters are saying very clearly, "We don't want to pay for any more of Netanyahu's wars, and we need some reckoning." Uh, President Biden's strategy to hug Bibi was a catastrophic failure for Palestinians, for Israelis, for American credibility in the world, and for the Democratic Party.

Um, and we got to look at it squarely.

So I'm gonna go be one of the Jewish members of Congress whose boldest in support of Palestinian human rights and freedom, and also one of the members of Congress who stands up strongest against antisemitism, antisemitism, and hatred of Jews.

Any other way that you would think that you would be the most different from Dan Goldman as you take that seat from him?

I wanna ask about Israel, but, but on just what we're learning tonight about your party, um, when he was asked about the Democratic primaries in New York tonight, including yours, Senator John Fetterman, obviously a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said, quote, "The dirtbag left is surging." What's your response to that?

I mean, look, I, you know, I'm not gonna respond to, uh, you know, to, to what, um, slurs, I guess.

I don't know what you would call it.

You know, when I launched this race, I said I didn't think what was at stake was progressives versus moderates.

There are plenty of moderate districts across the country, and I've knocked doors for moderate Democrats, and I'll do it again as we head for November.

The line is between fighters and folders, and it's possible to be a progressive or a frontline Democrat and say, "We have got to be the party that fights harder for working families and actually delivers for them," and on those things, on universal childcare, on making housing more affordable for people, on winning back the healthcare subsidies that Republicans cut.

Um, there's broad agreement across the party.

Do you believe what happened to him in, in the coffee shop where he was with his daughter, and they came out and posted, this Brooklyn coffee shop, after, um, that he was banned, and they were refunding him because of the money, uh, because they didn't wanna take APAC money? Do you believe that was a wrong way for that coffee shop to express their views?

Yeah

... um, you know, I, I don't like the role AIPAC is playing in our politics.

Now, I've admitted, and sometimes it makes me queasy to talk about the role because there are a set of stereotypes around Jews and wealth and power, um, and I'm gonna fight against them and say, "Don't confuse, you know, uh, you know, s- say Zionist when you mean Jew.

Don't, uh, attack a synagogue in Michigan because you're angry about the actions of the Israeli government." You know, um, it is possible to criticize Israel without being anti-Semitic.

Um, it is important for our party to stand up against anti-Semitism and all forms of hate, but it is also important for our party to reckon with the fact that Democratic voters don't wanna be complicit in genocide.

They don't understand why there's money to send for Netanyahu's wars when there's not money for their healthcare or childcare or affordable housing, and I believe we need more Democrats willing to say so.

In Congress, uh, what would you do differently than what's being done now when it comes to immigration?

Uh, look, I've been calling to abolish ICE since 2018 in the first Trump term when it was clear to me what they were becoming, and that's what I'll work to do in Congress.

They

arrested you.

And then what happened? Yeah.

So this was the second time I got arrested and we were demanding access to the detention facilities on the 10th floor, which we a federal judge had said were inhumane.

People weren't getting food, didn't have an opportunity.

There were no beds there.

Just awful.

What are you hearing in your final days?

So are these candidates people you consider part of your team?

Look, I'm proud to be on Mayor Mamdani's team.

Right now that's Team New York City, and you know, we're on a, we got a good winning streak going.

Um, of course we don't agree on every single issue.

I ran against, uh, Zohran in the mayor's race last year, but we teamed up at the end because we did not want Andrew Cuomo to be mayor, because we believe in the vision of a city everyone can afford and where everyone is welcome.

And you can disagree on issues around Israel and Palestine, around how to confront very particular issues in our politics, but still believe, you know, compromise on anyone's humanity.

Um, and you work together-

[clicks tongue] So what do you say to Congressman Goldman's argument that he is the one who's gaining seniority and has been on the front lines battling President Trump, including in his first impeachment?

and a big one at the federal level of course is ice congressional democrats at least to me seem to be making some baffling choices uh... a hundred and forty four house democrats last week voting with republicans for the combating organized retail crime act which is effectively a huge power grab the hand ice and homeland security power to collect your personal data and your opponent dan goldman was a co-sponsor of that he ultimately didn't vote in the final vote What are voters supposed to think when Democrats are the ones giving ICE power?

And Goldman also voted last year or two years ago, I mean, against something called the Fourth Amendment is not for sale act.

And as a result, the government can buy the data from these data brokers who scoop up your weather app, your dating app, you know, whatever.

And yes, also, you know, they're using that to hunt people down and ICE to deport them.

And meanwhile, we learned that ICE has known they don't have the authority to be abducting people from immigration court for a year, but they're still doing it.

And what do Democrats do? They write letters.

They introduce legislation that's not going anywhere.

So what changed?

Is that how you feel? Do you feel like that is what's happening right now?

That is what Tom Holman seemed very clearly to threaten this week.

And as you say, there's really a through line from when they arrested Ras Baraka and LaMonica McIver and Senator Alex Padilla and me.

And then, yes, when they sent those troops and ICE agents to Minneapolis.

And I really think you're so right here.

He may have an operational plan, Tom Holman, but we have an operational plan and it was given to us by the good neighbors of Minneapolis.

They showed what to do when, you know, your federal brown shirts try to take over your city, you know, in the weeks after Renee Good and Alex Preddy were murdered by federal agents just for showing up to try to bear witness and protect their neighbors.

yep so that's when new yorkers can vote but the last um poll i saw uh warrior race had you up 34 points against the incumbent um and i i admittedly because i don't live in new york anymore did not know so much about dan goldman um so talk a little bit about why you decided to to challenge a democratic incumbent uh in this

Last night that it's hard to worry about what happens in here.

That was incredible.

I was so anxious.

My God, what a great win.

What a great team.

What a great city.

So what's your feel from yesterday? Can you give us any highlights of the trial? What the prosecution say? What your defense say? Anything you can talk about?

Yeah.

Do you have any thoughts about FISA, Bill Pulte, the kind of things that you'd be working on if you win this race?

Well, I'll definitely keep talking about the things I'm going to be working on if I win this race.

One of them is to hold ICE accountable for the crimes that they're committing.

As I say, I think the House's ICE oversight hearings should begin in Minneapolis with holding the murderers of Alex Goode and Rene Goode and Alex Creddy accountable.

for their crimes, but there's a lot more there.

But yes, I mean, the next Congress is going to need to demand accountability for corruption, for breaches of the rule of law, for cruel and inhumane treatment of people, but also show people how we can do things that matter in their pockets to get those health care subsidies back, to fight and win workers, as I've been doing, to focus on affordable housing and on the work of So we don't know how long exactly it will take.

So speak to that.

Yeah.

So this was last September, as you say, and, and, you know, I was first arrested at 26 Federal Plaza in June accompanying, uh, you know, a- an asylum seeker named Edgardo out of the building.

And that day they held me for about four hours, and they ultimately deported Edgardo to, to Venezuela.

Um, over the summer, we learned that they were keeping people in really abominable conditions in the 10th floor detention facilities at 26 Federal Plaza, which was not designed to have people staying overnight.

There aren't beds.

There aren't bathrooms.

they have now made it so scary for people to do the right thing and show up.

The party's on his side.

Yeah, I mean, I think people don't know what Democrats are fighting for right now.

Everyone's against Trump, as we obviously should be, corrupting our government, abducting our neighbors.

But then the question is, whose money are you taking, and who are you fighting for? And yeah, so my opponent takes that money from Wall Street and private equity and crypto and APAC, and then quite often votes the ways that those interests want, voted with Republicans for the crypto bills, voted with Wall Street.

People want to see folks who are fighting for working people.

Uh, Dan Goldman's given a lot of speeches recently, and one of them didn't say your name, but it, it, it almost seemed like he was targeting you, um, about whether you're really a, a good Jew, uh, because you've got nuanced views on, on Israel and Gaza and Palestine and, and funding of Israel.

Yeah.

I mean, look, I am a proud Jewish New Yorker.