NEW YORK — Four Democrats are making their final push in a Manhattan congressional primary that has become a testing ground for the party’s competing priorities as voters prepare to head to the polls on June 23.

The contest for New York’s 12th Congressional District, which covers the Upper West Side, the Upper East Side, and the skyscraper corridor known as Billionaires’ Row, opened when Rep. Jerry Nadler, 79, announced last year he was stepping down after 33 years in Congress. Nadler told the New York Times that watching President Joe Biden’s age-related struggles derail his re-election bid convinced him it was “the right time to pass the torch to a new generation.”

Early voting began June 13, and the field has narrowed to four white men: Jack Schlossberg, George Conway, Micah Lasher, and Alex Bores. Polling has been volatile, according to published surveys.

Schlossberg, 33, the grandson of President John F. Kennedy, has the largest public profile, with 882,000 Instagram followers — dwarfing Lasher’s 8,143. He has leaned into a youthful image, posting videos of paddleboarding and surfing. But his résumé is thin for a congressional candidate: an MBA from Harvard, a brief tenure as a Vogue political correspondent from 2024 in which he wrote about seven pieces, and no elected office experience.

Asked about criticism that his campaign resembles a “Tom-Hanks-in-Big” gimmick, Schlossberg responded sarcastically at a recent event: “The Democratic party has been way too cool. We’ve been way too exciting. We’ve got way too many young people who are athletic and healthy and will have a lot of energy. We need more old people, we need more people with less energy who are not really willing to take any risks.”

Schlossberg has been endorsed by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said he was “the best of his generation.” He raised $3.9 million, including a $1 million personal loan.

Lasher, a New York state representative, describes himself as a “nerd” and has the deepest political résumé. He worked on his first campaign at age 16, served as chief of staff to the New York attorney general, director of policy to the governor, and director of state legislative affairs under then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Nadler endorsed him in February, calling Lasher “New York’s protector-in-chief against all things Trump.”

But Lasher’s campaign slogan, “Ready for the Fight,” has struggled to generate excitement, and he has been little-known outside New York politics.

Bores, also a state representative, has staked his campaign on regulating the artificial intelligence industry, and that single issue has attracted overwhelming outside spending. Groups representing AI interests have spent about $12 million either supporting or opposing him, according to the source. A group tied to OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman spent $6.2 million attacking Bores, while Anthropic — OpenAI’s main competitor — spent a similar amount backing him. Lasher raised the outside spending as a campaign issue during a recent televised debate.

Conway, 62, is the race’s most aggressive anti-Trump figure. A former Republican who was married to Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, he moved back to New York City in 2025. He has cultivated a tough-guy persona, appearing in ads on ice skates and giving the middle finger to a presidential motorcade. In one ad, he tells Trump: “The only thing your name is going to be left on when I’m done with you is an orange jumpsuit you’re going to have to wear in prison.” (MSI previously reported on Conway’s entry into the race and his anti-Trump profile.)

Conway had raised the most money of any candidate as of June 3, with $6.6 million — $2 million of that a personal loan. Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci serves as his finance co-chair.

The race has largely avoided the sharp divisions over Israel’s war in Gaza that have dominated other Democratic primaries in New York. In a district with a large Jewish population, none of the four candidates has referred to Israel’s military campaign as a genocide, according to reports.

The primary closes at polls on June 23. The winner in the heavily Democratic district is heavily favored in the November general election.