The race for New York’s 12th Congressional District heats up as election day nears. Ahead of the big day, amNewYork spoke with top contenders — Alex Bores, George Conway, Micah Lasher, and Jack Schlossberg— to discuss their plans on pressing quality of life concerns. In this first interview, the candidates discuss how they’ll tackle the region’s affordability crisis and ease the financial burdens facing residents of all ages.
Q: From housing to utilities, healthcare costs, groceries, transportation, and beyond, New Yorkers are feeling their pocketbooks stretched to the limit. What will you do to address skyrocketing costs and help New Yorkers make ends meet?
Bores: Families are getting nickel-and-dimed at every turn, and Trump and his MAGA agenda continue to hurt our pocketbooks. While childcare and education costs skyrocket, the failure of leadership in DC has meant New York families are being forced to pay more while receiving less.
In Albany, lowering the cost of living for working families was my top priority. In my four years in the State Assembly, I passed laws banning hidden healthcare fees, making it easy to cancel unwanted subscriptions, and broadening health care coverage for the poorest New Yorkers. That’s how you make government work for people, and actually deliver real relief by tackling the costs that eat away at family budgets. In Congress, I’ll do more of the same, making housing, healthcare, and daily necessities cheaper.
Conway: Ensuring more residential housing is introduced into the market increasing supply to meet the growing demand. We must find a balance between building and protecting our existing communities and the environment surrounding them. Working with state and local partners, I will seek initiatives such as the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, the Expedited Land Use Review Feature. In Congress I will fight to bring federal funding back to fund NYCHA to help clear the backlog of needed repairs.
We must reverse Trump-era cuts to clean energy production and infrastructure to increase supply and lower energy costs for New Yorkers. I support efforts to cap rate increases and tie them to inflation levels. I will fight to bring more investment into programs such as HEAP to both increase levels of support and who can apply for assistance.
We must immediately reinstate the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits and restore harmful cuts made to Medicare to restore millions of New Yorkers’ access to critical care. We must create a public option that will allow Americans and New Yorkers access to affordable and accessible healthcare that is not tied to employment.
Trump’s policies have driven up prices at the supermarket to hardware store supplies, these policies have saddled Americans with unsustainable inflation. We need a Congress willing to stand up and fight back against these harmful policies, rebuild our fractured trade relationships, and stabilize the supply chain. We will ensure basic assistance programs from SNAP to Medicare are fully funded to protect the most vulnerable members of our society from price shocks.
In Congress, I will partner with local and state leaders to bring funding back to New York to expand 3-K. Expand the Childcare Tax Credit to benefit more working families. Bring funding from Congress back to New York to expand programs offering reduced and free tuition for college such as the New York.
Finally, the capping of the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction was a targeted, partisan attack on New York’s middle class. I will make it a top priority in Congress to fully restore the SALT deduction, ending double taxation and keeping more of your hard-earned money exactly where it belongs: in your wallet.
Lasher: I still believe — even in these dark times — that government can improve the material conditions of people’s lives. Throughout my career, I have a long record of using government as a tool to make a difference for working families: enacting the largest affordable housing capital plan in New York’s history, more than doubling income eligibility for New York’s childcare program, and indexing New York’s minimum wage to inflation. In Congress, I will continue this work by fighting to finally raise and index the federal minimum wage, massively expand federal investment in childcare, pass Medicare for All, strengthen Social Security, protect the right to organize, and make housing more affordable.
Schlossberg: The most frequent issue I hear on the campaign trail surrounds the cost of housing. We need to build more housing that all New Yorkers can afford, but that takes time. I am offering an innovative solution to give renters some relief right now: a Standard Renters Deduction. The SRD would allow renters to deduct at least a portion of their rent from their federal taxes. We allow homeowners to do this with mortgage interest payments; it’s time we extend the same opportunity to renters. I also support repealing the SALT cap, which is a federal penalty imposed on New Yorkers and other high-tax state residents. We also need to tackle Trump’s ridiculous use of tariffs that have only increased the cost of living for all New Yorkers. I also support the Raise the Wage Act, which would finally increase the federal minimum wage to from $7.25 to $17 an hour by 2030. Finally, we must repeal Trump’s devastating cuts to our social safety net, which have increased costs for the most vulnerable.
Q: What specific policies would you advocate to make healthcare and childcare more affordable for working families in the city?
Bores: Americans pay more for healthcare than any other country in the world, yet millions are forced to navigate a broken, bureaucratic system just to get basic care. Getting life-saving care shouldn’t depend on luck, and it shouldn’t be tied to a specific employer. The solution is Medicare for All, decoupling healthcare from employment once and for all. While we work toward a singlepayer system, I’ll take on the pharmaceutical lobby directly—expanding the power of Medicare and Medicaid to negotiate lower drug prices across the board, facilitating the safe importation of cheaper drugs to increase competition, and capping out-of-pocket costs for life-saving medications like insulin. I’ll cut out the predatory middlemen inflating costs at every turn, restore NIH funding gutted by the Trump administration, and pass federal legislation codifying the protections of Roe v. Wade— because reproductive care is healthcare.
Raising a family in this city shouldn’t be a luxury, but for too many in our district, it’s becoming one. In Congress, I’ll fight to guarantee every parent at least six months of protected paid leave and permanently expand the Child Tax Credit to send monthly checks directly to families to help cover the cost of diapers, groceries, and rent. I’ll champion the Child Care for Working Families Act to cap childcare costs at seven percent of income while increasing wages for the workers who make it possible.
Childcare is infrastructure—as essential to our economy as roads and bridges— and I’ll fight to fund new childcare facility construction using the same federal mechanisms we use to build transit and housing. Working families deserve a government that treats early childhood as a national priority, not an afterthought.
Conway: Conway did not respond to this question.
Lasher: I am a strong supporter of Medicare for All, and it is a centerpiece of my campaign. The status quo – where we treat healthcare as a market commodity rather than a public good and rely on employers and insurance companies to provide coverage — is fundamentally broken. It leaves too many Americans with little to no coverage, drives massive disparities in health outcomes, and allows for enormous profiteering and waste. The Trump Administration’s cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, which hit the most vulnerable people hardest, together with the enormous upheaval we can expect from AI in the years ahead, makes clear the need for fundamental change organized around the idea that healthcare is a human right.
Too many families are still locked out of childcare, and many more can’t find a provider that fits their needs or budget. In the Governor’s office, I was centrally involved in efforts to more than double income eligibility for New York’s childcare program, from $55,000 per year for a family of four to $113,000. In Congress, I will push to dramatically expand federal funding allocations for childcare and pass Sen. Warren’s Child Care for Every Community Act.
Schlossberg: For health care, we must move towards a single-payer system like Medicare-for-all. Additionally, we need to reverse Trump’s Medicaid cuts and restore the enhanced ACA subsidies. Lastly, we must expand Medicare drug price negotiation authority and ensure that privately insured individuals have access to these prices. As for childcare, we need to invest in infrastructure and make sure child care jobs are good-paying jobs. I also support the Child Care for Working Families Act which would cap child care costs at 7% of a family’s income. Lastly, we must bring back an enhanced Child Tax Credit, like the one included in the American Rescue Plan that cut child poverty to historic lows.
Q: How do you stay connected to your community locally and how does that inform how you will advocate for your constituents on a federal level in terms of affordability?
Bores: I’ve lived in NY-12 my entire life. I’m a fifth-generation New Yorker, and were raising our son Charlie here. I’ve had the privilege of representing a State Assembly district entirely within this Congressional district for two terms, where I’ve had nearly 25,000 constituent contacts and resolved over 500 cases. I’ve passed multiple bills directly based on what constituents brought to me. That kind of day-to-day work keeps you grounded in what people are actually dealing with.
And what I hear, across the district, is that the affordability crisis is hitting everyone. NYCHA residents are dealing with repair delays and rising costs they can’t afford. Working families getting squeezed by rent, childcare, and healthcare. Seniors choosing between prescriptions and basic expenses. Even people who are doing “well” on paper feel like they’re falling behind.
That’s what informs how I approach this work. It’s about lowering the actual costs people face and making government work better for them. In Congress, that means building more housing, protecting and strengthening public housing, expanding affordable healthcare, and going after the hidden fees and corporate practices driving up costs. It also means making sure new technologies don’t make life more expensive or unstable for working people.
Staying connected to this community means staying accountable to those realities. That’s what I’ve done in Albany, and it’s what I’ll bring to Congress.
Conway: I started my family and career right here, and for nearly 30 years, I have called this district my home. Since first coming to New York City in 1988, I’ve seen how much more expensive it has become. On the campaign trail, I have spoken with too many people to count—it deepens my resolve and belief that we need a fighter in Congress who will stand up to Trump, stand up to MAGA, and, if need be, stand up to their own party to fight for the people of New York’s 12th Congressional District.
Lasher: I was born and raised in this community, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be raising my own kids here. But I’m angry that the future of their generation is so uncertain: whether they’ll be able to find a job in an economy that is transforming before our eyes; whether they’ll be able to afford a home anywhere, let alone in New York; and whether they’ll be able to afford to one day raise children of their own. As a member of the State Assembly representing parts of the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights, I hear from families every day who face the same fears.
People throughout this district are struggling with the cost of housing, childcare, groceries, and healthcare — concerns that drive my legislative platform.
From enacting legislation to create New York’s first public revolving loan fund for housing, to writing the Grocery Pricing Fairness Act to protect independent grocers and lower food prices, I look forward to continuing to engage with constituents to bring real price relief from the federal level.
Schlossberg: I reach people where they are at. I attend community events, tenant meetings, protests, marches, any place where I can speak to members of our community. It is at these events that I hear about issues touching the lives of New Yorkers, particularly affordability. This is how I developed the Standard Renters Deduction through talking to voters and understanding just how many are facing skyrocketing rent costs. As for advocating for my constituents on affordability, I will utilize a two-pronged approach through legislation and tapping into the attention economy. I will introduce legislation, like the SRD, but also raise public awareness and build public pressure. Congress is not immune to public opinion and pressure, which is the best way to get things across the finish line. With my hard skills and experience in mobilizing folks around a common cause I will be best equipped to tackle the affordability issue at the federal level.
Q: In what ways would you push for reforms that tackle income inequality and ensure economic opportunities are accessible to all New Yorkers?
Bores: For decades, our tax code has benefitted a wealthy few while the burdens fall hardest on working people. In Congress, I would work to tax stock buybacks, close the carried interest loophole—which allows corporate executives to dodge a massive percentage of their tax burden— and would give the IRS authority to go after tax cheats. There are structural issues that need fixing, and I will support policies that make it easier to join unions, harder to jack up prices, and raise the minimum wage. I have also championed a tax on large artificial intelligence companies to establish an AI Dividend, ensuring every American gets a share of the profits from the technology they helped build and that the government is prepared in the case of large-scale job displacement from AI.
Conway: We must take a broad, holistic approach to ensure all members of our community have access to economic opportunities and success. First, we need to make housing more affordable for New Yorkers. Currently, over 50% of New York households are rent-burdened, which impacts their ability to save for the future, return to school, or search for a different career. We must also invest in our primary education system, focusing on expanding universal, all-day pre-K and 3-K initiatives to give children a head start on a quality education and provide parents with reliable childcare when they need it most. Furthermore, investing in secondary education will expand access to tuition-free or significantly reduced-tuition colleges for New York City students. Concurrently, we must partner with organized labor and apprenticeship programs to provide greater pathways into well-paying trade professions. Finally, creating a public option to lower the cost of quality healthcare is critical to keeping our communities healthy and reducing the financial burden for millions of New Yorkers.
Lasher: In Congress, I will push to repeal Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” and Trump’s tax breaks, ensure the wealthy are paying their fair share, and invest in a dramatic expansion of the social safety net. I will also work to create a federal first-job guarantee, which would guarantee one year of employment in public service or a caring profession for our young people, as well as a first-time homebuyer support fund and a federal support system for new parents.
Schlossberg: Wealth inequality is at an all time high and, I would argue, is one of the most important issues to address right now. We must make sure that we are doing what we can to close the carried interest loophole, reform our tax code, and make sure the wealthiest are paying their fair share. At the same time we need to make sure that pending legislation and existing programs are intentional and do what they can to help those who need it most. This means we must fully fund existing safety net programs, not gut them entirely like the Trump Administration is currently doing.
Q: Given the increasing cost of living, how do you balance the need for urban development with protecting the affordability of neighborhoods for long-term residents?
Bores: This question presents a false dichotomy – the way we protect neighborhood affordability is through urban development. New York City in particular does not have nearly enough social, public, market-rate, or affordable housing, which drives up rents and forces people out of the place they’ve lived for decades. We need to build housing where it’s needed, and we don’t need to curtail tenant protections to do it.
Conway: Listen to and work with residents to ensure their communities remain vibrant and healthy as we build the future of New York. It is the greatest city in the world because of its diverse communities, and we must work together to build a better and stronger New York.
Lasher: The bottom line is that we’re not doing enough to provide Americans with housing options they can actually afford. I am proud of the work I’ve done to address the housing crisis throughout my career — from helping enact the largest affordable housing capital plan in New York State’s history ($4.5 billion of State investment), to helping put in place the first public revolving loan fund for the creation of affordable housing, to my work in the Attorney General’s Office returning 1,800 apartments to rent stabilization after landlords had illegally taken them out of the program. In Congress, I will advocate for an infusion of funds into Section 9 to enable NYCHA to regain its footing, an expansion of Section 8 vouchers, and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s efforts to repeal the Faircloth Amendment, which presently prohibits the construction of new public housing.
Schlossberg: There is a balance to be struck here but, when it comes to building more homes, we cannot prioritize only building luxury apartments. Instead, we must focus on constructing apartments that are accessible to working-class New Yorkers, families, young professionals, etc. At the same time, we also must partner with city officials to ensure that long-term residents are protected from rising costs that often come with development whether that be through rent-stabilization, property tax relief, or another option.
Check back for more candidate Q and A’s.