Abundance New York 2026 Congressional Candidate Questionnaire
Micah Lasher
Congressional District NY-12
Background
Please briefly describe your background and why you are running for this office.
I am running for Congress to bring new energy to the Democratic Party, more fight to the battle against Trump, and more innovative ideas that will actually improve the lives of everyday New Yorkers and Americans.
My top priority in Washington will be to lead an aggressive, strategic, and effective resistance to the destructive, cruel, and corrupt policies of the Trump administration. Over the past year, we have seen Donald Trump and his sycophants terrorize our immigrant communities, attack American democracy, and engage in acts of corruption that have no precedent in the history of our country. Congressional Democrats aren’t doing nearly enough to fight back and act like the opposition party that we are.
As a state legislator, I have been a leader in the fight, both here in New York — where Politico called me “one of the field generals in this hyperpartisan battle between red and blue America” — and nationally, where I literally wrote the playbook for how blue states can use their power to fight back. I will continue to oppose Trump’s thugocracy and fight for New Yorkers with the urgency the moment demands. On this front, I’ve already authored two extensive white papers that explain, in detail, how Democrats can more effectively exercise power—both by throwing sand in the gears of the Trump agenda now, and by holding the people in charge legally accountable, through investigations and oversight, if and when the Democrats retake the majority.
Previously, I served as Policy Director for the State of New York, Chief of Staff in the New York State Attorney General’s Office, Director of State Legislative Affairs for the City of New York, and as an aide to Rep. Jerry Nadler. In these positions, I played a key role in raising and indexing the minimum wage, protecting abortion access post-Dobbs, and doubling income eligibility for childcare. I was also centrally involved in crafting a proposal for the largest affordable housing capital plan in New York State’s history ($4.5 billion of State investment), as well as in developing a plan that The New York Times called the “first serious attempt by a New York governor since the 1960s” to tackle racist, exclusionary zoning and build hundreds of thousands of units of housing.
Fighting Trump and the Republicans at every turn is critical. But it’s not enough. Democrats need our own Project 2026 that lays out exactly what we’ll do to help everyday Americans. Here’s mine:
- Repeal Trump’s tax breaks for the rich and ensure that the wealthy contribute their fair share;
- Make it easier to build housing that everyday Americans can afford by expanding tax credits and increase funding and eligibility for rental assistance;
- Support a major expansion of Section 8 vouchers and bills like the Build More Housing Near Transit Act;
- Repeal the Faircloth Amendment, an arcane law that prohibits the construction of new public housing;
- Pass Medicare for All because health care should be a right;
- Expand access to affordable child care, now the greatest financial burden of working parents;
- Raise the minimum wage which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for over 15 years;
- Restore clean energy tax credits to end our reliance on fossil fuels and fight climate change;
- Stop Trump abuses across the board—from abolishing ICE to investigating lawbreaking by Trump officials across his entire cabinet.
How are you differentiated from your opponent(s)? What does your path to victory look like in your district?
My path to victory has three main parts: an activist base in the vote-rich Upper West Side, a record that demonstrates that I am ready to meet the moment, and support from leaders who are deeply trusted by the community.
I represent the Upper West Side in the State Assembly, and won 52% in a five-way primary for my seat. Previously, I ran for State Senate in a district that extended all the way down the west side to Chelsea, and while I did not win the seat, I won nearly three quarters of the vote in the overlap with NY-12 in a four-way primary. The residents of my Assembly district and the voters that have pulled the lever for me are some of the most engaged voters in the congressional district — and a great base to build upon.
My record as a legislative leader in fighting back against Trump — in particular, against his fiscal attacks on New York and against his horrific campaign of cruelty against immigrants — will demonstrate to voters that I will be ready on day one to take up the fight in Congress. I will make the case that voters should not have to choose between energy and experience — and with my candidacy, they can vote for someone who has both.
Finally, in a crowded and noisy primary, voters will look to leaders they trust to help figure out which candidate deserves their support. I am proud of the broad coalition of support that my campaign has assembled: Congressman Jerry Nadler, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Comptroller Mark Levine, Councilmembers Gale Brewer and Shaun Abreu, State Senators Erik Bottcher and Brian Kavanagh, and Assemblymembers Linda Rosenthal and Deborah Glick, have joined forces to support this campaign. This coalition has grown to include seven of the ten political clubs in the district, including the Tilden Democrats and Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic Club on the East Side, as well as a number of significant labor unions and advocacy groups.
Abundance NY would be a critical part of this coalition, and I would be honored to earn your support.
Government Delivery Reform
NEPA Reform: Congress should reform the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to reduce the time and scope of federal environmental review for housing, transit, renewable energy, and resilience projects. NEPA delays affect federally funded projects in New York, adding years and significant costs to critical infrastructure.
Agree
Capital Project Procurement Reform: Congress should give federal agencies and their state and local grantees more procurement flexibility—such as expanded other transaction authority and performance-based contracting—to speed up delivery of federally funded capital projects. This should include examining Buy America requirements and federal cost-sharing rules that inflate project costs.
Agree
Additional context
I am supportive of reforming NEPA and capital project procurement, granted that we do so in a way that upholds our commitments to preserving the environment and protecting our workforce.
Housing
Expanding Housing: Addressing the housing affordability crisis requires increasing production of all kinds of housing, including market-rate units. Congress should increase federal support for housing production through funding and regulatory changes, including by tying federal transportation, infrastructure, and community development funding to pro-supply local policies such as zoning and permitting reform.
Agree
Homelessness: Congress should increase federal funding for Housing First approaches, including permanent supportive housing, as the primary strategy for addressing homelessness.
Agree
Transit-Oriented Development: Congress should incentivize transit-oriented development by conditioning federal transit funding on local zoning changes that allow more housing near transit stations.
Agree
Build Code Reform: Congress should support research, funding, financing, and model codes that encourage cheaper construction methods (e.g., modular construction, mass timber) while maintaining safety.
Agree
Repeal the Faircloth Amendment: Congress should repeal the Faircloth Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds to build new public housing units beyond the number that existed in 1999, to allow for the construction of new public housing.
Agree
Additional context
(No response)
Transit
Transit Cost Containment: Congress should act to reduce the cost of federally funded transit projects, including by reforming FTA New Starts and Capital Investment Grant requirements, streamlining federal review, and encouraging cost-containment practices as a condition of federal funding.
Agree
Bus Transit Investment: Congress should leverage its funding for bus transit to encourage the creation of busways and bus rapid transit where appropriate to increase the speed of buses and the efficiency of federal investments, including through programs like the FTA's Capital Investment Grants and Bus and Bus Facilities program.
Agree
Automated Camera Enforcement: Congress should remove or oppose federal restrictions that limit state and local use of automated traffic enforcement—such as red light cameras, speed cameras, and bike lane cameras—and should allow federal highway safety funds to support automated enforcement expansion.
Agree
Parking: New York City should charge more for parking and reduce or eliminate free street parking.
Agree
Additional context
(No response)
Clean Energy & Climate Resilience
Solar Energy: New York State should preempt local regulations that effectively ban solar projects by establishing a ceiling on restrictions and should streamline solar permitting by adopting automated systems in order to enable more solar energy.
Agree
Nuclear Energy: Congress should support expanding U.S. nuclear energy capacity by funding new reactor designs, streamlining NRC licensing, and extending the operating licenses of existing plants in order to hit the goal of 100% zero-emission electricity generation by 2040.
While I keep an open mind regarding nuclear technology and research, I do not believe nuclear should be a core part of the immediate strategy to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and address the energy cost crisis given its high cost and potential safety concerns.
Geothermal Energy: Congress should support the expansion of geothermal energy development through federal research funding, streamlined permitting, and incentives for deployment, including in dense urban areas like New York.
Agree
Transmission Co-Location: Congress should support legislation that prioritizes existing highway, railroad, and utility rights-of-way for the siting of new electricity transmission lines, reducing permitting delays and landowner conflicts while accelerating the buildout of transmission capacity needed to deliver clean energy.
Agree
Climate Resilience Investments: Congress should increase federal investment in climate resilience infrastructure, including coastal defenses, stormwater management, and cooling infrastructure, with priority given to socially vulnerable communities.
Agree
Buyout Reform: Congress should reform federal disaster buyout programs—including those administered through FEMA and HUD—to accelerate the relocation of families out of high-risk flood zones, with streamlined environmental review, standing funding, and expanded eligibility for renters.
Agree
Additional context
(No response)
Candidate Statement
Abundance Examples from Your Work: Please describe a specific example from your record (legislative, professional, or community work) where you championed a project or policy that is aligned with our agenda. What obstacles did you overcome, and what was the outcome?
In the decade prior to the pandemic, New York City built just 27 new homes per 1,000 residents, a rate near the bottom of major U.S. cities. By comparison, in that same period, Austin built 117 new homes per 1,000 residents; Seattle built 109; Washington D.C., 72; Dallas, 60. New York is creating a lot more jobs than housing for its workers; New Jersey and Connecticut are doing the opposite. The result of this in New York City is an incredibly low vacancy rate (1.4%) and skyrocketing housing costs (up 68.4% from 2011-12 to 2021-22).
There is an overwhelming substantive case for why New York desperately needs to jumpstart housing supply. The merits, unfortunately, have failed to overcome the politics of NIMBYism and the mantra of local control.
I was proud to help craft Governor Hochul’s Housing Compact, which was proposed in her 2023 Executive Budget and crashed on the shoals of legislative opposition. It aimed to produce 800,000 new homes over a decade. The policies it advanced — housing creation goals for every locality, the creation of a state-level entity that can approve new housing when local officials consistently refuse, and multi-family residential development around transit hubs in which the State has invested billions — remain the right and necessary set of tools to dig out of the deep hole we are in.
Legislative Priorities: If elected (or re-elected) to Congress, what are your top three legislative priorities? Please be specific about the policies you would advance and what you hope to achieve.
My top priority in Congress will be to lead the way on a cohesive, powerful resistance to the destructive Trump administration. I have done this in the Assembly by leading on mid-decade redistricting and passing bills to protect our immigrant communities from ICE. In Congress, I will continue to fight for New Yorkers with the urgency the moment demands: both by throwing sand in the gears of the Trump agenda and by holding the people in charge accountable.
It will also be a priority of mine to address the cost of living crisis by championing dramatic investments in housing construction, a significant increase in the federal minimum wage, and Medicare for All.
Finally, I will protect and defend our most vulnerable neighbors and communities by fighting to codify reproductive rights, strengthen gun laws, preserve our environment, and abolish ICE.