NEW YORK — Novelist turned political journalist Molly Jong-Quick needs any person “severe” to run towards Rep. Jerry Nadler in 2026 — so she doesn’t must do it herself.
The Self-importance Truthful correspondent and podcast host has been speaking to political consultants a few run towards the 77-year-old Manhattan Democrat. However Jong-Quick informed POLITICO she’s “nonetheless actually on the fence.”
“If somebody who is an effective communicator and a severe Democrat will run for that seat,” Jong-Quick mentioned in a cellphone name Friday, “then I completely won’t. If there’s somebody who’s an AOC or a Maxwell Frost — if there’s somebody like that who will run — then I’ll simply be delighted.”
Nadler’s profile might hardly be extra totally different than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Frost, the 28-year-old Florida Democrat. The dean of New York’s congressional delegation, Nadler has held the workplace for 32 years, since 1992. However in December he was pushed out of his position as the highest Democrat on the highly effective Judiciary Committee by Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who one other member informed Punchbowl has “reenergized” the committee.
“It is not about their age, it is about their potential,” Jong-Quick mentioned. “And clearly the truth that Jerry has been faraway from his committee signifies that management doesn’t place confidence in him. If management doesn’t place confidence in him, then the voters mustn’t place confidence in him.”
Nadler has already filed to run for reelection. The truth is, he informed New York journal final 12 months he might run for another five terms. His chief of workers, Robert Gottheim, famous that Nadler simply beat veteran Rep. Carolyn Maloney in a aggressive major in 2022 and didn’t even face a major in 2024 earlier than getting reelected in November with 80 % of the vote.
“He’ll put his over 30-year report of accomplishments towards anybody,” Gottheim mentioned. “The district appears fairly completely happy together with his illustration and work in Congress. He takes each election at a time and he intends to run for reelection.”
Time will inform if the primary midterm election of President Donald Trump’s second time period leads to the identical fed-up-with-the-old-guard vitality that helped Ocasio-Cortez topple longtime Rep. Joe Crowley in 2018 — and in that case, whether or not a 46-year-old Higher East Sider who’s about to launch a e book about being the daughter of feminist writer Erica Jong, is the one to grab it.
Jong-Quick understands that and put the chances of a marketing campaign at 80 % not working, 20 % working — down from 50-50 initially of the interview.
Nadler could have already got a widely known challenger in Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, who has turn into an unlikely “resistance” hero for testifying towards the president. Cohen determined towards taking up Nadler final cycle, however then informed New York magazine he’d announce a 2026 run the day after Election Day. That day has come and gone with no announcement, however Cohen informed POLITICO Friday he’s nonetheless planning to run.
There are additionally a handful of Manhattan elected officers who can be keen to leap within the minute Nadler will get out of the race. Among the many names within the combine are Assemblymembers Micah Lasher, Alex Bores and Rebecca Seawright, Metropolis Council Members Erik Bottcher and Julie Menin and state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal.
“Jerry has godlike standing within the district,” Lasher mentioned.
