For the primary on August 23, I will be talking to candidates for the newly drawn NY10. The top of the post is the result of a brief interview; scroll down for the answers to a questionnaire. As these roll out, I will link to the posts on other candidates at the bottom.

Most candidates I have spoken to say they never thought about running for office (of course, that is, until they did) but Goldman seems to be one of the few that admits it was a logical progression.

He had what I would consider a pretty sweet gig as a sports journalist — working for NBC Sports on their Olympics coverage for two years after college. But public service was a calling for him, and he pivoted in his mid 20s to law, heading to Stanford for his degree.

“I felt like I wanted to make more of a difference – I wanted to do public service in some fashion,” Goldman said. “I was committed to civil rights and social justice, and then, once I reached law school, in criminal justice.”

At Stanford, he was a research assistant for the legal scholar Michelle Alexander, author of “The New Jim Crow,” accelerating his interest in criminal justice. His career unfurled from there: assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York under Preet Bharara; a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC; ​a fellow at the Brennan Center; and then, his star turn as the senior adviser and director of investigations for the House Intelligence Committee impeachment investigation of Donald Trump.

He first ran for attorney general — just briefly, when Tish James was considering a run for governor, but withdrew when she changed her mind — and then this seat opened up after the redistricting. The timing was right, since he was trolling around for his next government job as it was.

“I have been in increasingly concerned about the direction our country is going and the threats to democracy and our fundamental rights,” he said. “I felt compelled to get back on the front lines to protect and defend our those rights.”

Going to Washington is not such a stretch: His parents were native to Washington, DC, and his childhood was spent there — his father was an assistant US attorney and Goldman went to Sidwell Friends. (His paternal grandmother was a Levi Strauss heiress, and that company is still mostly family owned.) He came to the city after Yale undergrad and then, when it was time to settle down, he returned after law school to downtown: first to Hudson Square, then Tribeca, the Village and eventually in 2018, Tribeca again. He’s now 46, and has five children, ranging from 17 to 4 and attending St. Ann’s, Spence, Brearley and the JCP for preschool. He’s a DSL coach for the younger ones.

Goldman already has the top of his list in place for when (and if) he gets to DC: gun laws (“We need strong, creative and aggressive advocates to defend our democracy and call out the lies perpetrated by the Republicans and awful state laws that they rely on as sham allegations of voter fraud.”) and voting rights (“I want to investigate gun dealers and see what their marketing looks like with young adults and their use semi-automatic weapons for mass shootings.”).

“There are lots of different ways to attack the problems that our country is facing,” Goldman said. “But I feel like in Congress, where you can write the laws and make the biggest difference by doing that, my unique set of skills leading the impeachment investigation equipped me very well to find creative strategies on oversight matters and legislation.”

And he wants us to come along with him. “I hope every New York City resident becomes more engaged and doesn’t withdraw, because the way to save our democracy is to have everyone involved. I want to be a leader for those who care.”

1. How long have you lived in the district? 
I have lived in the district for the past 16 years and have spent all but four years of my adult life in New York City (I spent four years in San Francisco for law school and a judicial clerkship).

2. Married? Partnered? If so, what’s his/her name and occupation?
Married to Corinne, lawyer

3. Kids? Pets?
5 kids, no pets (yet)

4. Where do you live?
Tribeca

5. What do you do for a living?
Attorney. Formerly the lead counsel for the first House impeachment investigation of Donald Trump.

6. What do you hope to change, or do better, once in office?
We need leaders who are ready to use aggressive, creative and different strategies to achieve our goals in Washington. Right now, our Democracy and fundamental rights are under siege – the right to vote, a woman’s right to choose, the right to live free from the fear of gun violence. I am running to bring a new and effective approach to fighting for our democracy and those basic rights. It’s now or never.

7. What are the first three issues you will tackle if you win the election? In other words, what are your highest priorities for New York and the nation?
My number one priority when I am in Congress will be protecting our democracy from the anti-democratic, authoritarian threats from Donald Trump and the Republican Party that he controls.

I have a robust policy platform – from gun safety to codifying abortion rights, from affordable housing to pursuing a massive transition to green energy, from criminal justice reform to health care reform – but none of those issues can be tackled while the very structure of our democracy is at stake.

To move full steam ahead on our domestic and international agenda, we must first fight to secure our elections and the basic democratic rights that are under siege from radical right-wing Republicans.

8. What is most important in helping the nation recover from the pandemic?
As we work to recover from the pandemic it is critically important that we are laying the groundwork for an equitable recovery that leaves no New Yorker behind and keeps everyone safe and healthy.

The recovery from the pandemic provides an excellent opportunity to reconsider how the City and the country addresses health care, criminal justice reform, homelessness, and economic development. The pandemic had a disproportionate impact on communities most in need – both in terms of the medical impact of Covid as well as the broader impact of the economic slowdown – so we need to learn from that experience to provide additional services to those communities, while also ensuring that we stop violent crime to make the City safe and prosperous again.

9. Name three ways that local issues important to you as a district resident can be solved (or helped) from a federal perch.
Public safety: We need a comprehensive public safety agenda that keeps New Yorkers safe without being overly punitive. I was a federal prosecutor for a decade after working with Michelle Alexander on her seminal book The New Jim Crow, and as a member of Congress, I will use that knowledge and experience to address the wave of violent crime while also facilitating robust diversion and reentry programs to prevent people from becoming wrapped up in the system or from not being able to get out of the system.

Affordable Housing: The federal government has enormous power to incentivize the development of affordable housing in our district. I will push to make 5 World Trade Center fully affordable and will push for the federal land at 2 Howard St. (a multilevel parking garage owned by the General Services Administration [GSA]) to be converted into affordable housing. We must also work with the private sector to incentivize them to build affordable housing on land they will be developing for profit.

Gun control: Right now, an overwhelming number of the guns used to commit crimes in our city come from out of state. The so-called ‘Iron Pipeline’ running up the eastern seaboard is a direct threat to our public safety. And with the recent Supreme Court ruling striking down our state’s concealed carry laws we are at an even greater risk. In Congress, I will draw on my years of experience as a federal prosecutor to bring together all levels of law enforcement, from the FBI down to state and local police departments, to creatively mobilize to tackle illegal gun trafficking and significantly reduce gun violence.

10. What committees would you like to sit on if elected?
Judiciary, Oversight, and Intelligence

11. What do you love about the district?
The length, breadth, and diversity of opinion. Our district is filled with New Yorkers from all walks of life, and I believe I believe it represents the very best of what America can be.

And of course, Hudson River Park.

12. What do you think is a challenge for this district?
Right now, our country is facing a 5-alarm fire that too many Americans are treating as a tiny distant flame. January 6 was the beginning, not the end, of the existential fight for our democracy. Radical right-wing Republicans control the Supreme Court and soon they may control the House and the Senate. And make no mistake, they are laying the groundwork to undermine the next election as we speak. We need to send an experienced leader to Congress who knows how to take the fight to Republicans and stand up for our fundamental rights and democracy itself.

13. What is challenging about representing it?
District 10 is an incredibly diverse community with differing needs and viewpoints. The challenge in being a good representative is to spend more time listening than talking, which I am prepared to do. I will listen to every voice and put my experience to work fighting for individual community interests, as well as the larger interests of the district as a whole.

The candidates
Brian Robinson
Mondaire Jones
Jo Anne Simon
Elizabeth Holtzman
Carlina Rivera
Yan Xiong
Yuh-Line Niou
Jimmy Li
Quanda Francis
Peter Gleason