Out gay Councilmember Erik Bottcher of Manhattan is considering a campaign for Congress in the race to replace retiring Congressmember Jerrold Nadler, a 17-term lawmaker who represents District 12.
Bottcher, a Democrat who serves as co-chair the LGBTQIA+ Caucus and the Manhattan delegation, announced his plans in an email to his supporters and on social media.
“At this moment of great danger for our country, I’m seriously considering running for Congress in New York’s 12th District as Congressman Jerrold Nadler prepares to retire,” Bottcher wrote in the statement, which also encouraged supporters to donate to his 2026 fundraising account.
The much-anticipated Democratic primary race to replace Nadler is expected to be competitive. Manhattan Assemblymember Micah Lasher has already announced his candidacy for the seat, which is also being eyed by another state lawmaker, Alex Bores, and former President John F. Kennedy’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, according to the New York Times.
If Bottcher, 46, decides to run, he would aim to become the first out gay member of Congress from Manhattan and the third from New York City, following Ritchie Torres of the Bronx and the disgraced former lawmaker George Santos, a Republican who represented Queens and Long Island in the House of Representatives for less than a year in 2023. Two other out gay individuals have also served in Congress from New York State: Mondaire Jones, who represented Westchester’s 17th District from 2021 to 2023, and Sean Patrick Maloney, who served in the 18th District for a decade beginning in 2013.
The announcement comes weeks after the 78-year-old Nadler said he would not be seeking re-election, citing the importance of generational change in the wake of former President Joe Biden’s failed 2024 campaign.
Nadler’s district stretches across Manhattan from Central Park North down to Union Square. Bottcher’s current City Council district, District 3, encompasses SoHo-Little Italy-Hudson Square, West Village, Chelsea-Hudson Yards, Hell’s Kitchen, Midtown South-Flatiron-Union Square, and Midtown-Times Square.
“As I continue to weigh this critical decision, I look forward to staying in touch and sharing more in the weeks ahead,” Bottcher added. “I love my country, and I won’t stand by while it’s torn apart by Donald Trump and his neo-fascist forces. It’s time for a new generation of leaders to take charge and take our country back.”
First elected in 2021, Bottcher won re-election in 2023 and is currently in the midst of another re-election bid for City Council this year. He overwhelmingly won the Democratic primary race earlier this year and is expected to cruise through the general election.
Bottcher, who became the co-chair of the LGBTQIA+ Caucus early last year, has been a strong defender of transgender rights while in the City Council and frequently stresses the importance of gay and lesbian individuals standing up in support as allies for trans folks. Earlier this year, working alongside LGBTQIA+ Caucus Co-Chair Tiffany Cabán, he helped introduce a package of bills to beef up support for transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary, and intersex individuals in the face of aggressive attacks from the Trump administration.
Bottcher has used his leadership role in the City Council to speak up for the LGBTQ community in New York City throughout his time in office. Early in his first term, he was among the speakers at a community rally denouncing Mayor Eric Adams’ appointments of anti-LGBTQ figures to his administration, and most recently, Bottcher delivered remarks at a Manhattan rally where activists stood in support of trans rights in the face of hostility from Mayor Eric Adams and the Trump administration. He has also written numerous letters on local LGBTQ issues, including a recent one calling on Amtrak to immediately stop an alleged discriminatory practice of targeting individuals at a Penn Station men’s room as well as a separate letter earlier this year calling out a Manhattan community education council for allegedly manipulating quorum to prevent votes on resolutions pertaining to transgender issues.
Bottcher has also spoken out against attacks from the Trump administration, including when he joined a rally against the president’s erasure of transgender individuals at the Stonewall National Monument.
Bottcher himself has also been the target of hate during his time in the City Council. In late 2022, he revealed photos of anti-LGBTQ vandalism at his home and office, where individuals disparaged him with slurs such as “groomer” while making threats like “we want Erik.”
Prior to serving in the City Council, Bottcher was chief of staff to former City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and previously worked on marriage equality efforts in the office of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Bottcher’s City Council seat is widely known as a longtime LGBTQ stronghold where out candidates have long represented the district, including Johnson, former Speaker Christine Quinn, and former state and city lawmaker Thomas Duane.
