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Micah Lasher

Democrat

New York State Assembly Member, District 69 (since January 2025); former Director of Policy to Governor Kathy Hochul (2021 to early 2024); former Chief of Staff to NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (2013 to 2016); former Director of State Legislative Affairs under Mayor Michael Bloomberg (2010 to 2013); former Executive Director of StudentsFirstNY

Non-Incumbent · Public Record
PIP Political Integrity Pledge · Political Integrity PAC
  • No Corporate PAC Money
  • Stock Trading Ban
  • Lobbying Ban for Former Members
  • Overturn Citizens United

Primary: June 2026 Last updated 2026-05-07

T Transparency
82.6%
+1 from Political Integrity Pledge

Top positive drivers

  • T15 Lead sponsor of the NY RAISE Act establishing transparency requirements for frontier AI models from $100M+ developers, including safety plans and Section 1422 whistleblower retaliation protection; the strongest AI transparency record in the NY-12 field. 4/4
  • T8 Published endorsement list with named quotes from Hochul, Nadler, Velazquez, Paterson, Bloomberg, Levine, Hoylman-Sigal, Bottcher, Kavanagh, Glick, Rosenthal, Brewer, Abreu, plus 32BJ SEIU, CWA Local 1180, NYLCV, and named UWS Democratic clubs. 3.75/4
  • T12 Helped craft Hochul $4.5B affordable housing capital program; co-sponsored Mitchell-Lama shelter-rent fix S5662/A6654 with Senator Kavanagh; named federal-housing-investment expansion as platform centerpiece. 3.75/4
View all 25 criteria
  • T1 Born-and-raised Upper West Sider; Assembly office and prior community-rep work for Nadler; sustained UWS presence over a 16-month Assembly tenure; constituent forums documented but cadence less granular than Lander or Bores. 3.25/4
  • T2 Files required NY State legislative ethics disclosures (COELIG/JCOPE successor); no documented voluntary tax-return release or transparency above legal minimums. 2.25/4
  • T3 Platform pledge to vote to ban congressional stock trading; no individual stock-trading record reported in NY ethics filings. 3.50/4
  • T4 Pledges no corporate PAC money for the congressional campaign; refused Brad Lander's 2025 People's Pledge by accepting a Bloomberg-funded $5M independent expenditure super PAC; took $36,486 from Solidarity PAC in his 2024 Assembly race. 3/4
  • T5 FEC-compliant Lasher for Congress committee (C00918565); ActBlue receipts disclosed; 68% of donations from Manhattan; outside-money disclosure gap from Bloomberg super PAC IE. 2.88/4
  • T6 Active A View from the Assembly Chamber Substack; regular Assembly newsletters; consistent op-ed and statement publication on key votes. 3.50/4
  • T7 Wide press footprint: NBC News, Forward, Crain's NY Business, City and State, Westside Rag, Bloomberg Law; competitive Assembly primary in 2024 (52.6% in five-candidate field) and competitive NY-12 race. 3.50/4
  • T8 Published endorsement list with named quotes from Hochul, Nadler, Velazquez, Paterson, Bloomberg, Levine, Hoylman-Sigal, Bottcher, Kavanagh, Glick, Rosenthal, Brewer, Abreu, plus 32BJ SEIU, CWA Local 1180, NYLCV, and named UWS Democratic clubs. 3.75/4
  • T9 Multi-platform engagement (Instagram, X, Facebook, Substack), regular Assembly newsletters, campaign site policy library; established pre-campaign communication infrastructure. 3.50/4
  • T10 Substack and platform use plain language with concrete examples; multilingual outreach in NY-12 (which includes Chinatown-adjacent areas) is not surfaced. 3/4
  • T11 Endorses Medicare for All or similar universal plan and federal drug-price negotiation; no specific federal price-transparency mechanism (PBM disclosure, surprise billing, hospital price tags) named. 2.25/4
  • T12 Helped craft Hochul $4.5B affordable housing capital program; co-sponsored Mitchell-Lama shelter-rent fix S5662/A6654 with Senator Kavanagh; named federal-housing-investment expansion as platform centerpiece. 3.75/4
  • T13 Sponsored the FAIR Business Practices Act, signed by Hochul 2025, which is the first update to NY GBL §349 in 45 years and explicitly addresses junk fees and deceptive trade practices. 3.75/4
  • T14 General reform rhetoric and RECOURSE Act framing of federal-funds accountability; no specific federal spending dashboard or Checkbook-style mechanism documented. 2.50/4
  • T15 Lead sponsor of the NY RAISE Act establishing transparency requirements for frontier AI models from $100M+ developers, including safety plans and Section 1422 whistleblower retaliation protection; the strongest AI transparency record in the NY-12 field. 4/4
  • T16 Helped write NY gun safety laws including the ammunition background-check law; lead sponsor of the MELT Act prohibiting masked law-enforcement officers; Everytown for Gun Safety board member. 3.50/4
  • T17 Sponsored two leading NY anti-ICE bills (warrantless-arrest ban at schools, hospitals, and houses of worship; private right of action against individual ICE agents who violate civil rights); blocked 20 NY school districts from denying enrollment to undocumented children. 3.75/4
  • T18 Mixed signal: long Bloomberg-DOE and StudentsFirstNY tenure pushed charter-school expansion and Race to the Top accountability framework; current Assembly platform supports public-school investment and DOE oversight; UFT critics view the pivot as positional. 2.25/4
  • T19 2003 Albany rules reforms ending empty-seat voting; 2015 End Corruption Now Act drafting with Citizens Union; congressional platform supports John Lewis VRAA and voting-rights expansion. 3.50/4
  • T20 End Corruption Now Act with Citizens Union; RECOURSE Act counters Trump-era federal-funds withholding; Fighting Back Against Trumpism platform plank with named ethics and emoluments enforcement positions. 3.50/4
  • T21 Routine Manhattan press accountability via PIX11, Forward, Westside Rag, Crain's, and City and State; sustained UWS local press engagement before and during the congressional run. 3.25/4
  • T22 No documented major fact-check controversies; substack and Assembly statements track verifiable bill text; charter-school pivot has drawn UFT criticism for strategic framing without documented false statements. 3/4
  • T23 NY RAISE Act Section 1422 explicitly protects AI whistleblowers from employer retaliation when reporting reasonable cause of substantial risk; concrete enacted whistleblower mechanism. 3.50/4
  • T24 End Corruption Now Act drafting; Albany rules-reform record on legislative transparency; no dedicated federal FOIA reform bill named on the platform. 2.88/4
  • T25 Substantial action-rhetoric match (FAIR Act enacted, gas-stove ban, abortion ERA, gun law); friction points include accepting a Bloomberg-funded super PAC IE while pledging to refuse corporate PAC money, and the charter-expansion past versus current public-school investment platform. 3/4
E Efficiency
82.4%

Top positive drivers

  • E9 Track record of enacted laws and major delivery: 2003 Albany rules reform; Bloomberg-era charter law that helped NY win $700M Race to the Top; 2015 End Corruption Now Act; first-in-nation 2023 statewide gas ban for new buildings; NY abortion ERA; ammunition background-check law; FAIR Business Practices Act 2025. 4/4
  • E12 Helped craft Hochul's 2024 NY housing plan that the New York Times called the first serious attempt by a New York governor since the 1960s to tackle exclusionary zoning; $4.5B affordable housing capital program enacted. 4/4
  • E6 Sustained operational record across NYC government, Schneiderman AG office, Sidewalk Labs, Hochul executive chamber, and Assembly; outraised every NY-12 rival except Schlossberg with $2.52M reported by end of 2025 and $1.1M cash on hand. 3.75/4
View all 25 criteria
  • E1 Specific quantified targets across signature wins: $4.5B affordable housing capital program, $1B in mental health services investment, RAISE Act $100M training-spend threshold, RECOURSE Act named-officer veto triad. 3.50/4
  • E2 Substack cites verifiable bill text and legislative history; RAISE Act drafted to industry-validated technical thresholds; Hochul-administration policy work used state agency analytics. 3.50/4
  • E3 Co-sponsors NY oversight legislation; AG chief-of-staff role oversaw Schneiderman investigations of Trump University and Peabody Coal climate misrepresentation; Assembly investigative work documented. 3.25/4
  • E4 Assembly office handles UWS and Morningside Heights Mitchell-Lama and NYCHA casework; Lasher began his political career as a community representative in Nadler's congressional office. 3.50/4
  • E5 RAISE Act provides a detailed AI governance framework including frontier-model transparency, audit, and whistleblower protections; less surfaced on government IT modernization or digital services. 3/4
  • E6 Sustained operational record across NYC government, Schneiderman AG office, Sidewalk Labs, Hochul executive chamber, and Assembly; outraised every NY-12 rival except Schlossberg with $2.52M reported by end of 2025 and $1.1M cash on hand. 3.75/4
  • E7 2003 Albany rules reform required cross-faction coalition; Hochul housing plan negotiation across Assembly, Senate, and stakeholders; FAIR Act assembled consumer-advocate, AG, and small-business support. 3.50/4
  • E8 RECOURSE Act specifies named approval triad (Hochul, Comptroller DiNapoli, Budget Director); RAISE Act sets $100M training threshold with named compliance pathways; FAIR Business Practices Act amends GBL §349 specifically. 3.75/4
  • E9 Track record of enacted laws and major delivery: 2003 Albany rules reform; Bloomberg-era charter law that helped NY win $700M Race to the Top; 2015 End Corruption Now Act; first-in-nation 2023 statewide gas ban for new buildings; NY abortion ERA; ammunition background-check law; FAIR Business Practices Act 2025. 4/4
  • E10 2003 ended empty-seat voting in Albany rules reform; 2015 End Corruption Now Act; 2025 RECOURSE Act creative federalism mechanism; named federal process reforms on War Powers Resolution and Emoluments Clauses. 3.50/4
  • E11 Co-sponsored the New York Health Act in his Assembly term; helped expand NY Medicaid coverage of abortion under Hochul; congressional platform supports M4A or similar universal plan, ACA strengthening, and drug-price negotiation. 2.88/4
  • E12 Helped craft Hochul's 2024 NY housing plan that the New York Times called the first serious attempt by a New York governor since the 1960s to tackle exclusionary zoning; $4.5B affordable housing capital program enacted. 4/4
  • E13 First-in-nation 2023 statewide ban on gas in new buildings (drafted in Hochul executive chamber); wind and solar tax-assessment standardization legislation; NY HEAT Act co-sponsor; AG-office investigations exposing Peabody Coal and ExxonMobil climate misrepresentation. 3.75/4
  • E14 MELT Act, two leading anti-ICE bills, and platform commitment to abolish ICE; school-enrollment enforcement against 20 districts denying undocumented children access; concrete state-level immigration efficiency mechanisms. 3.50/4
  • E15 Helped found Frank McCourt High School and PS 452 with community partners; reading-instruction reform work; charter expansion claim of efficiency carries mixed empirical evidence per longitudinal NY data. 3/4
  • E16 Helped write NY gun safety package including ammunition background-check law and Red Flag-style protections; Everytown board service; congressional platform supports universal background checks, AWB, national Red Flag law. 3.50/4
  • E17 Helped index NY minimum wage to inflation; PRO Act co-sponsor pledge; 32BJ SEIU and CWA Local 1180 endorsements support credible labor-efficiency stance. 3/4
  • E18 RECOURSE Act addresses federalism waste; Assembly oversight on Trump-administration funding withholding; no specific federal spending audit or procurement-reform bill on platform. 2.50/4
  • E19 Climate-resilient subway investment platform; Sidewalk Labs urban-tech work informed transit-tech literacy; specific federal infrastructure-delivery mechanism not surfaced. 2.88/4
  • E20 Reassert congressional war-powers; rebuild NATO; repeal Trump tariffs; mainstream pro-Israel diplomatic framing; specifics partial relative to lead foreign-policy candidates. 2.50/4
  • E21 General Trump-proofing rhetoric and RECOURSE Act federalism mechanism; no specific federal processing-time targets or service-level commitments documented. 2.50/4
  • E22 MEGA Corporations Act introduced to prevent corporate tax dodging; supports repealing Trump tax breaks for the wealthy; honest pay-for framing on housing investment. 3/4
  • E23 End Corruption Now Act drafting drew on Citizens Union and IG-style framework; Hochul-era policy work cited NY state agency data; less surfaced direct GAO/CBO citation. 2.88/4
  • E24 FAIR Business Practices Act remedies a 45-year statutory gap in NY consumer protection; RAISE Act addresses an industry-acknowledged regulatory void; RECOURSE Act remedy for unilateral federal-funds withholding. 3.25/4
  • E25 Schneiderman AG chief-of-staff oversight role; Hochul Director of Policy executive-chamber agency oversight; Assembly committee work; Fighting Back Against Trumpism platform plank with named oversight mechanisms. 3.25/4
A Affordability
79.6%
+0.5 from Political Integrity Pledge

Top positive drivers

  • A12 Centerpiece career achievement: helped craft Hochul's 2024 NY housing plan, the most ambitious NY housing reform since the 1960s per the New York Times, with the $4.5B affordable housing capital program enacted; Mitchell-Lama shelter-rent fix; pledges federal LIHTC and rental-assistance expansion. 4/4
  • A15 FAIR Business Practices Act signed by Hochul 2025: the first update to NY GBL §349 in 45 years, the state's primary consumer-protection statute, addressing junk fees and deceptive practices with private right of action and AG enforcement. 4/4
  • A14 MEGA Corporations Act introduced to prevent corporate tax dodging; supports repealing Trump tax breaks for the wealthy; commitment to defend Social Security and Medicaid funding. 3.50/4
View all 25 criteria
  • A1 Files required NY State legislative ethics disclosures; Sidewalk Labs (Alphabet) tech-industry past noted; no obvious property or business affordability conflicts surfaced. 2.88/4
  • A2 District events on Mitchell-Lama and rent stabilization; Chelsea NYCHA redevelopment listening sessions; UWS housing-affordability forums during Assembly tenure. 3.25/4
  • A3 District-specific Mitchell-Lama figures, NYCHA Chelsea redevelopment data, UWS rent-stabilization statistics regularly cited; substack uses NY-specific cost-of-living analysis. 3.25/4
  • A4 Assembly office handles tenant, housing, and federal-benefits casework; AD-69 includes large NYCHA developments and Mitchell-Lama and HDFC housing with documented operational engagement. 3.25/4
  • A5 FAIR Business Practices Act protects small businesses and consumers against junk fees and deceptive practices; congressional platform names small-business support; less surfaced direct SBA program work. 3/4
  • A6 Substack acknowledges legislative trade-offs and political constraints; FAIR Act framing balanced; honesty drag on charter-school past versus current public-school platform. 3/4
  • A7 RAISE Act has thresholds and exemptions; RECOURSE Act has specified veto triad; explicit fiscal estimates on $4.5B housing capital program; cost-benefit framing present. 3/4
  • A8 FAIR Business Practices Act bans deceptive trade practices and junk fees; AG-office Trump civil litigation; RAISE Act drafted over insurance and banking industry pushback. 3.25/4
  • A9 Hochul housing plan negotiation crossed Senate and Assembly factions; Mitchell-Lama shelter-rent bill drew bipartisan support in NY; less surfaced cross-aisle federal affordability work. 2.88/4
  • A10 Public career history transparently documents Bloomberg DOE, StudentsFirstNY, Schneiderman AG, Sidewalk Labs, and Hochul roles; outside policy expertise base disclosed. 3.25/4
  • A11 Co-sponsored New York Health Act; helped expand NY Medicaid coverage of abortion; M4A or similar universal plan endorsement; Republican Medicaid-cut reversal commitment. 3/4
  • A12 Centerpiece career achievement: helped craft Hochul's 2024 NY housing plan, the most ambitious NY housing reform since the 1960s per the New York Times, with the $4.5B affordable housing capital program enacted; Mitchell-Lama shelter-rent fix; pledges federal LIHTC and rental-assistance expansion. 4/4
  • A13 Pledges to end Republican tax penalty on student loan forgiveness, reverse federal education funding cuts, and support paraprofessional bill of rights; charter-school past creates progressive primary tension on K-12 affordability. 2.88/4
  • A14 MEGA Corporations Act introduced to prevent corporate tax dodging; supports repealing Trump tax breaks for the wealthy; commitment to defend Social Security and Medicaid funding. 3.50/4
  • A15 FAIR Business Practices Act signed by Hochul 2025: the first update to NY GBL §349 in 45 years, the state's primary consumer-protection statute, addressing junk fees and deceptive practices with private right of action and AG enforcement. 4/4
  • A16 Helped index the NY minimum wage to inflation; PRO Act co-sponsor pledge; raise federal minimum wage and index to inflation; 32BJ SEIU and CWA Local 1180 union endorsements. 3.25/4
  • A17 Reverse Republican Medicaid cuts platform plank; opposes federal Department of Education defunding which protects school meals; no dedicated SNAP, school-meals, or food-affordability bill named. 2.50/4
  • A18 Co-sponsored the NY HEAT Act capping household energy bills at 6% of income; gas-ban transition framework; federal IRA household energy program expansion pledge. 3/4
  • A19 Climate-resilient subway investment platform plank; transit policy work in Assembly; less surfaced specific federal fare-relief or commuter-benefit mechanism. 3/4
  • A20 Tackling Affordability platform plank integrates housing investment, M4A, MEGA Corporations, indexed minimum wage, education affordability, and consumer protection; coherent if not as quantified as Lander's. 3.50/4
  • A21 Born-and-raised UWS; Manhattan-anchored career; Mitchell-Lama, NYCHA Chelsea, and UWS housing pressures regularly cited in district-specific terms. 3.50/4
  • A22 NY-12 is purely Manhattan urban (UWS, UES, Midtown, parts of LES); no rural affordability framework documented or required by district. 1.50/4
  • A23 NYCHA preservation, immigrant-status-blind healthcare access, abortion-access expansion, and AG-office civil rights work; less surfaced explicit racial-disparity mechanism in federal platform. 3/4
  • A24 Universal programs (M4A, $4.5B housing, NY ERA abortion protections, gun safety, indexed minimum wage) reach broad populations rather than narrow subsets. 3.25/4
  • A25 Affordability-aligned endorsements include 32BJ SEIU, CWA Local 1180, NY League of Conservation Voters, Nydia Velazquez, Mark Levine, and the major UWS Democratic clubs; Working Families Party not yet declared. 3.50/4

Scored from publicly available information. Research in progress.

Published Platform

  • Housing — Massively expand federal housing investment, expand LIHTC and rental assistance, leverage federal dollars for pro-housing state and local policies; record includes helping enact Hochul's $4.5B affordable housing capital program and the Mitchell-Lama shelter-rent fix.
  • Healthcare — Medicare for All or similar universal plan, strengthen and extend ACA subsidies, federal drug-price negotiation, reverse Republican Medicaid cuts; co-sponsored NY Health Act and helped expand NY Medicaid abortion coverage.
  • Climate — Clean energy transition, climate-resilient infrastructure, rejoin Paris Climate Accord; record includes helping enact first-in-nation statewide gas ban for new buildings (2023), wind and solar tax-assessment standardization, NY HEAT Act co-sponsorship.
  • Immigration — Fight to abolish ICE; detainee due process protections; record includes the MELT Act, two leading NY anti-ICE bills (warrantless arrest ban at schools, hospitals, houses of worship; private right of action against individual ICE agents), and blocking 20 NY school districts from denying enrollment to undocumented children.
  • Gun Safety — Universal background checks, reinstate assault weapons ban, national Red Flag law; record includes helping write NY ammunition background-check law and Everytown board service.
  • Reproductive Rights — Pass Women's Health Protection Act, oppose national abortion ban, repeal Hyde Amendment, protect IVF and contraception; record includes helping enact NY Equal Rights Amendment and Dobbs-response abortion-protection package.
  • Ethics & Anti-Corruption — Vote to ban congressional stock trading, codify Emoluments Clauses, refuse corporate PAC money to campaigns; record includes drafting the 2015 End Corruption Now Act with Citizens Union as Schneiderman chief of staff and the 2025 RECOURSE Act federalism mechanism.
  • AI & Big Tech — Lead state sponsor of the RAISE Act with frontier-model transparency, $100M training-spend trigger, and AI whistleblower protections; data center construction moratorium support; antitrust investigations of Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic; AI Civil Rights Act, DEFIANCE Act, TRAIN Act, NO FAKES Act support.
  • Tax Fairness — Repeal Trump tax breaks to the wealthy; introduced MEGA Corporations Act in NY Assembly to prevent corporate tax dodging.
  • Workforce & Labor — Co-sponsor PRO Act, raise federal minimum wage and index to inflation, wage insurance for tech-driven displacement, protect workers from automated surveillance; record includes helping index NY minimum wage to inflation.
  • Foreign Policy — Reassert congressional war-powers, strengthen War Powers Resolution, rebuild NATO, repeal Trump tariffs, rejoin Paris Climate Accord; mainstream pro-Israel framing favoring diplomatic resolution that returns hostages and yields peace with Palestinians.
  • Consumer Protection — Sponsored the FAIR Business Practices Act signed 2025, the first update to NY GBL §349 in 45 years, addressing junk fees and deceptive trade practices with private right of action and AG enforcement.

Non-Incumbent · Public Record

Scored on publicly available information only — platform statements, prior office, news coverage. Same criteria as the Questionnaire pathway, without direct candidate input.

Scoring Summary

Axis Base Pledge Bonus Final
Transparency 82.6% +1 83.6%
Efficiency 82.4% — 82.4%
Affordability 79.6% +0.5 80.1%
Overall TEA Average of the three axes 81.5%

Read the full methodology →

Financial Breakdown

Financial detail — individual giving, PAC contributions, transfers, and personal finances — will appear here when FEC data ingestion ships. This tab is reserved so the layout stays consistent when the feature launches.

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