Will the AI Industry Buy a Congressional Seat in NY?

Ahead of COURIER’S NY-12 Democratic Primary debate this week, I sat down with Jack Schlossberg and Alex Bores to discuss their competing visions for the future of the Democratic Party

For years, party insiders have debated whether their biggest challenge is messaging, policy or leadership. But since 2024, a growing number of voters actually want to know the answer to a different question: who is willing to challenge the systems and special interests that got us here in the first place?

That’s one of the reasons I’ve been paying close attention to the Democratic Primary race for New York’s 12th Congressional District. This very crowded and national news-making primary race is providing a window into the wedge issues and debates within our big tent that I feel strongly will ultimately shape the 2028 presidential primary contest starting next year. Ahead of COURIER and MeidasTouch’s upcoming NY-12 Democratic Primary Debate this Wednesday, June 10, I sat down with two of the candidates running whose champion issues and campaigns represent pretty distinct approaches and visions for shaping the future of the Democratic party: Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s grandson and political commentator, and Alex Bores, a NY state legislator who has found himself at the center of a multimillion-dollar fight for political influence between warring factions of the AI industry.

Coming from a legacy of political disruptors, Jack told me he is running today because corruption is the most important issue Congress needs to address and today’s Democratic Party “does not have an answer to Trump.” He says Democrats need to stop defending broken institutions and start giving voters a new reason to believe politics can still deliver real change.

Alex is approaching many of my same questions with a sharp focus on the role Democrats must play in shaping the future of technology and its impact on society. Once a Palantir data scientist, he says, “this race has become a test of whether democratic institutions can govern transformative technology before it governs us.”

As two of six candidates in one of the most competitive and buzziest primaries in the country, Bores and Schlossberg are pitching their theory of the case first to NYC voters, but their differing ideas on what they would focus on Day One if elected could shed light on whether running to fight corruption or running on a forward-looking policy agenda is more attractive to left-leaning voters at this critical juncture for both the country and Democratic Party.

You can watch my full conversations with both Jack and Alex on COURIER’s YouTube channel, or listen wherever you get your podcasts!

And if you’re following the race, you won’t want to miss COURIER and MeidasTouch’s NY-12 Democratic Primary Debate this Wednesday, June 10. Don Lemon, Katie Couric,l Jennifer Welch and other special guests will be interviewing the slate of candidates as they go head-to-head on affordability, housing, immigration, foreign relations, and more. RSVP to watch the livestream debate here and tune in this Wednesday at 7:00 pm ET.!

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