Erik Bottcher, a Democratic city councilman from downtown Manhattan, said on Thursday that he would run to succeed Representative Jerrold Nadler in a coveted New York City House seat.
Mr. Bottcher joins an increasingly crowded primary field that already includes a Kennedy scion, a Nadler protégé, a tech-focused state assemblyman and a 26-year-old upstart. More potential candidates are still circling.
Like most of them, Mr. Bottcher, 46, is a staunch liberal. He has called President Trump an “autocratic” leader, denounced New York’s spiraling living costs and vocally supported Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
But in an interview, Mr. Bottcher argued that his experiences as a gay man and L.G.B.T.Q. rights activist had made him prepared to face a fractious moment in American politics in ways his rivals were not.
“I have faced down right-wing extremists right here in Manhattan,” he said, referring to a 2022 episode in which he was targeted for supporting Drag Story Hour events at local libraries.
“They invaded my home, they vandalized my office, two of them were arrested in the lobby of my building, a third was arrested for assaulting one of my neighbors,” said Mr. Bottcher, who lives in Chelsea. “We did not back down, we stood up, and we held them accountable.”
Mr. Nadler, 78, a giant of Manhattan politics, stunned colleagues in September when he announced he would not seek re-election after three decades in Congress. He said the time had come for generational change.
Young candidates have heeded that call in growing numbers ahead of a Democratic primary next June. So far, they include Jack Schlossberg, 32, who also lives in Chelsea and is the grandson of John F. Kennedy; Micah Lasher, 43, a state assemblyman and Nadler protégé from the West Side; Alex Bores, 35, a state assemblyman from the East Side; and Liam Elkind, 26, a nonprofit founder. Also running are Alan Pardee, 58, a former financial executive; and Jami Floyd, 61, a journalist and lawyer.
Stretching the width of Manhattan from 14th Street to near the top of Central Park, New York’s 12th District is home to more Fortune 500 companies, millionaires and cultural landmarks than perhaps any other House seat in the country. It is safely Democratic, but its residents split their votes almost evenly in last week’s mayoral election between Mr. Mamdani and the more moderate former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
In a video announcing his candidacy set to be released on Wednesday, Mr. Bottcher uses his experience as a closeted gay child growing up in the Adirondacks to frame his run. At 15, he attempted suicide and spent a month in a psychiatric treatment facility. He said his time in treatment saved him and would not have been possible without health insurance.
“That was really the beginning of my political awakening, but it’s also a reason why mental health is one of my signature issues,” he said in the interview.
Mr. Bottcher joined the City Council as a staff member in 2009, serving as a liaison to L.G.B.T.Q. New Yorkers and those with H.I.V. He worked as an aide to Mr. Cuomo when the former governor signed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, before returning to the Council as the chief of staff to Corey Johnson, his predecessor as the council member for Chelsea.
Mr. Bottcher was then elected to the Council himself in 2021, and represents a district that includes Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen.
He plans to campaign for Congress on legislation he passed expanding mental health services in city homeless shelters and his support for projects slated to build thousands of units of affordable housing (though sometimes at great cost to the city).
Mr. Bottcher backed Mr. Mamdani during the mayor’s race, and said he was impressed by how he brought out record numbers of young voters in a municipal election.
“The Democratic Party will ignore that at its own peril,” Mr. Bottcher said.
Still, the councilman detailed several areas of disagreement with the incoming mayor. He said he supported Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, while Mr. Mamdani believes it should be structured as a state with equal rights for people of all religions.
And while the councilman he supports Mr. Mamdani’s call for a rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments, Mr. Bottcher said he would like to see the mayor-elect “put a larger emphasis” on building new housing.
Asked about Mr. Schlossberg, a political neophyte with a famous family name who entered the race for the 12th District earlier this week, Mr. Bottcher declined to criticize him.
“The power of celebrity is real,” he said. “But what’s even more powerful is many, many years of working on the ground in our communities doing the hard work side by side with neighborhood activists.”
Nicholas Fandos is a Times reporter covering New York politics and government.
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