New York state Assemblymember Micah Lasher, a Jewish Democrat, claimed victory on Tuesday night in a hard-fought primary for a coveted House seat in the heart of Manhattan, according to the Associated Press.

Lasher had won 39% with most of the vote tallied by the time his race had been called. He prevailed over a fellow assemblymember, Alex Bores, who pulled in 35%, as well as Jack Schlossberg, the Kennedy scion, who came in third with just 10% — followed by Nina Schwalbe and George Conway in the single digits.

Lasher, 44, a longtime member of the Democratic establishment in New York, pitched himself as the most experienced candidate in the race, leaning into his identification as a policy wonk. He was backed by the district’s retiring congressman, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), as well as Gov. Kathy Hochul. He also drew a significant share of outside support from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who spent $10 million to help boost Lasher’s campaign.

The closely watched primary became one of the most expensive on record, due in part to outside spending from AI-linked super PACs that helped to raise Bores’ profile as a leading advocate for industry regulation.

The race also focused heavily on Israel — though most of the top contenders were largely aligned on key issues. The district, New York’s 12th, is home to the largest Jewish constituency in the country, and many Jewish voters identify with the sort of liberal Zionist sentiments that Lasher expressed during the campaign. 

In contrast with other primaries in New York City where Israel emerged as a lightning rod, the race to succeed Nadler was marked by more moderate views on Middle East policy. Lasher backed U.S. funding to boost Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system and opposed efforts to condition aid that single out Israel, for instance. 

Lasher is now all but assured a seat in Congress thanks to the heavily Democratic tilt of the district.

“I think the message I send to Jewish voters is 44 years being a proud Zionist Jew and, God willing, another 44 years,” he said at a Jewish community forum in May, drawing applause from the audience.

Still, Lasher raised frustrations near the end of the race that the conversation had become too narrowly focused on Israel. 

“I spend a great deal of time wrestling with the challenges and the horrors of what is going on in Israel,” Lasher noted earlier this month. “I am not obsessed with Israel, and I worry sometimes that our political dialogue — and the political dialogue in this race — is obsessed with Israel.”