GOP lawyer enters race to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler in deeply blue NYC district
A Republican who went to school with Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg is entering the race to replace longtime Rep. Jerry Nadler in a deeply Manhattan congressional district.
Caroline Shinkle, a corporate lawyer with degrees from MIT and Harvard Law, enters a race for the highly coveted New York’s District 12 seat that already includes a long list of Democrats including Schlossberg, the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy and son of Caroline Kennedy.
“I’m in it to win it. I’m here to provide voters a real choice on the ballot,” Shinkle, 33, told The Post. “We’re fighting to preserve Manhattan and New York City.”
It’ll be an uphill battle for a Republican in the district, which stretches from the East Side to West Side of Manhattan and includes Times Square, the Midtown business district and Museum Mile.
But Shinkle said she would provide a much needed alternative to the Democrat candidates as the party veers way to the left.
“While others focus on ‘The Resistance,’ I will focus on results,” she said. “Whether it is keeping our borders secure to end the undocumented migrant crisis that has strained our city’s budget to the breaking point or ending the soft-on-crime policies that have emboldened repeat offenders, I will bring an economist’s precision and a lawyer’s grit to Washington.”
New York is suffering from “a crisis of competence,” she said — and pointed the finger at the Big Apple’s new mayor, proud democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani.
“We have a mayoral administration captivated by radical ideologies and a congressional delegation focused on obstruction rather than delivery,” Shinkle said. “I am running to be the common-sense antidote to the policies that have made our streets less safe and our city unaffordable for the people who work for a living.”
The Manhattan GOP’s leadership was expected to endorse Shinkle this week, while state Conservative Party chairman Jerry Kassar said his party also plans to back her in the election.
Five other Republicans have submitted paperwork to run in the race, according to federal filings, but it’s unclear if they were mounting serious runs.
Shinkle said she wouldn’t be afraid to shake things up and would push to abolish the federal income tax because “the government has to shrink.”
She also supports exempting student loan repayments from taxes.
Shinkle spent time in Jerusalem working for the Bank of Israel while at MIT, and stressed she’s a staunch supporter of the Jewish states while many Democrats activists and some politicians have turned against America’s chief ally in the Middle East.
“I refuse to be a passive spectator to our city’s decline,” Shinkle said.
Aside from Schlossberg — whom Shinkle crossed paths with in school — other contenders seeking the Democratic nomination for the seat include apparent frontrunner, state Assemblyman Micah Lasher.
Lasher is backed by several local Democratic clubs and elected officials including Nadler — who decided not to seek re-election to the seat. Nadler, 78, was first elected in 1992.
Other candidates include East Side Assemblyman Alex Bores, Trump antagonist George Conway, former WNYC journalist and attorney Jami Floyd, lawyer Patrick Timmons, civil rights attorney Laura Dunn, financier Alan Pardee and LGBT activist Mathew Shurka.
