33-Year-Old Lawyer Runs in Deep-Blue District
Business attorney Caroline Shinkle, 33, has announced her candidacy to replace Jerry Nadler in New York's 12th District — an area covering Manhattan's East Side to West Side, including Times Square, Midtown, and Museum Mile, which leans strongly Democratic.
Shinkle is a graduate of MIT and Harvard Law School, having worked at the Bank of Israel during her undergraduate studies. She states her goal is to "offer voters a real choice" and to focus on "results over rhetoric." Her campaign message emphasizes tightening border security, ending lenient policies for repeat offenders, and reducing the size of government, including proposals to abolish federal income tax on W-2 wages and exempt student loan interest from taxes.
Crowded Race in District 12
District 12 has long been a Democratic stronghold. Shinkle enters a race with numerous Democratic candidates, including Jack Schlossberg — the grandson of the late President John F. Kennedy — and State Assemblyman Micah Lasher, who has received endorsements from several local Democratic clubs and from Nadler himself. Nadler, 78, decided not to seek re-election after more than three decades in Congress since 1992.
Criticism of Governing Capacity Crisis
Shinkle argues that New York is facing a "crisis of governing capacity," criticizing the city government and the Democratic party for focusing on confrontation rather than governance. Manhattan Republican leaders are expected to endorse her this week; the State Conservative Party chairman has also expressed plans to back her.
Federal filings show five other Republican candidates have submitted papers to run, though the seriousness of their candidacies is unclear. On the Democratic side, in addition to Schlossberg and Lasher, the list includes Alex Bores, George Conway, Jami Floyd, Patrick Timmons, Laura Dunn, Alan Pardee, and Mathew Shurka.
