[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Manhattan's marquee congressional primary race just got even more crowded. Today, Republican-turned-Democrat George Conway lost his camp — launched his campaign, rather, with this video. GOV.

[00:00:09] Speaker 2: GEORGE CONWAY, D-MN, Presidential Candidate for Presidential Candidacy We have a corrupt president, a mendacious president, a criminal president, whose masked agents are disappearing people from our streets, who's breaking international law, and he's running our federal government like a mob protection racket. He doesn't like me. I don't like what he's done to our great country. And now, I'm running for Congress to take the fight directly back to him, on your behalf.

[00:00:35] Speaker 1: YAMICHE ALCINDOR Our panel is back, including Jamie. Jamie, you spoke with George Conway. Let's watch a little bit of that. GOV.

[00:00:41] Speaker 2: JAMIE RASKIN, Presidential Candidate for Presidential Candidacy I don't intend to be doing this when I'm 66 or 67 or 68. You know, I'm kind of like a special teams player. I want to do this for one reason, and that is to help get this, our governmental system, back on track with something back to normal, at least back toward normal.

[00:01:05] Speaker 1: SEN.

[00:01:05] Speaker 3: ELIZABETH WARREN, D-MN, Presidential Candidate for Presidential Candidacy So, he's 62. He has told me repeatedly that he only would do this for a term or two. He thinks what sets him apart, his legal skills, and that if the Democrats take the House, he can play a role in going after Trump. Let's see how he's received. This is, if not the bluest district in the country, right up there. He has a very large field that he's going to be up against in the primary, including Jack Schlossberg, Caroline Kennedy's son, JFK's grandson. He has done some polling, and so he thinks he has a shot. But he also has said that either this is the stupidest thing he's ever done or the best thing that he'll see. One last thing. He has spent a lot of his own money going after Trump. When you add it up, he spent almost a million dollars, which he gave to the Biden-Harris campaign, more than a million and a half dollars, billboards, TV ads.

[00:02:19] Speaker 1: A lot of which he made in Republican Congress. Absolutely.

[00:02:24] Speaker 3: But he put his money where his mouth is. Now he says he's going to put himself on the line.

[00:02:29] Speaker 1: Let's put back up, Jeff, the picture of other candidates. By the way, this is not an exhaustive list of people. This is a big primary. As Jamie said, it's not only very blue, it goes across town from the East Side to the Upper East Side, to the Upper West Side. It is the heart of the New York arts. It's the heart of theater. It's the heart of restaurants. If you think about traditional New York City, these are the people who want to represent it. Again, because it's so blue, the primary is going to be the fight.

[00:03:08] Speaker 4: For sure. It's also filled with a lot of elites. George Conway is one. He lived there. He talked about in a great story with his former wife, Kellyanne Conway, near the UN. It's not like he's just carpetbagging into nowhere. New York has shown time and time again that it doesn't necessarily mind carpetbaggers, per se. I think one of his biggest attributes is he's a fighter, no doubt. New Yorkers like fighters. He's going to go after Trump. The question is, during a Democratic primary, I assume the field will shrink a bit more. The effeminate celebrity of Jack Schlossberg obviously is an attribute for him, but he has some drawbacks as well. We'll just have to see how it plays out. This is going to be a very divided field, probably decided by not that many of votes. Trump will likely go after him. That will elevate him even more, so it could be a mutual beneficial engagement here.

[00:04:07] Speaker 1: Does he live in that district now? He has moved. He has an apartment.

[00:04:11] Speaker 3: He's registered to vote, and his ever-present Corgi Clyde has a New York dog license.

[00:04:19] Speaker 1: When you hear other candidates there, I don't know if this matters anymore, Jack Schlossberg in his opening video talked about that this is the place he was born and raised. Another candidate, Alex Boris, put the following online. I welcome George to the city and to the Democratic Party. Tell him to give me a call when he gets to town. There are so many great restaurants to share if he's willing to venture a few blocks away from the TV studios he's more familiar with.

[00:04:47] Speaker 5: It's really interesting and funny to watch a lot of these intraparty primaries because if you're talking about policy, a lot of them are very close on policy, so it can get very personal, very pointed, just like that quote that we saw right there. But again, we haven't talked about this as much as we talk about the implications of the previous elections to this midterm year when we're focused a lot about affordability issues. The successful candidates in 2025 didn't really focus on Trump all too much, except as it relates to the economy. But you forget that when it comes to Democratic primaries, it'll be so much about Trump. This New York primary is not just one of them. There are other House primaries or House races in Massachusetts and elsewhere throughout the country where candidates are really highlighting their ability to take the fight to Trump as their main attribute.

[00:05:34] Speaker 6: Let's talk about George Conway, of course, who is now a candidate for U.S. Congress here in the city of New York, New York's 12th congressional district. Right now, Jerry Nadler holds that. So, Karen, first of all, there are tons of people running for this seat, and some of them are well known. But what do you think of that? A former Republican attorney, George Conway, made his name over the last several years by being incredibly anti-Trump. Is that enough to be a member of Congress?

[00:06:04] Speaker 7: You know, I guess welcome to the Democratic Party, I should say, first of all. I mean, who would have thought that here's where we would be, and certainly post-January 6th, and post that first Trump administration, George Conway really made his name, as you point out. Look, I think it's a compelling argument to say, I know how they think, I know how to fight them. But it'll be interesting to see in terms of dynamics, specifically in New York City, is that what New Yorkers want? Or will he also have to, as the other candidates are, talk about things like, how are you going to bring costs down? How are you going to hold the feet to the, you know, the president's feet to the fire? You know, as Essie was saying, I think the other, there's another argument that I'm wondering if I hope Democratic candidates will make, which is, you know, Republicans own this, the mess. They own the fact that they have abdicated their responsibility, the fact that they have not held this president accountable. They own politically in an election year. If they co-sign what's happening in Venezuela, they own that. So is George Conway going to make that argument as well? It'll be interesting to see.

[00:07:12] Speaker 6: Essie, you know a little something about New York City politics. There was a time when maybe Essie Cupp could have been a New York City politician. I mean, what do you think George Conway will learn about running for office here?

[00:07:24] Speaker 8: Listen, New York, I was also a New York resident a long time. New York is liberal. It's not Portland liberal. If New Yorkers can elect a socialist to be mayor, they can elect a conservative to be a representative. And what New Yorkers want is a fighter. I think, you know, New Yorkers told us that a lot when they talked about Mamdani, and that was fighting for New York, but also fighting against Donald Trump. That really appeals to New Yorkers right now. And while I lament that issues are not front and center and policy isn't top of mind, someone like George Conway, who has really broadened his name, I.D., by being a never-Trumper, by being so anti-Trump and principled in his conservatism, probably would endear him to a lot of New York City voters. So I give him, I absolutely give him a shot at this.