NEW YORK — Brad Lander, New York City’s outgoing comptroller, is challenging Congressman Dan Goldman in this summer’s Democratic primary election, portraying himself as a progressive stalwart who can do a better job at fighting President Donald Trump’s agenda on Capitol Hill.

Lander’s bid for the 10th Congressional District, which spans Lower Manhattan and a chunk of brownstone Brooklyn, tees off a heated contest that stands to test the strength of some of the most prominent names in left-wing politics, including incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who immediately endorsed Lander after his campaign launch Wednesday.

The race could also be seen as a litmus test for how Democrats view Israel’s war in Gaza, with Lander and Goldman staking out distinctly different views on the conflict.

In an interview with the Daily News ahead of a Wednesday evening campaign kickoff event in Brooklyn, Lander, who is Jewish and a sharp critic of Israel’s war, knocked Goldman, who is also Jewish, for largely supporting Israel amid the Gaza campaign.

“On this issue, we have some disagreements, but the core rationale is because it’s time for fighters not folders,” Lander said, accusing Goldman of doing nothing but “press conferences and strongly worded letters” to fight Trump’s administration on immigration and other issues.

Lander was arrested by ICE agents in June while observing immigration proceedings at 26 Federal Plaza.

In addition to rolling out his congressional run, Lander announced Wednesday he had already locked in the endorsements of Mamdani, the Working Families Party as well as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, two former presidential candidates popular with left-leaning voters.

In a campaign video shot in the Park Slope neighborhood he calls home, Lander targeted Goldman both over his perceived weakness on Trump as well as his stance on Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and was launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack.

“I’m running for Congress because the challenges we face can’t be solved with strongly worded letters or high dollar fundraisers, and not by doing AIPAC’s bidding,” Lander said, a reference to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group that has spent money on initiatives supporting Goldman.

Lander then offered a callout to Mamdani: “Our mayor can have an ally in Washington instead of an adversary in his own backyard.”

Lander has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing war crimes, though he has stopped short of calling the war in Gaza “a genocide” of Palestinians, a label used by Mamdani. Goldman has largely supported Israel’s war and didn’t call for a ceasefire in Gaza until early 2024, a wait that angered some progressives.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist who’s widely popular in the city following his historic Nov. 4 election, ran against Lander in this past June’s Democratic mayoral primary. But as polls indicated his chances at victory were narrow, Lander cross-endorsed Mamdani under the primary’s ranked-choice voting system, a move that’s seen as having given the mayor-elect a major boost propelling him to defeat his main opponent, ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

“He has been a trusted ally and partner of mine, and I’m proud to support him as I know he’ll continue delivering for those who need government to show up for them the most,” Mamdani, who was at one point seen as likely appointing Lander to a top post in his administration, said in his endorsement statement.

Unlike Mamdani, Lander is not a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. In backing Lander, Mamdani may alienate some DSA allies, especially as the left-wing group’s members recently voted to endorse one of their own, Brooklyn Councilwoman Alexa Aviles, for the 10th Congressional District after she had made clear she was seriously considering jumping into the primary.

But after Lander’s Mamdani-boosted campaign launch, Aviles said she’s not going to run after all, citing a need to avoid fracturing support from leftist voters.

“A split field runs too great a risk of allowing him another damaging term,” Aviles said of Goldman. “I’m not done taking on the corporate powers that have destroyed our city and country, but have decided that my best use of energy is not running for Congress in NY-10.”

A spokeswoman for Goldman, a former federal prosecutor and an heir to the Levi & Strauss fortune who did not support Mamdani for mayor, said Wednesday that the congressman remains “focused on stopping the Trump administration from what they’re doing to immigrant families in his district right now.”

“He’s proud of his progressive record in Congress and will deal with Brad and other challengers in the new year,” said spokeswoman Maddy Rosen.

Before being elected to Congress by a narrow margin in 2022, Goldman was the House Democrats’ lead counsel during Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 and has on Capitol Hill taken a firm stance against the president, including on immigration.

But Lander focused on portraying Goldman as someone who was elected only after spending $4 million of his own money on his 2022 campaign.

“While the oligarchy drives an affordability crisis, they shouldn’t be able to buy a seat in Congress,” Lander said in his video. “While our neighbors are being demonized and attacked, we can put our bodies on the line to protect them.”

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