City Council Member Erik Bottcher threw his hat in the ring on Thursday for next year's increasingly crowded Democratic primary to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, whose 12th Congressional District covers much of central Manhattan from west to east.

Bottcher, 46, who has represented west Manhattan neighborhoods including Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen since 2022, is pitching himself as the "strongest candidate" in the race for taking on what he described as Republican President Donald Trump's "corruption, chaos, cruelty and incompetence."

He enters a packed field that already includes Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of President John F. Kennedy; Assembly Members Micah Lasher and Alex Bores (D-Manhattan); and nonprofit founder Liam Elkind. Among those candidates, Lasher is Nadler's cho

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