Campaign Insiders: A Q&A with NY-9 Candidate Mike Goldfarb
Campaign Insiders is PoliticsNY’s latest Q&A series featuring candidates running for office in the 2026 New York primary election. This edition of Campaign Insiders features Mike Goldfarb, who is running to represent New York’s 9th Congressional District. The 9th Congressional District is located in Brooklyn and includes the neighborhoods of Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach and Prospect Lefferts Gardens.
What are the top three issues for your campaign?
– Increased investment in NY-9: our district gets materially less federal funding than our neighbors. NY-9 deserves its fair share of money for community schools, local healthcare, infrastructure upgrades (including public transit), and public safety
– Uplifting vulnerable communities: protecting and providing for our children, the elderly, immigrants, and racial and religious minorities
– Addressing affordability head-on: cutting the red tape that drives up the cost of housing, childcare, transportation, groceries, and renewable energy upgrades.
Why did you decide to run for office?
Having spent my adult life working on behalf of communities about whom I care deeply, I could not sit on the sidelines as those same communities became increasingly imperiled. From immigrant neighbors targeted by the federal government to Jewish friends victimized at the hands of anti-semites and long-time residents priced out of their homes, the threats to NY-9 are real. I chose to run for office to protect my constituents, my community, and my country.
What do you believe is the top issue facing voters and how do you plan to address it if elected?
The cost of living has gotten out of control. Wages have not kept up with the price of housing, health care, education, groceries, retirement, etc. No one solution will fix that, but many will have a positive impact. We need to streamline the building process – more supply and constant demand lowers prices. Tariffs that drive up the cost of what we buy need to go. Targeted federal subsidies can also have a role to play.
How does your background qualify you to hold office?
In the small business world, if you don’t show up for your customers every day, they take their shopping elsewhere. If you aren’t responsive to the changing demands of your community, you go out of business. Putting food on the table means delivering real, tangible results. Healthy doses of ingenuity, hard work, and even the occasional compromise go a long way. Our government should work similarly: fewer words, more actions. Get stuff done or get out.
Why should voters choose you over your opponents?
After almost two decades in office, the district can fairly judge the incumbent’s track record: no meaningful legislation passed; less funding for our district than our neighbors; unresponsive to constituents; limited presence on the national stage or in our community. The time has come for a new generation of leadership that can more vigorously fight for the people of NY-9. We need a more powerful voice that can deliver both at home and in DC.
From now until early voting, Campaign Insiders will be featuring candidates from select democratic primary races across the City & State. Be sure to check back to hear from a wide range of candidates from assembly, senate, and congressional races as well as the NYS comptroller race!
Early voting in NYC is June 13th-21st and Election Day is June 23rd. Check out the PoliticsNY Election Primer to see who will be on your ballot and don’t forget to vote this June!
