Politics
NewsOnScale Staff
October 6, 2026
Caroline Shinkle is a Republican running for Congress in New York's 12th District — the seat covering the Upper West Side, Upper East Side, and midtown Manhattan, vacated by retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler. She is running in one of the most reliably Democratic districts in the country.
She has Bill Ackman behind her.
The billionaire hedge fund manager and founder of Pershing Square Capital Management has made Shinkle a focus of his X feed, promoting her campaign to his millions of followers. Ackman has spent months trying to counter Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist who won the Democratic primary for NYC mayor, and Shinkle's campaign fits directly into that effort.
Shinkle is a corporate attorney with an economics degree from MIT and a law degree from Harvard. She worked for the Bank of Israel and lived in Jerusalem. Her campaign centers on unwavering support for Israel, fighting antisemitism, opposing Mamdani's socialist policies, and a pro-market economic message she calls "common sense over crazy."
"At a time when antisemitism is rising in our streets, on our campuses, and across our culture, silence is not leadership," Shinkle has said.
NY-12 is not a district Republicans typically contest seriously. But the combination of Ackman's financial backing, the district's large Jewish population, and the broader political environment around Mamdani has made the race worth watching. Ackman has said hundreds of millions of dollars are available to back candidates who can counter the socialist tide in New York.
Shinkle is running against the Democratic nominee in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a wide margin. Whether Ackman's backing and resources can overcome that math will be answered on November 4.
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