With just less than two-thirds of the ballots cast in the district, which includes a tiny portion of the Bronx and portions of Westchester County, tabulated, Latimer had a 55.8% to 44.2% lead over Jamaal Bowman. The Associated Press had declared the race for Latimer at approximately 9:40 p.m. Latimer was up 17 points in a recent Emerson survey, which put him ahead of the field going into Tuesday’s primary. The pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) spent nearly $15 million in the race to unseat Jamaal Bowman, who has voiced his support for Palestinians and made a number of controversial comments about the conflict, including saying that reports that Hamas raped Israeli women in its Oct. 7 attack were “propaganda.” The race is widely regarded as the most expensive House primary in U.S. history and highlighted the divide among Democrats on the Israel-Hamas war.
Bowman has accused Latimer of racism on multiple occasions. He has claimed that Latimer’s campaign made his skin appear darker in voter mailers and that Latimer has stereotyped him as a “angry Black man” after Latimer stated in a May debate that Bowman “preach[es] and scream[s] on the steps of the Capitol.” Jamaal Bowman further accused Latimer of not being able to “tell the difference between Black men” after Latimer, in a Facebook post criticizing Bowman for meeting with Cash Cobain, claimed that Bowman was more concerned with meeting high-profile people than he was with attending to the district’s needs. Bowman’s progressive supporters, such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), actively campaigned for him, while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Representative Mondaire Jones (a former ally of Bowman’s who broke from him over his criticism of Israel) endorsed Latimer.
Latimer is predicted to easily defeat Miriam Flisser, the lone Republican competitor, in the general election scheduled for November
In September, just before a heated House vote to prevent a government shutdown, Jamaal Bowman allegedly pulled a false fire alarm in a Capitol building. In October, Bowman entered a guilty plea to the misdemeanor allegation. He agreed with the prosecution to have the charge dropped after three months in exchange for paying a $1,000 fine and sending a letter of apology to Capitol police. Bowman argued that he sounded the alarm in a hurry to get to the House floor so he could vote on the government funding bill, despite Republican accusations that he did so to scuttle the House vote.
Of the eight members of the progressive “Squad” in Congress, Bowman is the first to be removed; the other four are up against formidable primary opponents this year. AIPAC-backed centrist candidate Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., defeated her in the April primary, and close primaries are scheduled for August for Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Cori Bush, D-Mo. The left flank’s influence has diminished since Republicans took control of the lower house in the 2022 midterm elections, as they had previously acted as a counterweight to both the Trump administration and the Democratic establishment under former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. In November 2020, Bowman, 48, a former teacher, was elected following the summer 2020 social justice demonstrations sparked by George Floyd’s death. Latimer, 70, a former marketing executive, was first elected to public office in 1987. He then spent more than ten years serving in the state Assembly and Senate before winning the 2017 election to become the executive of Westchester County.
The outcome of the election dealt on Jamaal Bowman the left a devastating blow
A few years after Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s election in 2020, the movement celebrated Mr. Jamaal Bowman’s unexpected victory in a Democratic primary as evidence of the left’s rise. He is the first member of the House’s “squad” of youthful, left-wing parliamentarians of colour to lose a seat, and he might not be the last, as the party’s centrist views are already gaining ground. Progressives worry that the pro-Israel groups’ display of power in New York will discourage congressional criticism of Israel as the war drags on. AIPAC and other pro-Israel organizations are already focusing on Representative Cori Bush of Missouri ahead of a primary in August.
Mr. Bowman, a former middle school principal from a predominantly Jewish region in the country, was an unusual participant in a conflict that took place 5,600 miles away. He chastised his opponent, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, four years prior for devoting excessive time to matters that were outside of his area. However, Mr. Bowman poured himself into the Palestinian cause when the war started, portraying it as an outgrowth of his work at home for racial justice and children. Even though he constantly denounced Hamas, Mr. Jamaal Bowman was one of the first legislators to demand a cease-fire, mere days after Hamas launched its onslaught on October 7, to charge Israel with genocide in Gaza, and to demand that the US sever all ties with its partner.
Jamaal Bowman disagrees with many of his constituents because of his views on Israel
Encompasses portions of Westchester County and the Bronx; it has a sizable Jewish population, many of whom disagreed with Bowman’s views on Israel. According to some recent polling, a majority of people favored Latimer’s ardent support of Israel over Bowman’s stance. Additionally, Jamaal Bowman initially refuted claims that Hamas had engaged in sexual assault on October 7. Thankfully, he later had an epiphany and issued an apology.
At times, Jamaal Bowman exhibits a brazenness that I find objectionable, and it’s possible that he exaggerated the benefits of constantly attacking while underestimating the work required to strengthen his areas of weakness. In addition, Bowman appeared to pass up chances to attempt fostering relationships with the local Jewish population following October 7th, which would have avoided requiring him to reevaluate his views on Israel policy. A more capable legislator would have invested more effort in fostering trust within his heterogeneous constituency during a period of extraordinarily high emotions and growing anti-Arab and Jewish prejudice.
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