AP (“George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist, defeats Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York Democratic primary“):
George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist, defeated U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman on Tuesday in a Democratic primary in suburban New York that highlighted the party’s deep divisions over the war in Gaza.
With the victory, Latimer has ousted one of the most liberal voices in Congress and one of its most outspoken critics of Israel. Bowman has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians have died in military strikes.
Latimer, who got into the race at the urging of Jewish leaders and had heavy financial backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is a former state legislator who has served as Westchester County executive since 2018.
[…]
Bowman had been seeking a third term, representing a district in New York City’s northern suburbs. His defeat is a blow to the party’s progressive wing and a potential cautionary tale for candidates trying to shape their messaging around the Israel-Hamas conflict.
His loss also disrupted what has generally been a stable primary season for congressional incumbents. Most current members of Congress have been able to repel challenges from within their party, though GOP Rep. Bob Good is in a tight contest with a rival backed by Donald Trump in a race that is too close to call.
“This movement has always been about justice. It has always been about humanity. It has always been about equality,” Bowman said at his election party in Yonkers, conceding that he lost the race but remaining unapologetic about his opposition to the war in Gaza.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s political action committee spent nearly $15 million on the primary, filling airwaves and mailboxes with negative ads in an effort to unseat Bowman, who has accused the influential pro-Israel lobbying group of trying to buy the race.
“The outcome in this race once again shows that the pro-Israel position is both good policy and good politics — for both parties,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee said in a statement.
Some major progressive figures have rushed to Bowman’s defense. In the final stretch of the race, he rallied with liberals Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, while Latimer pulled in the endorsement of former presidential candidate and former New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
On Israel, both Bowman and Latimer support a two-state solution. They have also both condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people. But Bowman was one of a few progressives who rejected a symbolic House resolution in support of Israel following the Oct. 7 attack. Latimer firmly backs Israel and said negotiating a cease-fire with Hamas is a non-starter because he believes it is a terrorist group.
Bowman was first elected in 2020 after running as a liberal insurgent against moderate U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, a 16-term congressman who chaired a House committee on foreign affairs. Bowman, 48, embraced the political outsider strategy this year as well, depicting Latimer as a tool of Republican donors and pro-Israel groups.
Latimer said Bowman’s criticism of Israel was only part of the reason why he decided to challenge the incumbent. He said Bowman hasn’t been attentive to the needs of the district, maintained few relationships with its leaders, and was more interested in getting spots on cable news than he was in helping people.
BBC (“Jamaal Bowman loses most expensive primary race ever“) adds:
One group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or Aipac, spent nearly $15m (£12m) in the primary to unseat the left-wing representative in New York’s 16th congressional district.
Overall, $24.8m was spent by various groups in the race, making it the most expensive House of Representatives primary in history.
[…]
Mr Bowman, who won office in 2020, had accused Aipac of trying to “buy” the race in the district, which spans Westchester Country and part of the New York City borough of the Bronx.
“We should be outraged when a Super PAC of dark money can spend $20 million to brainwash people into believing something that isn’t true,” he said.
Last year, US lawmakers formally censured Mr Bowman after he activated a fire alarm while Congress was in session, triggering an evacuation as Democrats were trying to stall a vote to avert a government shutdown.
Mr Latimer was supported by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while Mr Bowman was backed by House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, left-wing representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and independent Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.
A POLITICO feature from last week (“A Trip to Israel Changed Jamaal Bowman’s World View — And Could Cost Him His Reelection“) provides a useful background.
In late 2021, Jamaal Bowman stepped out of a tour bus into the heat in Hebron. The then-rookie New York congressman was visiting the H2 area of the ancient city in the West Bank, which remains under Israeli military occupation with barbed wire-covered checkpoints every few blocks.
Bowman had been in the Middle East for just three days, but he was already seeing sights that were changing the way he understood the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That day, along with a handful of his congressional colleagues on a trip sponsored by the liberal Zionist organization J Street, he toured a boys’ school administered by the United Nations. The young students there regularly heard live ammunition and smelled tear gas seeping through the school’s walls.
Bowman left profoundly demoralized. “There are streets they cannot walk and places they cannot go, simply because they are Palestinian,” he wrote, sharing a picture of himself posing with the students. “When I asked about their dreams, their answer was simple: freedom. The occupation must end.”
[…]
After the trip, Bowman changed from a relatively mainstream Democrat on Israel into one of the country’s chief antagonists in Congress. He moved from voting for aid to Israel and supporting the country’s normalization agreements to eventually signaling his support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement — a Palestinian-led attempt to pressure Israel to withdraw from occupied territories and allow for Palestinian right of return.
His constituents have noticed. For his suburban New York district that is home to one of the largest concentrations of Jews in America, Bowman’s shifting views became increasingly untenable after Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7. He’s now facing a primary challenger, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, who has made his unquestioning support for Israel a key distinction between him and Bowman. Ahead of the election next week that strategy appears to be working. One districtwide poll from PIX-11 in early June put Latimer’s campaign ahead by 17 points — a stunning lead for a challenger.
And as coverage of the race focuses on Bowman v. Latimer as a proxy war between the left and the center, between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel power centers in the Democratic Party, between AOC and AIPAC, it’s left out how Bowman’s evolution as a political figure brought us here. His 2021 trip to Israel now serves as a defining moment in his continued evolution — and one that could torpedo his career.
The development is interesting but likely not all that meaningful. It’s just one seat out of 435 and one that will doubtless remain in Democratic hands.
AIPAC has tried and failed to oust other members of the Squad—although they still have Cori Bush in their sights and her primary isn’t until August. They spent an enormous amount of money here but the fact that Bowman was out of sync with his own constituency here tells us very little about what’ll happen elsewhere.
As a general matter, I’d prefer a Congress with fewer firebrands and more workhorses and conciliators. But, while there are certainly extremists in the Democratic Caucus, the problem is mainly on the other side of the aisle.
The AP report mentioned a race closer to home, that featuring the seat of Bob Good, the chair of the House Freedom Caucus. He seems to have narrowly lost by a margin that qualifies for a recount and he has demanded one. Ousting Good, a Tea Party standard bearer (i.e., MAGA before MAGA), would seem to be a step in the right direction but it’s not so obvious. A recent POLITICO report on that race noted:
Millions of dollars poured into the effort to oust Good, the chair of the House Freedom Caucus who has managed to get on the bad side of prominent Republicans. That included former President Donald Trump, who endorsed McGuire after Good initially backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the presidency. He also was facing the wrath of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whose political operation has mobilized against the eight Republicans — including Good — who voted to strip him of the gavel. And a number of his fellow colleagues in Congress actively campaigned against Good after he endorsed incumbents’ primary challengers throughout the cycle.
The race was tighter than many were expecting, especially considering the immense resources that flowed in to boost McGuire — demonstrating just how difficult it is to oust an incumbent. If McGuire’s lead holds, Good could be the first Republican kicked out of Congress by a non-incumbent challenger. (Alabama Republican Rep. Jerry Carl lost his primary in a rare member-on-member challenge due to redistricting earlier this year.)
If the results hold, the differences will be at the margins.
