Progressive Representative Jamaal Bowman, DN.Y., on Tuesday suffered a stunning defeat in the primaries to a moderate challenger backed by pro-Israel groups, NBC News projected, after a tight and expensive race that exposed the party’s divisions about Israel’s war in Gaza.
The race in New York’s 16th District between Bowman and Westchester County Executive George Latimer has drawn more advertising spending — $25 million, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact — than any House primary in history. Nearly $15 million of that spending came from the United Democracy Project, a super PAC linked to the powerful pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which supported Latimer.
With 66% of the vote, Latimer led Bowman 56% to 44%.
Bowman, 48, one of Israel’s fiercest critics in Congress, is the first sitting Democratic lawmaker to lose a primary this election cycle and the first member of the so-called “squad” of progressive lawmakers of color to be ousted from power since that the group formed after the 2018 election. Other members of the squad, including Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Summer Lee, D-Pa., were targeted but survived the primary challenges.
A former Bronx high school principal, Bowman stormed Washington after unseating 16-term Rep. Eliot Engel, then chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and one of the most powerful Jewish lawmakers in Congress, in 2020.
Bowman was re-elected two years later, but opponents considered him more vulnerable this cycle after the congressman made a series of unforced errors.
Last fall, Bowman pleaded guilty to falsely set off a fire alarm in a House building in the middle of a vote on a GOP bill to prevent a government shutdown. Bowman claimed it was an accident, but Republicans accused him of trying to disrupt official House business.
Bowman also said that reports of sexual violence during the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on October 7 were “propaganda”; He later walked back those comments after the United Nations said sexual assaults had occurred.
Latimer, 70, has been involved in local and state politics for more than 35 years. He first won New York’s election to the Rye City Council in 1987, and would go on to win seats on the Westchester County Board of Legislators and the New York State Assembly and Senate.
As the Democratic candidate, Latimer will almost certainly be the next congressman from New York’s 16th District, a diverse area north of Manhattan that includes parts of the Bronx and southern Westchester County. Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the deep blue district by nearly 45 percentage points in 2020, according to the Kos Daily Elections.
Several prominent figures participated in the race in the final stretch. Progressive heroes including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. — another member of the squad — campaigned for Bowman, while Hillary Clinton, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and the Former Rep. Mondaire Jones, DN.Y., endorsed Latimer.
When Jones, a former Bowman ally and former member of the Congressional Black Caucus, supported Latimer, citing Bowman’s criticism of Israel, progressives revolted. The Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Working Families Party of New York rescinded their endorsement of Jones, who was running in a neighboring New York district with a large Jewish population.
Still, Jones won the Democratic nomination in the 17th District on Tuesday, setting up a showdown with vulnerable Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in the fall as Democrats try to reclaim a seat that flipped from blue to red in 2022.
For her part, Ocasio-Cortez easily won the Democratic primary in New York’s 14th district.
Other New York primary battles
Tuesday’s primaries also set up November’s matchups in several competitive districts. New York is key to Democrats’ path to a House majority, with five Republicans representing the districts Biden won in 2020. Democrats need a net gain of just five seats to take control of the House.
There wasn’t much primary drama on most battlegrounds except New York’s 1st District. Former CNN anchor John Avlon won the Democratic primary to face Republican Rep. Nick LaLota, NBC News projects. Avlon defeated Nancy Goroff, a college professor who ran unsuccessfully in 2020.
Democrats also picked state Sen. John Mannion to face Republican Rep. Brandon Williams in central New York’s 22nd District, which became more Democratic after the state’s congressional map was redrawn earlier this year.
On other battlefields, the clashes have been practically defined for some time. Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito will face former Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen in a rematch starting in 2022. Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro will also face a rematch with attorney Josh Riley.
Two Democrats on defense this year also met their Republican opponents on Tuesday.
Rep. Pat Ryan will face Alison Esposito, a former New York City police officer who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2022. And Rep. Tom Suozzi, who won a special election to retake his old Long Island seat, will face former state Rep. Mike LiPetri.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
