On Tuesday, Westchester Democrats sent two-term congressman Jamaal Bowman, a member of the so-called “Squad,” to early retirement. George Latimer, the 70-year-old Westchester County executive, triumphed by nearly 20 points in a brutal primary contest. The takedown of Bowman marks a stinging rejection of left-wing politics and a reaffirmation of suburban centrism.
Since first taking office in January 2021, Bowman refused to internalize that his district was not a bastion of ideological extremism or a demographic monolith. His constituency includes Yonkers and a section of the Bronx, but also Winged Foot Golf Club, a frequent home of the U.S. Open.
On the job, Bowman kept shooting himself in the foot. He pulled a fire alarm in a congressional office building and attacked Israel for highlighting that on Oct. 7 Hamas had made rape a weapon of choice. He passionately displayed bad judgment.
Just days before the primary, Sen. Bernie Sanders, the socialist from Vermont, and Bronxite Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the leader of the Squad, rallied to his side. With everyone watching, Bowman directed an obscenity-laced rant against AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. In the end, even J Street, the progressive pro-Israel counter to AIPAC, had walked away from him.
For the record, Bowman also favors defunding the police and Medicare for All. He acts as if Sanders were president and Republican control of the House was unrelated to Democratic excess.
Along with AOC, Bowman was one of two New York Democrats to vote against the infrastructure bill. He also opposed raising the debt ceiling and the 2024 bipartisan budget deal. He offered Democrats plenty of reasons to sour on him, not just Israel.
Technically, Bowman will appear on the November ballot as a candidate of the Working Families Party. But the shouting is over. The most he can do is plot his return and struggle for continued relevancy. Whether there are any takers is debatable.
On Election Night, he appeared livid, unbowed and unrepentant. He referred to his opponents, plural, and claimed that the primary was about a “battle for humanity and justice.” He added that he would continue to fight for the rest of his life.
Days before the polls closed, reports surfaced of a circular firing squad within his campaign. Blame-game anger is misdirected. The congressman’s record and persona are the very reasons he lost. Whatever his staff got wrong was incidental to defeat.
It was Bowman who pleaded guilty to pulling the fire alarm and earlier, as a school principal, promoted 9/11 conspiracy theories. He suffers from a gravitas deficit.
Bowman rose to prominence against the backdrop of the murder of George Floyd and the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. He defeated Eliot Engel, 16-term congressman and chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a primary.
Unfortunately, he treated his win as a mandate to go off the rails. Instead of building bridges to the more moderate and affluent segments of the district, he elected to alienate them. In a four-way primary in 2022, Bowman scored little more than half the vote and underperformed in Westchester. The writing was on the wall, but he chose to ignore it.
His loss should serve as a reminder that even in a strongly Democratic district that went for Joe Biden by more than 50 points, the appeal of unvarnished left-wing politics remains limited. Voters commute to work; crime remains a concern.
Liberalism in Westchester is defined by support for Planned Parenthood and gun control. Heated rhetoric from a member of Congress scares people.
Meanwhile, Missouri’s Aug. 8 primary may see a rerun of what happened in Westchester. In St. Louis, second-term Congresswoman Cori Bush, another Squad member, faces a primary challenge from Wesley Bell, a more moderate Democrat. The latest poll shows Bell surging, holding a one-point lead.
Like Bowman, she is plagued by self-inflicted woes. Bush is presently under investigation for misuse of campaign funds.
Looking forward, Israel and the Mideast will retain their potency as both news sagas — and wedge issues. Regional war remains a possibility as the Jewish state and Hezbollah continue to skirmish.
On July 24, Benjamin Netanyahu is set to speak to a joint session of Congress. The protests that are soundtracks to his latest, disastrous stint as Israel’s prime minister will also continue as accompaniments to his visit to D.C.
Similar fractures will also appear at the Democrats’ August convention. What lessons the Democrats learn from all this remains to be seen. Ghosts of Chicago 1968 will definitely hover.
Green, a lawyer, served as staff secretary to the Bush 1988 campaign’s Middle East Policy Group and in the Justice Department.
