The easiest explanation for why Rep. Jamaal Bowman lost today's New York Democratic primary is that he alienated Jewish voters in his district by criticizing Israel. That explanation makes sense. In fact, this was the most expensive House primary in history. That's because pro-Israel groups flooded the district with TV ads attacking Bowman. But that's not all.
Bowman lost to Westchester County Executive George Latimer, becoming the first member of the House's progressive “Squad” to lose a re-election bid. He might have held on if he had not criticized Israel so harshly in the weeks after October 7. But Bowman had become politically vulnerable long before the Hamas attack, tilting his own supporters too far to the left and attracting unwelcome attention he had nothing to do with. Middle East Department.
Bowman, a former middle school principal, won the seat in 2020 by ousting top House Democrat Eliot Engel, who was then chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. In doing so, Bowman followed the path set two years ago by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who rallied New York City progressives to defeat moderate members of the party leadership.
Once in Congress, Bowman aligned herself with AOC and her allies in the left-wing squad. Both she and Bowman have pressed the Biden administration from the left and have become supporters of both Republicans and centrist Democrats.
But their trajectories diverged in other ways. Ocasio-Cortez was able to consolidate support in her district while establishing herself as a national progressive star and avoiding serious electoral challenges. Bowman struggled to do either. “She didn’t build the kind of connections and coalitions that were needed in the district,” a former Bowman adviser told me on condition of anonymity to avoid criticizing her former boss publicly.
When Bowman first ran in 2020, his majority-minority district was more progressive than it is now, and more progressive than AOC’s. Shortly after he was elected, the decennial redistricting process expanded the northern boundary to include more of New York City’s wealthy suburbs. Bowman’s district now features only a small portion of the Bronx. “His district is not woke. It’s Democratic,” another former Bowman adviser told me, requesting anonymity. Against the advice of some aides, Bowman joined other members of his squad in voting against President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill in 2021. That decision became a liability in the primary.
Bowman soon became known for his eagerness to take on right-wing Republicans in the halls of Congress, getting into shouting matches with the likes of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. During one such conversation last year, Ocasio-Cortez pulled him away from Taylor Greene and said, “She's not worth it, brother.”
Bowman's most embarrassing gaffe came on September 30, when he was caught setting off a fire alarm in a Capitol office building after Republicans suddenly called for a vote to prevent a government shutdown. Bowman said he was in a hurry to vote and didn't realize that sounding the alarm would trigger an evacuation. Republicans have accused him of trying to delay the process, and the House voted largely along party lines to censure him in December. (He pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to a misdemeanor count of setting off a fire alarm.)
A week after the incident, Hamas invaded Israel. Bowman immediately condemned terrorist groups but quickly shifted to calling for a de-escalation of tensions in the region. He became one of the first House Democrats to call for Israel to stop bombing the Gaza Strip, eventually accusing Israel of waging “genocide” against Palestinians. In December, a few days after returning from a trip to Israel, Latimer launched his campaign.
Much of the Democratic establishment in Westchester and the Bronx has rallied around Latimer, who has held Westchester's most powerful position since 2019. He received endorsements from Engel and two other former members of Congress, Nita Lowey and Mondaire Jones. The latter of these is running to reclaim a neighboring House seat. Hillary Clinton, another retiree who lives in the Bowman area, also endorsed Latimer. House Democratic leaders supported Bowman (it is their de facto policy to support incumbents), but they did nothing to help him win. Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries recorded robocalls for Bowman but did not campaign for him.
The biggest spender in the race so far has been the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its allies, with more than $14.5 million in advertising. Bowman attempted to link AIPAC's support for Latimer to the MAGA movement and even accused his opponent of being an anti-black and anti-Muslim “racist.” Latimer, who raised his own criticism that Bowman ignored voters “who aren't black or brown,” dismissed the charge as the bluster of a desperate candidate.
But despite AIPAC's involvement, the campaign did not hinge entirely on the Israel-Hamas war. The group's ad only briefly mentioned the conflict, instead criticizing Bauman for his opposition to Biden's infrastructure package.
Bowman's progressive allies attempted to rescue him in the closing days of the race. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders headlined a rally for him in the South Bronx on Saturday. But despite being advertised as a “Get Out the Vote” event, the rally was held outside Bowman's district, about seven miles from his constituents. Three days later they voted him out.