We’re less than one week away from primary day in New York, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) is not acting like a man who is confident he’s on his way to securing a primary win.
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The Hamas Caucus member’s Democratic opponent, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, a well-known longtime politico in the area, appears to be in the driver’s seat, sitting firmly ahead of Bowman in polling averages and getting generally favorable press coverage in comparison to Bowman, who apparently thinks he can yell and pander his way to victory.
When last we left you, Bowman thought it would be a good idea to attack another Democratic member of the New York Congressional delegation, Ritchie Torres, over his staunch support for Israel. Bowman’s claim was that Torres’ support for Israel wasn’t authentic because in his view Torres had higher aspirations than just the House.
It didn’t go well.
It was a pretty comical claim to make considering around the same time Bowman made the accusation, it was revealed in a very public way that he once asked a Jewish leader to text a picture to him of them together so he could share it and prove he had Jewish friends.
Further, statements he made during a Democratic Socialists of America endorsement interview in late May confirmed Bowman’s two-faced nature on the issue of Israel:
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Yet during the DSA endorsement interview, Bowman said he “personally” backs the BDS movement but just has not gone public with his support because of the “large Jewish population, large Zionist population, large pro-Israel population, large AIPAC population” in his 16th Congressional district.
And now, with the walls closing in, Bowman has made a desperate move in his bid to win back Jewish support, backtracking on his disturbing Hamas hostage rape denialism by apologizing for comments made during a November pro-Hamas rally, and now pledging to move forward to fight against sexual assault:
Bowman apologized this week for calling Hamas’ sexual violence against Israeli women on Oct. 7 “propaganda” and “lies.”
Bowman, the left-leaning Democrat facing the prospect of defeat next week, said in response to a WNYC caller, “Immediately when the UN provided additional evidence, I voted to condemn the sexual violence. I apologize for my comments and now we’re continuing to do the work to fight sexual violence and domestic violence in all its forms.”
Thing is, even if Bowman manages to win back a respectable number of Jewish voters, another thing he’s got to worry about is the black vote, if a new poll is a reliable indicator:
My group, the National Black Empowerment Action Fund, recently commissioned a poll of hundreds of black residents in Bowman’s district.
We found a huge divide between those voters’ concerns and Bowman’s priorities in Congress.
When asked about the issues they care about most, black voters primarily pointed to quality of life — jobs and economic development (27%), crime and public safety (25%), inflation and the cost of living (18%) and housing (16%).
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What’s more, our poll confirmed that the more that black voters learned about their congressman’s extreme record on their most important issues, the further out of favor he fell.
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I’ve been burned before in thinking a Squad member was on their way to defeat, so I’m not going to go out on a limb and make any predictions here. But what I will say is that of all the primary challengers I’ve seen Squad members face over the years, Latimer comes across as the most serious, credible threat.
Can he pull it off? As always, stay tuned…
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