George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist, defeats Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York Democratic primary

[brooklynite]

Source: Associated Press

George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist, defeated U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, of New York, on Tuesday in a Democratic primary that highlighted the party’s deep divisions over the war in Gaza.

With the victory, Latimer has almost certainly 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 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.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/bowman-latimer-democratic-primary-congress-new-york-f751616f7f69df439a6080dc6c23e385

[nycbos]

1. Excellent.

2026 let's boot Omar and Talib.

[ck4829]

3. Shouldn't we be booting Republicans?

[Richard D]

8. The two are not mutually exclusive. nt

[FBaggins]

11. Bowman initially took the seat from a long-time incumbent Democrat

Doesn't really have that leg to stand on.

[brooklynite]

14. Have you suggested that to the left wing candidates?

[Cha]

46. Shows you don' know a thing about George Latimer. He's a Pres Biden Dem

[ColinC]

53. Also US house reps cannot block legislation like Senators can

[Scrivener7]

55. Spoken like someone who has no idea what they're talking about.

I don't like his funding, but he's always been a good Democrat. He's currently County Executive and he's been an excellent one.

Your comment is moronic.

[Cha]

45. What Are You Talking About?

[iemanja]

50. This is a primary

There was no Republican on the ballot.

[._.]

6. You know what?

There is exactly ONE Progressive voice in the US Senate. One. Now I may not agree w/Omar and crew on a lot of things, but I really don't mind a Progressive or two in the House. If you don't mind, of course.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

12. Not I!!

[brooklynite]

15. I don't care...but neither am I impressed with their performance unless they can take Republican seats away.

[bottomofthehill]

39. Really, who would that one be...Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren
Sherrod Brown
Ed Markey
Tammy Baldwin
Raphael Warnock

Oh sorry, you must mean St Bernard of Burlington.

There are plenty of progressive voices in the Senate.

[Bok_Tukalo]

2. Russia and Israel

What other nations will try to decide our elections?

[JohnSJ]

5. Bowman lost because of Bowman and his conspiracy nonsense and

voting record.

Bowman questioned that the rapes and murders of Oct 7, and said it was only “propaganda”. Bowman voted against the infrastructure bill and raising the debt limit and other issues.

He did it to himself.

[Bok_Tukalo]

7. Just like Hillary, I'm sure.

[JohnSJ]

20. Excuse me? Hillary was running for President, Bowman was running in a congressional

district

Hillary lost because of several contributing factors. 11days before the general election Comey sent a letter to republicans in Congress saying he was looking at a laptop with possible emails. The MSM then paraded every right wing pundit across their outlet pushing the LIE that the e-mail investigation was being reopened. That was a lie. Late Friday the weekend before the general election Comey quietly came out and said there was nothing new on the laptop and no need to reopen the investigation, but the damage had been done.

At the same time for months previous, the likes of David Sirota, Nina Turner, Cornell West, Briahna Joy Gray, etc. were refusing to vote for Hillary in the general election and encouraging others to do likewise, and enough self-identified progressives took that suggestion EVEN THOUGH THEY KNEW THE SUPREME COURT WAS AT STAKE, by either voting third party or not voting.

It didn’t take much either.

In every swing critical swing Hillary lost by less than 1%, while in those critical swing states Jill Stein received 1% of the vote.

Hillary’s loss had nothing to do with Russia or Israel, but involved the self-identified progressives who refused to vote for Hillary in the general election.

They did the same thing under the Green Party guise in 2000. Again nothing to do with Israel or Russia.

It would be nice if those self-identified progressives voted for President Biden in November along with Democrats down ticket, but I am not sure we can depend on them, 2000 and 2016 demonstrated that.

What I believe we can depend on will be Women, Labor, Democrats, African Americans, Latinos, minorities, and independents.

[oasis]

34. Excellent post. Informative and to the point.

[electric_blue68]

38. Ty.

[Cha]

49. Jill Stein SPOILER! Mahalo for the Reality Check, John!

Link to tweet

[Cha]

47. Bowman Losing has Notihng to do with Hillary..

Oh except she Endorsed George Latimer!

[FalloutShelter]

10. Maybe, but I think Bowman mostly lost

Because he spent more time chasing national attention than he did serving his constituents.

[OrangeJoe]

26. Money is the mother's milk of politics

AIPAC and allies poured $15 million into a House ! race. They did it to take him out and to send a message to anyone else who criticizes Israel. Plain and simple.

[DinahMoeHum]

29. You got that right, Fallout

I've heard from a number of fellow residents of NY CD-16 about piss-poor constituency service on issues they had.

Too many questionable stances and unforced errors in too short a tenure are what led to Bowman's ouster tonight.

At least my area will once again have a workhorse instead of a showhorse representing us. in Congress.
Just as he did as a state senator and county executive.
As he says: Results, Not Rhetoric

[Cha]

48. Exactly It's obvious to anyone paying attention.

TY

[Deminpenn]

58. On MSNBC, Kormacki showed how the boundaries of NY16

has shifted south to encompass more of Westchester county and less of Bowman's Brooklyn base. I'd expect Dem voters in Westchester are more on the centrist/conservative/establishment side. This was a similar scenario to what AIPAC tried with Summer Lee. In the latest redistricting, PA-12's bounderies also shifted south picking up more of conservative Westmoreland County and losing part of Allegheny County. But Lee fended off her AIPAC-funded challenger who tried to paint her as some unhinged radical.

Don't know if candidates can cross-file in NYS, but Bowman might have been able to do that. In the PA primary, Allegheny County DA Zappala was in a close Dem primary against a more progressive DA candidate and lost to him, but Zappala concurrently encouraged Rs to write-in his name on their ballots and ended up winning the R primary setting up a general election rematch of the Dem primary which Zappala then won.

[bottomofthehill]

40. China and Iran

[msongs]

4. the AP using terms like centrist and liberal is editorializing, not fact based news. nt

[JohnSJ]

9. It sure is, and demonstrates the disintegration of the media.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

13. Yup!!

[mountain grammy]

17. Agree.

[brooklynite]

19. How would you distinguish the two?

Especially since ideology was a factor in the candidate choice?

[msongs]

21. its not about me, its about what the AP is passing off as opinion. AP could say "self proclaimed leberal"

or "self proclaimed centrist" if the candidates were calling themselves that. It's not the job of the AP to distinguish between the 2 by attaching labels. Otherwise they are just 2 dems in a dems primary.

just like "why it matters" is not LBn it's analysis

[Buttoneer]

16. Sad news, but from what I've read, Bowman

sunk his own boat by trying to raise his profile nationally rather than listening to his constituents. fwiw

[DavidDvorkin]

18. Good news.

[Cheezoholic]

22. The money spent by everyone on this primary is disgusting. It needs to stop n/t

[4lbs]

23. There are approximately 1.4 million Jewish people in NYC, many in the northern suburbs,

especially the 8-county NYC housing the district where Bowman tried to "win"

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rkdbolczr


Yeah, blasting the religion of many of your constituents is probably not a winner.

Bowman might not have been anti-Jewish, but many of the constituents don't see it that way.

To them, anti-Israel = anti-Jewish. Plain and simple.

He would have been better off saying "Eff Netanyahu. Israel needs a better leader."

[HandmaidsTaleUntold]

24. We Win Either Way

I’m just pissed Boebert won. Antics get attention.

[oasis]

35. "Antics get attention" they sure do,

Like setting of fire alarms.

[Bev54]

36. So are we going to have a lot more republican disgusting antics to get elected? Disgusting republican voters.

[HandmaidsTaleUntold]

37. Sadly Yes

Look at MTG. She was an unknown extremist joke. She now is one of the party leaders. A true heavyweight in no time.

[padah513]

25. I thought his performance on stage the other day was the nail in his coffin.

I get hyping up the crowd, but he made himself look foolish.

[Tarc]

27. Congrats to George Latimer, next Rep of NY16

A safe Dem district, we're good.

[angrychair]

28. His website says he is a progressive

News media calls him a centrist. I just hope we don't find out a year into his term he has been having dinners with Republican leadership and switching parties.

Why can't we just have Democrats that's vote like Democrats and support President Biden and VP Harris. That's all I ask. Just worry this guy being a centrist is setting us up later down the road.

[DinahMoeHum]

30. He WILL support Biden and Harris. Bank it.

Hell, back in 2017, he ousted a 2-term MAGA GOP incumbent (Rob Astorino) for county executive.

And the county legislature (17 seats) went from a nominal 9-8 Democrats to a 13-4 Democrats majority.

[angrychair]

31. That's what

Everyone thought of Kyrsten Sinema too in the beginning.
That isn't how it turned out though.

[DinahMoeHum]

32. If he turns into a showhorse instead of. . .

the workhorse I've known for years, he'll be out on his ass the next cycle.

[Scrivener7]

56. You have been misled. He is a known quantity. He's a good County Executive, and

before that he was in the state legislature and did a good job.

I'm not thrilled that he took so much AIPAC money. But so does Schiff. So does Hakeem Jeffries.

Lattimer is a good Democrat and an effective legislator. He has a decades long track record of being a good Democrat. .

[angrychair]

57. Thanks for that

Great information and background.

[JoseBalow]

33. Bowman found out

[Elessar Zappa]

41. This is Bowman's own fault.

He shot himself in the foot with his borderline antisemitic comments.

[Oopsie Daisy]

43. Yes... that and many other things.

[Oopsie Daisy]

42. I'm very happy to hear this good news. (Hillary endorsed Latimer, if I recall.)

[Cha]

51. You recall Correctly. Bowman stated that "wasn't a major

endorsement, though. That turned out to be wrong.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) says he isn’t bothered by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s decision to endorse his Democratic primary challenger, Westchester County Executive George Latimer.

“I definitely wouldn’t call it a ‘major endorsement,’ with all due respect,” Bowman told CNN host Laura Coates in a Thursday night interview..

Bowman went on to list some notable endorsements he has received from colleagues in both chambers.

“I mean, we are endorsed by sitting U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-Mass.], sitting U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders [I-Vt.] and the Minority Leader of the Democratic Party, [Rep.] Hakeem Jeffries [D-N.Y.],” he added.

Ooops!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bowman-hillary-clinton-s-support-for-challenger-not-a-major-endorsement/ar-BB1ofHLs?ocid=BingNewsSerp

[Oopsie Daisy]

52. It wasn't a major endorsement? Wasn't a major endorsement⁉️ 🤪🤣😂

[Cha]

54. Turns out it was More Major than

his "maror" endorsements. lol