George Latimer on Tuesday emerged victorious in a Democratic primary in suburban New York, defeating incumbent Congressman Jamaal Bowman, highlighting a growing shift in the Democratic party away from the war in Gaza and the progressives’ anti-Israel stance.
On Tuesday night, with 82% of the votes counted, Bowman’s challenger was winning 60% to 40%.
The outcome marks the removal of one of Congress’s most progressive voices and vocal critics of Israel. Bowman had drawn attention for his accusing Israel of committing genocide. He repeatedly accused his white opponent of racism and denounced pro-Israel groups as a “Zionist regime” who are trying to buy the election.
A political action committee linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) invested heavily in the campaign against Bowman. The super PAC poured $15 million into efforts to unseat him, setting a new record for outside spending in a House race.
Latimer, known for his centrist views and support for Israel, entered the race with encouragement from Jewish leaders and received the endorsement of former NY Senator Hillary Clinton.
Latimer told supporters in White Plains Tuesday night, “We have to look at the arguments of the far right and the far left and say, ‘you cannot destroy this country with your rhetoric and your arguments.’”
In Bowman’s concession speech, he said AIPAC had spent huge amounts of money to “brainwash people into believing something that isn’t true,” insisting that “when we say ‘Free Palestine’ it is not antisemitic.”
In his familiar muddled manner, Bowman said, “I would like to make a public apology for sometimes using foul language, but we should not be well adjusted to a sick society.”
Earlier this week I suggested that Bowman’s deterioration resulted from J Street’s influence. The Congressman who began his stint in the House voting in favor of a bill providing Israel with an additional $1 billion in aid to fund its Iron Dome missile defense system, was taken on a trip to Israel by J Street, and not AIPAC. The trip landed him in Hebron, where his J Street guides gave him the extreme left’s version of Jewish life in the oldest Jewish city. That began his political slide toward Israel’s enemies in Congress, and, inevitably, cost him his career (J Street Flipped Jamaal Bowman Against Israel, Ruined his Career).
Bowman’s neighbor in the Bronx Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday night avoided commenting on her fellow Squad member’s loss, celebrating instead her own huge victory, 82-18, over Martin Dolan. She tweeted: “Wall Street came for us again, and the people prevailed. Thank you to the Bronx and Queens for choosing me to be your Congresswoman. It is the honor of my life to fight for working families and everyday people. To receive this level of support is deeply moving. Pa’lante.”
That’s “Forward” in Spanish, reminiscent of the 1930s Italian Fascist Party’s “Avante,” and Ariel Sharon’s Jewish expulsion party, “Kadima.”
Finally, in October 2023, Bowman entered a guilty plea for a misdemeanor charge stemming from an incident at the Cannon House Office Building. As part of an agreement with prosecutors, he accepted a $1,000 fine and a three-month probation period.
The incident caused significant disruption, triggering a complete evacuation of the building while the House was in session and staff were at work. Capitol police conducted a thorough assessment and, after an hour, declared the building safe to reenter, confirming no actual threat existed.
And so, in a farewell tweet, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga) showed him “one last time what a Fire Alarm looks like.” It’s a needlessly prolonged joke, and the text includes some vulgarity, so I opted to embed only the video, where the entire joke is in the first 15 seconds.
BREAKING ??
Before Jamaal Bowman leaves, I wanted to show him one last time what a Fire Alarm looks like
GOOD FVCKING BYE L0SER ? pic.twitter.com/MVcfP8J2Hn
— Marjorie Taylor Greene Press Release (Parody) (@MTGrepp) June 26, 2024
