George Latimer, the County Executive of Westchester County, New York since 2018, is considering a run for NY’s 16th Congressional District seat in the Democratic primaries, challenging the incumbent Rep. Jamaal Bowman. On Tuesday, Democratic challenger Michael Gerald announced that he is suspending his campaign to give the potentially “outstanding candidate” Latimer time to decide on a run.
Bowman, who has been voting with the anti-Israel “squad” that includes Reps. Rahida Tlaib (MI), Ilhan Omar (MN), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY). On Friday, Bowman irked many Jews in his district when he spoke at a ceasefire rally and equated Israel with the terrorist organization Hamas.
Speaking against a background of waving PLO flags, Bowman took the megaphone to condemn Hamas’ murder of 1,400 Israelis, and then went on to condemn Israel for what he called the “erasure of Palestinian lives.”
“I am ashamed, quite ashamed to be a member of Congress at times when Congress doesn’t value every single life,” Bowman megaphoned to an excited crowd of staunch Israel haters.
The NY Times reported on Tuesday that local Jewish leaders have denounced Bowman’s “blaming both sides for the gravest attack against their people since the Holocaust.”
Bowman won his seat back in 2020 when he defeated the Jewish and pro-Israel chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot L. Engel in a primary in a Democratic district of one of the best-organized Jewish communities in the US.
Michael Gerald, a pastor at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Tuckahoe, New York, and a deputy commissioner at the Westchester County Department of Correction, in August, announced he would run against Bowman, calling himself a “fierce supporter” of Israel, and Bowman “viscerally anti-Israel.” It was common knowledge that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was supporting Gerald’s campaign, but few expected him to win. Latimer is an entirely different story.
A former member of both the NY Assembly and Senate from 2005 to 2017, Latimer challenged incumbent Republican Rob Astorino for Westchester County Executive, defeating him by 14 points in a 3-way race. He was reelected easily in 2021.
NEW: Jamaal Bowman keeps throwing himself into the fight fracturing his party over Israel.
It could have serious repercussions: Westchester’s George Latimer taking steps toward a primary, AIPAC ready w/$, even “Jews for Jamaal” grp gave private warninghttps://t.co/gxKJMvkkN0
— Nicholas Fandos (@npfandos) October 31, 2023
A group calling itself Jews for Jamaal recently warned Latimer to stay out of the Congressional race in his county. They sent him a letter claiming Bowman “is not ‘anti-Israel,’ and to refer to him that way is to deliberately distort his record, which includes many votes in favor of military and economic aid to Israel.”
Bowman has been attacked by the left for joining a J Street-sponsored visit to Israel in late 2021 and ended up quitting the Democratic Socialists of America as a result. And unlike the hardcore squad Reps. Tlaib and Omar, Bowman voted in favor of supporting Israel’s Iron Dome system.
Despite their heavy presence in Westchester County, Jews are far from being in the majority in Bowman’s 16th District, which is about 50% Black and Hispanic, and only 10% Jewish. But his Congressional record is murky not only on Israel – he was one of 9 Democrats who voted against the bipartisan House resolution declaring the US was standing with Israel. Local business leaders of every racial group can’t stomach Bowman’s berating of capitalism, and the fact that he voted against President Biden’s November 15, 2021, bipartisan infrastructure bill that invested $17 billion in port and waterways infrastructure, and $25 billion in repair and maintenance of US airports.
Jamaal Bowman charged for pulling Capitol fire alarm – one misdemeanor charge. He needs to be censured and removed. He’s also a Jew hater. pic.twitter.com/Cl6r4zxBfo
— Wendie (@WTFinATLGA) October 25, 2023
And then there was this bizarre story: on October 25, Bowman pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to setting off a false fire alarm in a House office building in September, delaying a crucial vote to avoid the government’s shutdown. Bowman was booked, fingerprinted, photographed, and processed by the Capitol Police, and then paid the maximum fine of $1,000.
Just ask yourselves, would Eliot Engel ever do something this stupid? Would George Latimer? Then you don’t have to be Jewish to vote to oust this strange man from Congress.
