Jamaal Bowman, the outgoing congressman and member of the Progressive Squad, attributed his decisive primary defeat this summer to backlash from pro-Israel voters in his district.
In an interview with NY1 on Saturday, Bowman reflected on the political challenges he faced, particularly after calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
“My district is a super pro-Israel district,” he said. “The minute I called for a ceasefire, that was the last straw with many in the district.”
Bowman suggested that tensions with pro-Israel constituents began when he unseated longtime Congressman Eliot Engel in 2020, a victory that he believes left him politically vulnerable. “There was a target on my back from that community since then,” he said.
Former Congressman Bowman attributed his 17-point primary loss in June to moderate Democrat George Latimer to opposition from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and called the influential lobbying group a “nefarious entity.”
Bowman claimed that AIPAC targeted him due to his critical stance on Israel. He argued that Democratic Party leaders should have intervened to curb the group’s efforts against his re-election bid.
“Would AIPAC have listened? I don’t know. My history with them tells me they would not have listened,” Bowman said, noting, “As a party, you should have never let a right-wing Democrat who’s a bit older challenge Jamaal Bowman in his primary, because that became a public execution for the country to see. Democrats, you’re going to allow this black man to be attacked in this way, without any pushback, without any recourse?”
Speaking to a rally of some 50 pro-Hamas demonstrators in Westchester County last November, Bowman condemned what he called the “propaganda used in the beginning of the siege,” claiming that “There’s still no evidence of beheaded babies or raped women. But they still keep using that lie for propaganda.”
The Democratic primary in New York’s 16th Congressional District between incumbent Congressman Jamaal Bowman and Westchester County Executive George Latimer marked a significant victory for the party’s moderate wing. Latimer’s decisive win was one of the first major setbacks for the progressive left in a high-profile primary contest.
The race, which became the most expensive congressional primary in US history, evolved into a symbolic fight over the future direction of the Democratic Party. Latimer and his allies, including AIPAC, reportedly spent more than $20 million on the race, framing it as a referendum on Bowman’s and the Squad’s hostility toward Israel. The outcome was seen as both a rebuke of Bowman’s foreign policy stance and a broader assertion of moderate influence within the Democratic Party.
So, yes, absolutely, it was the Jews who defeated Bowman, and we’ll do it again, God willing.
Jamaal Bowman blasts AIPAC, slams US support for Israel, and uses foul language. Please don’t watch unless you are willing to listen to trash:
