MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. — With Bernie Sanders running on one side and Hillary Clinton on the other, New York’s Democratic House primary is in many ways a repeat of the 2016 presidential primary, and the familiar finger-pointing continues.
Tuesday’s contest between progressive Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York and centrist challenger George Latimer attracted the largest ad spending in the history of a House primary, but it also exposed the rifts from a bitter fight eight years ago and highlighted deep divisions within the Democratic Party over Israel’s war with Hamas.
Bowman, Congress’ fiercest critic of Israel, is fighting for his political life as he seeks a third term against an onslaught of attack ads. The United Democracy Project alone, a super PAC aligned with the powerful pro-Israel group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has spent nearly $15 million on ads to oust Bowman and replace Latimer, the Westchester County mayor who has been in local politics for more than 30 years.
The spending will take place in a diverse urban-suburban area north of Manhattan that is home to one of the largest Jewish American populations in the country.
As they crisscrossed New York’s 16th Congressional District in the final stages of their campaign, Bowman and Latimer acknowledged that the Gaza war and record spending have made this a national contest.
“Mr. Latimer was invited by AIPAC to take on me because I asked for a permanent ceasefire very early on. AIPAC and its affiliates are putting unprecedented amounts of money into it, and that’s essential,” Bowman told NBC News in an interview in Mount Vernon, a southern Westchester County suburb of New York City.
“Do you want to send educators back to Congress who have spent their lives serving the kids and families and babies in their communities and uplifting the working class,” said Bowman, 48, a former middle school principal in the Bronx. “Or do you want career politicians who are funded by right-wing Republican billionaires and who are literally buying up our democracy? The choice is crystal clear.”
Mr Latimer, 70, has also sought a sharp contrast in both content and tone, describing himself as more “diplomatic” during a campaign event on Monday.
Bowman claimed Tuesday’s election victory was a victory for AIPAC alone. Latimer told reporters at an event with black religious leaders, “I had some internal polling data before a penny was spent on this election, and the initial positive and negative comparisons between me and the incumbent showed that I was ahead from the beginning. So when people say, ‘Oh, we won because we spent this much money,’ that’s not accurate. We were ahead from the beginning.”
“He said, ‘I want to give you a choice, I want to give you something different,'” Latimer told NBC News on Monday, referring to Bowman’s challenge to veteran Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel in 2020. “So I don’t think it would be any different if I ran now.”
Figures of state make their way
Late in the campaign, Bowman fielded several strong progressive candidates in an effort to boost turnout during the normally quiet summer primary season.
At two campaign events on Friday and Saturday, Bowman appeared alongside Sanders, the Vermont independent senator and hero of the left who took on Clinton and the Democratic establishment in 2016. Another progressive star, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents a neighboring New York district, appeared with Bowman and Sanders at an event Saturday in the Bronx.
“My opponent and AIPAC are destroying democracy,” Bowman shouted at Saturday’s rally. His words embodied the vitriol and rancor that has come to define the atmosphere of this election. “We’re going to teach f***ing AIPAC the power of the f***ing South Bronx.” (The South Bronx was once part of the district but was removed in a recent redistricting effort.)
Sanders, who is Jewish, called the race “one of the most important in modern American history” and warned that if Bowman loses on Tuesday, lawmakers may not stand up to big-money special interests in the future.
“What? The 16th District of the Bronx is the most important place in the history of America? Really? Yes, it is, because this election is not about Jamal versus Latimer,” Sanders told a crowd of about 300. “This election is about whether the billionaire class and the oligarchs control the American government. And our view is that they don’t.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who, like Bowman, is a member of the “Squad” of progressive lawmakers of color, told rally attendees she believes Bowman is being targeted because of her pro-Palestinian views and “racism.” Earlier this year, AIPAC tried unsuccessfully to unseat another black Squad member, Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pennsylvania), in a heavily Jewish district.
“We know that the one representative selected by big-money interests out of 435 is a black man who wants to make a statement, the son of a single mother who grew up in public housing and who later founded one of New York City’s most famous public schools, right here in the South Bronx,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “We know that racism is at work.”
Asked about these accusations boiling over in the final days of the election, Latimer tried to explain his controversial comments, ultimately concluding: “They’re going to latch onto any allegation and try to make me out to be something I’m not.”
What did Bowman mean when he said he had “ethnic interests” in a diverse district? “He has a connection to the Bronx because he shares demographics with the majority of the people there,” Latimer explained. “All I did was answer the question with the same kind of practical understanding that serves politics.”
As for Bowman’s recent criticism that his “constituency is in Dearborn, Michigan,” an area with a large Muslim population, Latimer pushed back against Bowman’s accusation that the remark amounted to a racist dog whistle.
“He’s been working with his congressman on fundraising. [Rashida] “That’s Ms. Tribe. She lives in Dearborn,” Latimer said, referring to the congresswoman from Michigan who is also a member of the squad.
Latimer has star power, too: In announcing her support for him this month, Clinton, a Westchester County voter, didn’t mention Israel, but said Latimer would “protect abortion rights, stand up to the NRA, and fight for President Biden’s policies, as I have all along.”
New York Rep. Mondaire Jones, a former Bowman ally who is running for re-election in a neighboring district, is endorsing Latimer because of Bowman’s comments about Israel. On Monday, another key moderate Democrat, Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, endorsed Latimer over his House colleagues.
“We need more common sense leaders and problem solvers in Congress,” Gottheimer, who is Jewish, told X. “I believe George will fight hate in all its forms and stand up for the values we all believe in.”
Asked about the leading candidates lining up behind Latimer, Bowman was an outspoken critic of Clinton.
“With all due respect, I don’t know how strong Hillary Clinton is. People are more interested in Hakeem Jeffries, me and the future of the Democratic Party,” Bowman said, referring to the House Minority Leader, a Democrat from New York. Clinton and her aides have all endorsed Bowman but are not involved in the campaign.
Bowman retracts
Bowman, known for her frequent foul language and confrontational demeanor on Capitol Hill, is not usually one to apologize, but the outspoken critic of Israel recently walked back comments she made earlier this month calling reports of sexual assault during the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack in Israel “propaganda” and a “lie.”
“The UN confirmed the sexual assault incident. Once the UN confirmed it, we immediately condemned it,” Bowman told NBC News. “We can’t trust Benjamin Netanyahu. Benjamin Netanyahu lied to the president, and the president in the White House was forced to retract what Benjamin Netanyahu said. So we can’t trust Benjamin Netanyahu. So I’m not going to take his word that something happened.”
The attack ads also accuse Bowman of opposing Biden’s policies and breaking with the president on certain votes – claims she disputes, noting that she supported Biden last year.
“I have already endorsed and supported President Biden. Again, this is propaganda driven by advertising. I have voted with the president 94% of the time. I wrote multiple amendments to the CHIPS and Science Acts. … I have shared the stage with him on multiple occasions,” Bowman said. “It is a joke and a lie that I do not endorse President Biden. … This is $30 million in brainwashing driven by advertising and mailers.”
