Progressive Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., suffered a primary defeat Tuesday to a moderate challenger who was backed by pro-Israel groups, NBC News projected, following a bitter and expensive race that exposed the party’s divisions over the war in Gaza.
The race between Bowman and Westchester County Executive George Latimer in New York’s 16th District drew more ad spending — $25 million, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact — than any other House primary in history. Nearly $15 million of that spending came from the United Democracy Project, a super PAC linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobby, which backed Latimer.
With 68% of the vote in, Latimer led Bowman by a wide margin, 55.7% to 44.3%.
Speaking to a roomful of his supporters Tuesday night, Bowman conceded defeat to his “opponents,” most likely a nod to big-spending outside groups, but he vowed that the broader fight for “humanity and justice” would go on.
“This race was never about me and me alone. It was never about this district and this district alone. It was always about all of us,” Bowman said. “Now, our opponents — not opponent — may have won this round, at this time, in this place. But this will be a battle for our humanity and justice for the rest of our lives.”
edit: also AOC won her primary so she is staying
In a closely watched primary, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, has emerged victorious, securing her position as the Democratic candidate for New York’s 14th Congressional District.
The 34-year-old progressive, known as AOC, overcame a challenge from 66-year-old investment banker Marty Dolan, who positioned himself as a moderate alternative.
I’m tired of losing, and I’m tired of hearing cope about how elections don’t matter or how Bowman was uh bad actually.
He’s a liberal that voted for the Iron Dome funding and quietly left the DSA before that. He’s a liberal and not an example of us losing. I would never claim him to be on my side or my organization’s side or a comrade.
Not sure about this bit
Bowman’s not a comrade but soft criticism of Israel lost to full throated support of Israel in an election. I think that demonstrates a loss of some kind.
It demonstrates a loss for running a bourgeois electoral campaign by a triangulating politician. It’s like watching Elizabeth Warren lose because she had a single correct take, softly, despite materially doing the opposite in office. And then going, “damn! We lost!”
I definitely take zero ownership over bourgeois politicians that aren’t backed by any socialist organization. They will always be either marginalized and removed using the backfiring liberal tools they opted to use or coopted fully.
Bourgeois electoralism isn’t a sphere any of us win in. Bowman never represented a victory, even in the most modest sense
There are wins and losses wirhin the sphere of bourgeois electoralism, because within those bounds a lot can change about how oppressed or not oppressed people are, how easy it is to organize an alternative, etc. It’s the difference between:
Start looking for W’s at the local and state levels. Easier to win, and peppering lower level seats with committed socialists could do a lot to undermine the federal government and actually get some shit done.