Jamal, head to the emergency exit!
Westchester County Mayor George Latimer on Tuesday night defeated far-left “Squad” member Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) in the Democratic primary for the 16th District, expelling him from Congress.
Latimer, 70, is expected to defeat Republican Madeline Brame in the Nov. 5 general election and represent the heavily Democratic Bronx and Westchester district.
“Tonight we turn a new page and declare that we believe in inclusion of all people,” Gov. Latimer told cheering supporters in White Plains.
“It doesn’t matter your age, your religion, your sexual identity, whether you’re right-handed or left-handed, whether you’re a Mets fan or a Yankees fan. The inclusivity of Westchester County is how we govern our residents,” he added. “You cannot destroy this country with your rhetoric and arguments. We must come together.”
Bowman’s four-year term in the House comes to an end after the most expensive congressional primary in history in terms of advertising spending, pitting pro-Bowman groups such as Justice Democrats and the Working Families Party against a coalition of moderates disgusted by the incumbent’s stance, primarily on Israel.
The first Bronx vote results came in Tuesday night, putting the incumbent in an early lead, with Bowman winning 83% of the vote there.
But that changed when Latimer was reported as having won a landslide victory in the Westchester precinct, with Latimer leading Bowman 55.7% to 44.3% as of 10:50 p.m., with 71% of the estimated votes counted.
Latimer’s deep-pocketed coalition of backers includes the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) super PAC United Democracy Project, which has poured a massive $14 million into the race, and cryptocurrency group Fair Shake, which has donated another $2 million to his race.
The campaign quickly evolved into a referendum on the war between Israel and Hamas and Bowman’s public comments about the Jewish state and its religious followers.
In an interview with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer last week, Bowman said Blaming Israel They committed “genocide” in Gaza.
In the same interview, Bowman belatedly apologized for denying the horrific rape of Israeli women during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that left an estimated 1,200 people dead, including 33 Americans.
Over the weekend, Politico quoted Bowman as saying that Jews were “segregated.” The Rest of Westchesterand “decided to do that for their own reasons,” drawing the ire of Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), of the South Bronx.
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest updates on Tuesday’s primary election.
“There’s a word for this scapegoating: anti-Semitism.” Torres posted on X Sunday.
But the nadir of Bowman’s campaign may have come on the Saturday before the primary, when he held an impassioned rally with fellow “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and vowed to “show f***ing AIPAC the power of f***ing South Bronx.”
Bowman reiterated his position in a concession speech Tuesday night in Yonkers, telling supporters, “We will continue to fight for Palestinian freedom, and I hope that God helps us live in a better world where saying ‘Palestinian freedom’ is not anti-Semitic.”
The congressman also made it a point to shout out “Muslim communities from Yonkers to San Francisco to Dearborn, Michigan to St. Louis to Chicago to Long Island to New Jersey.” [who] Throughout this race, they have surrounded me with their protection, love and gratitude, and helped us raise more money than we’ve ever raised before.”
“I will publicly apologize for the foul language I used at times, but we should not conform to a sick society. We should be outraged,” Bowman said of his actions over the weekend.
Bowman’s supporters were unhappy with the results of the bribed primary.
“You know, the rich and the powerful are putting a lot of money into this, so it’s not surprising they’re winning,” said Nelson Marr, a Bowman supporter. “It’s a shame.”
“It’s so unfair how much money has affected this,” added Susan Bonadonna, another supporter.
Latimer benefited not only from funding from AIPAC, which has spent millions of dollars on attack ads against Bowman, but also from extraordinary grassroots organizing by the district’s rabbis and Jewish community, who pushed back against Bowman’s open disdain for Israel in the face of rising anti-Semitism.
“George Latimer’s victory and Jamaal Bowman’s defeat are dramatic proof that being pro-Israel is not only smart policy, but also smart politics,” Israel Democratic Majority Leader Mark Melman said in a statement.
Teach New York Coalition/Westchester United (an organization affiliated with the Union of Orthodox Judaism) mobilized members of more than 30 synagogues in Westchester to help vote in the primary, and although the effort was officially “nonpartisan,” the sentiment was clearly for Latimer and against Bowman.
“The turnout we’ve seen will set an example for Jewish communities across the country,” said Maury Litwak, founder and CEO of Teach New York.
Rabbi Evan Hoffman, former president of the Westchester Rabbi’s Association and president of Anshe Sholom Synagogue in New Rochelle, was another key figure in the voter mobilization effort.
He voted for Latimer and said “100 percent” of his church members did too.
“Bowman is against Israel and, more subtly, against the Jews in his own district,” the rabbi said.
Read more about New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s many controversies here.
Bowman, a former high school principal, embarrassed the 16th District in other ways after the 2020 election, then joined a far-left faction that included Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
Rep. Bowman became the 27th person, and the fifth this century, to be reprimanded by his colleagues on December 7 for setting off a fire alarm in an office building on Capitol Hill to delay a vote on September 30 to avert a government shutdown.
He pleaded guilty on Oct. 26 to a misdemeanor charge of setting off a false fire alarm, paid a $1,000 fine and agreed to write a letter of apology to the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police.
Bowman said at the time that she “accidentally” pulled the door open because “I thought the alarm would go off and the door would open,” adding, “I was just trying to go vote and the door that’s normally open wasn’t open, it was closed.”
However, security camera footage showed Bowman pulling down two emergency exit signs from the door and sounding the alarm before fleeing.
A Capitol Police investigator who looked into the incident said other security camera footage showed Bowman “jogging” down the stairs after the alarm sounded and “walking at a normal speed” as she emerged onto New Jersey Avenue.
Investigators said Bowman then walked past seven Capitol Police officers without telling them about his “accident,” which led to an evacuation of the building for an hour and a half.
Bowman came under fire in January after The Daily Beast revealed he ran a personal blog that promoted conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The outlet reported in May that Bowman runs a personal YouTube page which subscribes to channels promoting outlandish ideas about UFOs, flat Earth beliefs and even Chinese and Russian propaganda.
