Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) speaks during a Get Out the Vote campaign event at Hartley Park on June 24, 2024 in Mount Vernon, New York.
Michael M Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Progressive Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., lost his primary Tuesday to a moderate challenger backed by pro-Israel groups, NBC News predicted, after a bitter and expensive race that exposed the party's divisions.
The race in New York's 16th District between Bowman and Westchester County Executive George Latimer generated more ad spending ($25 million, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact) than any House primary in history. Nearly $15 million of that spending came from the United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the powerful pro-Israel lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which supported Latimer.
Bowman, 48, one of Israel's fiercest critics in Congress, is the first incumbent Democratic lawmaker to lose a primary this election cycle and the first member of the so-called “squad” of progressive lawmakers of color to be impeached. out of power since the group formed after the 2018 election. Other team members, including Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Summer Lee, D-Pa., have been targeted, but have survived the main challenges.
Bowman, a former Bronx high school principal, stormed Washington after ousting 16-term Rep. Eliot Engel, then chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and one of the most powerful Jewish lawmakers in Congress, in 2020.
Latimer, 70, has been involved in local and state politics for more than 35 years. He first won New York election to the Rye City Council in 1987, and would go on to win seats on the Westchester County Board of Legislators and the New York State Assembly and Senate.
As the Democratic candidate, Latimer will almost certainly be the next member of Congress from New York's 16th District, a diverse area north of Manhattan that includes parts of the Bronx and southern Westchester County. Joe biden won donald trump's deep blue district in 2020 by nearly 45 percentage points, according to the Daily elections on Kos.
Several prominent figures waded into the final stretch of the race. Progressive heroes including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. — another member of the squad — campaigned for Bowman, while Hillary Clinton, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and former Rep. Mondaire Jones, DY, supported Latimer.
Tuesday's primaries will also feature a slew of competitive contests Districts in New Yorkwhich are top goals for Democrats as they look to gain five seats this fall to take control of the House of Representatives.
