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.
This should be a lesson for the people that want to do triangulating electoralism “from the left”.
It doesn’t work. The liberal electoral apparatus is coming for you even if you give unconditional material support and publicly agree with 99% of their positions. You’ll just lose any chance you had of building a larger project that draws people in via principled agitation.
It’s also an example of how bad of an idea it is to use liberals’ political machinery that’s built on big donor funding. Bowman did not work within a left organization. He’s not a representative of a larger left project with dedicated cadres, recruiters, onboarders, political educators. He’s just a lone guy enjoying support from various groups because they kind of like what he says. That works for liberals because they’re about attracting donors to a candidate that will support the donors’ interests. They’ll keep that support by being a perfectly good little lapdog. Anyone that tries to make waves will see that rug get pulled out from under them fast.
Participation in bourgeois electoralism shouldn’t be written off but the people most interested in it make these naive mistakes. Bourgeois electoralism should be used when it can actually deliver valuable gains (this is hard but doable at a local level) and/or when it’s part of a larger organizing project focused on agitation and growth. Even if the candidate later loses, a competent org can reap benefits from either strategy.
I was a part of the group that wanted him disciplined in my local DSA chapter when the Iron Dome vote (we lost by 3 votes)… I basically used these arguments when told that he was making his position more palatable for his district, and look where that got him.
Unfortunately describes many people that I quite like. We kinda agree that this type of stuff should only be done at the local level for now.