Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s crushing defeat sounds alarms for Democrats’ anti-Israel wing

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s defeat in a Democratic primary ousted the first “Squad” member from Congress and shook up the far-left’s place within the party.

The two-term incumbent lost to Westchester County Executive George Latimer by a 17-point margin. His defeat showcased voters recoiling from the far left as it embraced anti-Israel rhetoric in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack.

“I supported Congressman Bowman multiple times, but I felt that rhetoric was overtaking results,” said Dan Adler, a Democratic leader from the town of Rye in the district.

Mr. Latimer, a longtime former state legislator, is now seen as the prohibitive favorite to win the general election in New York’s reliably blue 16th Congressional District, composed of the lower Westchester suburbs and parts of the north Bronx.

His insurgent campaign against Mr. Bowman was partly fueled by massive spending by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel PAC. It spent $15 million, more than any outside organization, for a House race and helped make it the most expensive primary contest in the U.S. this year.

The outcome was a cautionary tale for Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, a fellow member of the Squad who will face an AIPAC-funded opponent in an August primary.

Mr. Bowman’s loss puts a dent in the far left’s anti-Israel stance ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s July 24 address to Congress, which some Democrats plan to boycott.

More immediately, it sends a hot warning to President Biden, who has struggled to balance the party’s traditional support for Israel and the left wing’s pro-Palestinian stance.

The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is bound to come up, perhaps a reference to Mr. Bowman’s massive loss, when Mr. Biden faces former President Donald Trump on the debate stage Thursday in Atlanta.

The party’s split over Israel took center stage in the 16th District when Mr. Bowman emerged as an outspoken critic of the war in Gaza, declaring it “genocide” and routinely demanding Israel unilaterally agree to a cease-fire.

Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said that Mr. Bowman’s ouster from Congress won’t cow the Democratic Party’s pro-Palestinian faction but rather supercharge their efforts.

“Bowman’s defeat is the clarion call for the anti-Israel, anti-America radical left to increase its organizational ability to get more funding, and to ask its funders for more money to compete,” he said.

In his concession speech Tuesday night, Mr. Bowman vowed his defeat would not stop the political movement.

“It was never just about this race in this moment,” he said. “This movement has always been about justice. It has always been about humanity. It has always been about equality, and it was always, has always been about our collective liberation.”

Mr. Bowman’s political troubles started before he became a leading critic of Israel, Mr. Netanyahu and AIPAC.

Known for his loud theatrics off the House floor, Mr. Bowman pulled a fire alarm in a U.S. Capitol office building in September — a false alarm that delayed a critical spending vote that House Democrats wanted to delay.

He previously endorsed 9/11 conspiracy theories and recently said reports of Hamas terrorists raping Israelis on Oct. 7 were “propaganda,” though he walked back all of those claims.

Voters also told The Washington Times that Mr. Bowman was more concerned about trumpeting national progressive issues such as the war in Gaza to get on TV coverage instead of addressing constituents’ issues.

Mr. Bowman, a former middle school principal, first sprang onto the political scene in 2020 in an upset primary win against a veteran lawmaker he accused of being out of touch with the district.

He was seen as a rising star, joining other new progressive voices in Congress. He won in a year when New York Democrats came out in force following the summer’s Black Lives Matter riots.

In this election cycle, Mr. Bowman’s fortunes began to spiral downward as he was seen as sympathetic toward antisemites and increasingly out of favor with mainstream voters.

“I do not like Mr. Bowman. I don’t like what he represents. He doesn’t represent me in my thinking,” said Democratic voter Susan Horn, 68, a retired banker in the district. “I think he’s much too radical for America, and I am much more middle of the road.”

He attempted a last-minute effort to save his campaign by asking fellow Squad member and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and far-left icon Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont to help him on the stump.

The plan, though, took him to a South Bronx rally miles outside of his district where he engaged in a profanity-laced tirade against AIPAC.