Anti-Israel member of “The Squad” loses election

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack set off the war in Gaza, a handful of congressional voices have questioned U.S. support for Israel. One of them, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., lost his primary to a Democratic challenger Tuesday night.

Bowman belongs to a far-left group of lawmakers known as the “The Squad” and is one of the most liberal members of the House of Representatives. When a congressional resolution affirming U.S. support for Israel came to the floor shortly after the attack, Bowman was one of the 10 members who voted against it. In the months since, he has consistently voted against aid for Israel and questioned continued U.S. involvement in a conflict that has resulted in about 34,000 casualties, according to the Hamas-controlled Gazan Health Ministry. (The reporting does not distinguish between civilian and military fatalities.)

“We are going to keep calling for a permanent cease-fire,” Bowman said at a campaign rally on Saturday. “We will not keep silent while U.S. tax dollars kill babies, women, and children. My opponent supports genocide!”

George Latimer won the Democratic primary Tuesday in New York’s 16th Congressional District, receiving 58 percent of the votes to Bowman’s slightly more than 41 percent.

Jonathan Meola is a history teacher based in Florida and a former resident of Israel. Back in November, Meola told WORLD he had concerns about congressional delays of aid for Israel—a sense of hesitance from Capitol Hill he hadn’t expected to see. Since then, he has expected some political fallout.

“I think it was bound to happen somewhere, and New York 16 is probably as good a place as any,” Meola said. “It just floors me, it just really, really floors me. Thirty years ago, the Democratic party would have written [Bowman] out.”

Bowman’s challenger, Latimer, didn’t mention Israel on his campaign website. But on the campaign trail, Latimer framed his opponent as openly hostile to Israel.

“When I watch how antagonistic he has been towards the Jewish community, I can’t grasp how that could be part of a public policy mindset,” Latimer said at a campaign event on Sunday. “We disagree on issues from time to time, but we don’t let it reach the point of such intense disrespect.”

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., represents one half of Westchester County, N.Y., while Bowman represents the other half.

“[It] obviously had a large Jewish community within the district that certainly cared deeply and passionately about Jamaal Bowman’s position on Israel and his lack of the support for the Jewish community in the aftermath of Oct. 7,” Lawler said

The race has attracted groups from outside the district such as the United Democracy Project, which describes itself as an “organization comprised of American citizens—Democrats, Republicans, and Independents—united in the belief that America’s partnership with our democratic ally Israel benefits both countries.” It donated more than $3.69 million against Bowman, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

In ad campaigns, the figures went much higher.

“Because Jamaal Bowman dared to speak up for Palestinians, thus far the AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] and special interests have spent $20 million to defeat our brother Jamaal,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, a fellow New York Democrat and part of The Squad, said last week at a rally. “That’s the most amount of money and dark money poured into a primary election in American history.”

Bowman framed his campaign as a resistance to the influence of big donors like AIPAC and the United Democracy Project.

In terms of donations made directly to the candidates, Bowman raised $4.3 million, according to filings. Latimer reported $5.7 million.

Rep. Thomas Suozzi, D-N.Y., who recently won a special election to fill the seat of expelled Rep. George Santos, doesn’t believe the race was entirely about big money donors—or about Israel, for that matter.

“Moderates have always been there, and they just haven’t shown up in elections. It’s not just Israel. It’s just this whole idea of not going so far left. A big part of the campaign was ‘the money versus the many,’” Suozzi said, referencing one of Bowman’s campaign slogans. “It was never the many. There aren’t a lot of people showing up in these primaries. Moderates have to start showing up.”

This year, just over 75,900 voters participated in New York’s 16th Congressional District’s Democratic primary—almost twice as many as the 39,900 who voted in 2022.

Robert Buckley, who lived in Bowman’s district for the better part of 20 years and worked as a union president in New York, believes part of that turnout also has to do with Latimer’s strength as a candidate.

“He’s the type of guy who’ll show up at the local diner. He’ll show up at the senior citizen club. He prides himself on being a man of the people, and he hasn’t changed one bit,” Buckley said. “I have his cell phone number from when he was a legislator 18 years ago. He hasn’t changed it. If I texted him right now, he’ll give me a response. He’s that type of guy.”

Latimer has served on the Rye City Council, the Westchester County Board of Legislators, and the New York State Legislature. Prior to the election, he was the Westchester county executive.

When asked how Israel played into the election, Buckley said Jewish friends have told him that they took Bowman’s messaging to heart—and to the polls.

“I mean, look, Bowman tried to backpedal a little bit, but he already put his foot in his mouth too much,” Buckley said. “You go into an Italian, Irish neighborhood, it’s not that big of an issue. But it’s a big issue in the Jewish community, for sure. ”

Despite a crowded field of legislative priorities that extends from abortion to the U.S. southern border, history teacher Meola believes support for Israel will continue to have a political significance—especially for members who have made opposition to Israel a central component of their platform in 2024.

“I see it as a driving issue,” Meola said. “The Squad has really put this stake in the ground, and they’ve pinned themselves to this issue. They’re going to have to deal with that in their elections coming up in November.”

When asked what President Joe Biden and other Democrats should take away from Bowman’s loss, Rep. Lawler, the New York Republican, doubled down on support for Israel.

“Those who have a strong pro-Israel stance win. And those who don’t lose,” he said. “And I think that’s pretty clear. I think [the president] should recognize that Israel is our ally and Hamas is not.”