Bowman vs. Latimer | Bitter NY Democratic Race Marked by AIPAC Millions, 'Segregated Jews' and Political Vitriol
WASHINGTON – Tuesday's New York Democratic primary between Rep. Jamaal Bowman and George Latimer marks the culmination of the most expensive House primary in American history, the majority of which consisted of spending from the AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC.
The race could also close the book on a four-year battle between the progressive Democrat and the pro-Israel establishment, with Latimer favored to unseat Bowman by nearly all polls and local experts on the ground.
The Bowman-Latimer primary has earned scrutiny for the same reasons all of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's previous races have since its organizational shift toward electoral politics in 2022: the disproportionate spending, largely buoyed by Republican megadonors; the lack of transparency for the ads in question; and the precedent it sets for billionaires' involvement in swaying elections.
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- AIPAC, AOC and the American left's antisemitism problem
The scale of the pro-Israel organization's involvement, totaling $14.6 million – $9.8 million of which was dedicated to anti-Bowman attack ads – far exceeds any previous race. This has led to unprecedented national attention on AIPAC and its methods at securing support in Washington.
It has also been met with vitriol that has been inescapable for anyone monitoring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since October 7, with supporters for both candidates pushing bad-faith attacks about the other and misinformation about AIPAC that many argue embraces antisemitic tropes.
Democratic candidate George Latimer speaking during a press conference in Mount Vernon, New York, on Monday.Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images via AFP
In the closing days of the campaign, Bowman zeroed in on AIPAC and its involvement in the race, turning his increasingly long-shot bid at staying in power into a referendum on the organization itself, and long-standing U.S. support for Israel in general.
"They have already lost because the district, the world and the American people are with us," Bowman said at his last major rally, in the South Bronx on Saturday, leading the crowd in chants of "cease-fire now."
"I will not stand silent while U.S. tax dollars kill babies and women and children," he said. "We're gonna show fucking AIPAC the motherfucking power of the South Bronx," he added, accusing Latimer of seeking to "destroy" American democracy by partnering with AIPAC.
As has happened increasingly frequently in recent months, Rep. Ritchie Torres soon responded to his fellow New York Democrat's comments. "The level of profanity here is so shocking as to be unbecoming of a member of Congress. There is nothing in Jamaal Bowman's unhinged tirade that remotely resembles the decency of the people I know and represent in the South Bronx," tweeted Torres, who is one of AIPAC's favorite Democratic lawmakers.
Many of Bowman's progressive allies, however, have joined him in accusing AIPAC of compromising American democracy.
"They are literally trying to purchase that election because he dared to stand for peace and justice," Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez told Democracy Now last week.
Meanwhile, Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of the progressive Indivisible nonprofit, tweeted Monday: "This is literally the most expensive primary in Democratic history. And it's that expensive for one reason: AIPAC and its affiliates have pumped $15 million in. Calling people who point this out antisemitic is cynical, offensive, and makes all of us less safe."
Bowman also drew criticism for comments he made on the demographic breakdown of his district, seemingly attacking Jews who choose to live in largely Jewish neighborhoods. "In New York City we all live together," he told Rolling Stone at the weekend, but "Westchester is segregated. There's certain places where the Jews live and concentrate. Scarsdale, parts of White Plains, parts of New Rochelle, Riverdale. I'm sure they made a decision to do that for their own reasons.
"This is why, in terms of fighting antisemitism, I always push – we've been separated and segregated and miseducated for so long. We need to live together, play together, go to school together, learn together, work together," he continued.
Torres again responded, tweeting that "there's a word for this scapegoating: antisemitism."
Rep. Jamaal Bowman greeting campaign volunteers as he arrives for a Get Out the Vote campaign event in Mount Vernon, New York, on Monday.Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images via AFP
'Freaking dangerous as hell'
The controversies didn't end there. Bowman earned further criticism for comments he made last week about a 2021 trip to Israel organized by J Street – the liberal pro-Israel organization that revoked its endorsement of him in January after a series of comments and actions by Bowman in the aftermath of October 7.
"When you [as Israel] say you represent all Jews, and then you behave badly, it opens the doors for people to make the connection between what Israel is doing and Jewish people, which I think is freaking dangerous as hell," he told Politico.
Rep. Daniel Goldman, another of Bowman's colleagues from New York, responded: "Israel never 'said it represents all Jews.' Israel is a pluralistic, diverse democracy that was created as a safe haven for Jews of all kinds after the Holocaust, when no other country (including the U.S.) would accept us. This statement is quintessential antisemitism."
Bowman's leftward shift during the campaign has been accompanied by a dueling rightward shift from Latimer – both with policies like opposing tax increases of any kind, as well as comments that have been roundly criticized as insensitive at best and race-baiting at worst.
Latimer, who despite AIPAC's record endorsement did not articulate a specific Israel policy until the final days and weeks of the campaign, in recent days has mirrored AIPAC's views on the Mideast conflict.
"Now you have a very conservative Israel government – how shocked am I at that? The progressive Israeli governments never got enough cooperation to move forward," he told HuffPost on Sunday.
A pro-George Latimer poster in New York with the words "Progressive results. Not rhetoric."Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images via AFP
He has also punted on engaging with questions regarding U.S. President Joe Biden's more hot-button policies, such as the lingering cease-fire proposal and one halted shipment of heavy payload bombs to Israel in May.
"It is foolish for every single elected official to constantly have comments about everything. I'm going to trust at this point that Joe Biden and [Secretary of State] Antony Blinken are working to try to get whatever the next best short-term and mid-term solutions for this are," he told the Forward.
Bowman's long-standing contentious relations with the pro-Israel community date back to his successful 2020 primary defeat of pro-Israel stalwart Eliot Engel. This also happened to be the dawn of the pro-Israel establishment's strategic shift toward massive spending in primaries to offset the ascendant progressive wing that is critical of Israel.
AIPAC, for its part, did not take its foot off the peddle in the lead-up to Tuesday's race. "There's worrying news from New York. Anti-Israel Rep. Jamaal Bowman raked in more than $1 MILLION in cash in May, TRIPLE what he raised in April. Jamaal Bowman's outrageous anti-Israel hate is translating into cash donations from anti-Israel extremists across the country. The more hate he spews, the more money he hauls in," it wrote in a fundraising blast sent Monday night.
With political pundits predicting a likely Latimer victory, Bowman supporters are already preemptively accusing AIPAC of "stealing the election." However, this ignores Bowman's own actions, including controversies like pulling a House fire alarm (and earning a Republican-led censure) and a sharp shift toward rhetoric that alienated previous allies – both within the district and nationally.
"The tragedy of Bowman's alienation from liberal Jewish opinion," wrote New York Magazine columnist Jonathan Chait on Monday, "is that he squandered what was once a viable opportunity to recast the community's political orientation."