Head for the (hearth) exit!
Westchester County Government George Latimer despatched Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) packing from Congress Tuesday evening, simply successful the sixteenth District’s Democratic major over the far-left “Squad” member.
Latimer, 70, can be closely favored to defeat Republican Madeline Brame within the Nov. 5 election to symbolize the deep-blue Bronx and Westchester constituency.
Bowman’s four-year Home tenure will come to an finish following probably the most costly congressional major ever when it comes to advert spending – a race which pitted pro-Bowman teams like Justice Democrats and the Working Households Occasion towards an alliance of moderates turned off by the incumbent’s stances, primarily on Israel.
Latimer’s coalition of well-funded backers included the United Democracy Venture, a brilliant PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that spent a staggering $14 million within the race, and a cryptocurrency group referred to as Truthful Shake that bankrolled one other $2 million value of spots.
The race rapidly developed right into a referendum on the Israel-Hamas struggle and Bowman’s public feedback concerning the Jewish state and followers of that faith.
Final week, in an interview with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer, Bowman accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza.
In that very same interview, Bowman belatedly apologized for denying the horrific rapes of Israeli ladies through the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas that killed an estimated 1,200 individuals — together with 33 Individuals.
Over the weekend, Politico quoted Bowman as saying that Jews had “segregated” themselves from the remainder of Westchester, and had “decided to do this for their very own causes,” drawing the ire of South Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY)
“There’s a phrase for this scapegoating: antisemitism,” Torres posted to X Sunday.
Latimer benefitted not solely from monetary help from AIPAC, which pounded Bowman with hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in assault advertisements, however by a rare grassroots organizing effort from rabbis and the Jewish neighborhood within the district repulsed by the congressman’s disdain for Israel within the face of rising antisemitism.
“George Latimer’s victory and Jamaal Bowman’s defeat proves in dramatic vogue that being pro-Israel is not only smart coverage, but additionally sensible politics,” Mark Mellman, President of Democratic Majority for Israel, a pro-Israel group, wrote in an announcement.
The Educate New York Coalition/Westchester United — a bunch affiliated with the Orthodox Jewish Union — helped mobilize congregants at three dozen synagogues in Westchester to vote within the major. The Jewish turnout initiative was “nonpartisan” however clearly the sentiment was pro-Latimer, anti-Bowman.
“The turnout we’ve generated can be a mannequin for Jewish communities throughout the nation,” mentioned Educate New York founder and CEO Maury Litwack.
Rabbi Evan Hoffman, previous president of the Westchester Board of Rabbis and head of the Anshe Sholom synagogue in New Rochelle, was one other key determine within the voter mobilization effort.
He voted for Latimer and mentioned “100%” of his congregants did as properly.
“Bowman is against Israel and, extra subtly, to the Jews in his personal district,” the rabbi mentioned.
Bowman, a former highschool principal, embarrassed the sixteenth District in different methods following his election in 2020, after which he aligned himself with the far-left bloc that included Bronx and Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)
On Dec. 7, Bowman turned the twenty seventh Home member to be censured by his colleagues — and solely the fifth to this point this century — after pulling a fireplace alarm in a Capitol Hill workplace constructing Sept. 30 so as to delay a vote to avert a authorities shutdown.
He pleaded responsible on Oct. 26 to a misdemeanor depend of elevating a false hearth alarm and agreed to pay a $1,000 fantastic and write an apology letter to the chief of the US Capitol Police.
On the time, Bowman mentioned he “thought the alarm would open the door” and pulled it by “accident,” including that he “was simply making an attempt to get to my vote and the door that’s often open wasn’t open, it was closed.”
Nevertheless, safety digital camera footage confirmed Bowman flattening two emergency exit indicators from the doorways earlier than pulling the alarm — after which operating away.
A Capitol Police investigator who appeared into the incident mentioned different safety footage confirmed Bowman “jogging” down a staircase after tripping the alarm and “strolling at a traditional tempo” when exiting onto New Jersey Avenue.
Bowman later handed seven Capitol Law enforcement officials with out telling them about his “accident,” which pressured an evacuation of the constructing that lasted for an hour and a half, the investigator mentioned.
This previous January, Bowman was criticized after The Each day Beast revealed that he saved a private weblog that espoused conspiracy theories associated to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror assaults.
In Might, the identical outlet reported that Bowman maintained a private YouTube web page that subscribed to channels selling conspiracy theories about UFOs and flat Earth concept — in addition to Chinese language and Russian propaganda.
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