Bowman campaigns with AOC and Bernie Sanders days ahead of critical primary – Washington Examiner

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) hosted a campaign event Saturday in the Bronx, New York, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), just three days before his primary election.

Bowman, a member of the progressive “Squad” in the House of Representatives, is facing a tough primary challenge from Westchester County Executive George Latimer. RealClearPolitics polling data from earlier this month showed the incumbent trailing by 17 percentage points.

The war in Gaza has been one of the most critical matters in the primary race between Bowman and Latimer. The congressman was among the first lawmakers to call for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in the wake of the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on the Jewish state. Since then, Latimer’s campaign has received $14 million in contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

“What this campaign is about is telling the billionaire class and their greed and their super PACs that they are not going to destroy American democracy,” Sanders told rally attendees Saturday.

Ocasio-Cortez took that sentiment even further, telling the crowd “They don’t give a damn about us. These Wall Street people don’t give a damn about us. AIPAC doesn’t give a damn about us. AIPAC doesn’t give a damn about the Bronx. They don’t give a damn about Westchester.”

Bowman’s Democratic House colleague also called out the “big-money interests,” saying it was “not lost on us” that they “want to make an example of” a black man.

“It is also not lost on us that the historic amounts of money being spent to defeat him are linked back to billionaires and Republicans who prop up Donald Trump and all of his thugs,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

While Bowman and his allies highlight the money Latimer’s campaign has received from special interest groups, the Westchester County executive portrays the congressman as extreme.

“Jamaal Bowman puts his extreme ideology ahead of us,” Latimer’s website reads. “Bowman sided with MAGA Republicans — one of only six Democrats to vote AGAINST a historic infrastructure bill – just to stick it to our Democratic President. In doing so, Bowman voted against rebuilding roads and critical flood protection and relief, against replacing dangerous lead water pipes, and against good-paying jobs.”

The winner of the Democratic primary in New York’s 16th Congressional District is likely to go on to win the seat, as the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the district “Solid Democrat.”

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“We need record turnout all across the district,” Bowman said alongside Ocasio-Cortez in a video posted to social media. “It’s the many vs. the money. We’re going to win.”

Ocasio-Cortez added, “We’re going to win, we’re going to take on AIPAC, and we’re going to kick some Wall Street a**.”