Jamaal Bowman states his family is concerned about him facing bullying in the primary election

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) stated Wednesday that his family has been active in campaigning for him ahead of his primary election, in which he faces an uphill battle for reelection.

The New York congressman detailed his family’s involvement in his campaign, revealing that his wife was “really p***ed off” when Bowman was challenged in his primary. The challenge to Bowman in this primary election, which is scheduled for Tuesday, largely revolves around his criticism of Israel and its handling of the war in Gaza.

“And so they’re involved now, and they’re having a good time with it because they don’t want to see their husband and dad get bullied, so we’re pushing back a little bit,” Bowman said.

Bowman also attempted again to explain his criticism of Israel, stating that he had condemned the Hamas attack on the country on Oct. 7, but that Israel’s response to the attack has been “collective punishment.” He added that the call for a ceasefire in Gaza he and other lawmakers have made relate to wanting Hamas to release its hostages and to find “a pathway to peace.”

The congressman was spotted in a video uploaded in November claiming that Israel used “propaganda” after the Hamas attack, and claimed that there was no evidence of Israeli victims being raped or of Israeli babies being beheaded. He has since backtracked these comments.

Bowman’s primary election in the 16th district of New York is between him and challenger George Latimer, and has seen the American Israel Public Affairs Committee push $14 million to this race to dunk on Bowman and boost his opponent. In the final debate between the two, Bowman denounced AIPAC for providing “Republican racist MAGA Trump money” to this race.

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Latimer had a lead of 48% in polling data released last week, putting him far ahead of Bowman, who was at 31%. The poll was conducted among 425 likely Democratic primary voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.

As a last-minute move to support Bowman, Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will join him for a rally in the Bronx this Saturday. Like Bowman, Cortez and Sanders have been critical of Israel amid its war against Hamas.