Jamaal BowmanLosses in this week’s New York primary election are raising alarm bells among progressives as the Israel-American Public Affairs Committee, which helped oust members of the Squad in an unprecedentedly expensive race — now turning attention to another prominent House critic of the war in Gaza: Cori BushBut are these two primaries really warning signs for the Democratic left?
AIPAC money certainly hampered Bowman’s bid to defend George LatimerWestchester County executive defeated the incumbent 17 points on Tuesday. The pro-Israel lobby has criticized Bowman, making the race the most expensive primary in history, and is threatening to do the same to Bush in Missouri’s August contest. “We should be outraged about that,” Bowman speak In his concession speech, he blamed “dark money” for contributing to his losses.
But Bowman’s problems began before AIPAC entered the fray. Perhaps most famously, he triggered the fire alarm on Capitol Hill while Congress was in session last year, as Republicans sought to push through a temporary spending bill. (He insisted it was an accident, though later charged and fined about the incident.) And that’s not his only weakness: Bowman has had to answer for past flirtations with 9/11 realism and other conspiracy theories, as well as foils. his vote against the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure package — one of the President’s signature achievements Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, which Mr Debate not gone far enough
All of this probably isn’t enough to take him down. After all, Squad’s teammates and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez But also voted against the bill and criticized U.S. support for Israel’s attack on Gaza. (She easily defeated her primary opponent on Tuesday by more than 64 points.) Still, AOC maintains deep connections to her district, while Bowman’s is a bit more tenuous, as a rally he has held office with Ocasio-Cortez and Progressive Senators Bernie Sanders seemed to emphasize last weekend.
“We’re going to show AIPAC the power of the damn South Bronx,” Bowman said from the stage. But Bowman does not represent the South Bronx, which reinforces the sense that Latimer has stronger local ties to the area in question. “I think I ran a grassroots campaign,” Latimer speak after his victory. “I did a lot of personal campaigns.”
Like Bowman, Bush also has a burden. The Missouri representative is currently affiliated with the Department of Justice investigation for her campaign spending, including security payments to her current husband. Bush negate misconduct, and said that the nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics had reviewed and dismissed the matter. But the investigation has left her more vulnerable to the primary challenge posed by Wesley Bells—a prosecutor who is currently in a tight contest with the incumbent in several ballots—and it remains to be seen how much help she will get from the party. “She doesn’t have the connections that Bowman had,” said the progressive lawmaker speak Axios. “I can imagine that the leaders had a hard time figuring out how to support her.” Needless to say, AIPAC’s involvement could make things more difficult for her, just as AIPAC and pro-Israel groups did to Bowman this week. “These extremists are coming to St. Louis,” Bush speak after the loss of a colleague.
Progressives have good reason to be frustrated about where all the spending comes from: “It is absurd and an insult to democracy that we maintain a corrupt campaign finance system that allows billionaire-funded super PACs to buy elections,” Sanders said. speak“I think all Democrats should see how bad it is for Democratic politics when there is this much money being poured into influencing congressional races in the Democratic primary,” he said. Pramila Jayapalchairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, speak Related press. But while Bowman’s defeat may be a classic case of the influential role of outside money, it is less clear that it is the broader referendum on progressives that it sometimes is framed as follows: “AIPAC did not raise the fire alarm,” as the House of Representatives. Democratic Party put it to Axios. “AIPAC does not speculate about 9/11.”
