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Jamaal Bowman, Progressive Insurgent, Defeats Eliot Engel in House Primary
Mr. Bowman defeated the 16-term incumbent in a race that pitted the Democratic establishment against the party’s progressive wing.
Jamaal Bowman has scored a stunning victory over Representative Eliot L. Engel of New York in a Democratic primary, defeating the 16-term incumbent and overcoming the efforts of the Democratic establishment in a profound show of progressive political power.
Mr. Bowman, a middle school principal from Yonkers, was declared the winner on Friday, after a count of absentee ballots verified what seemed clear on Primary Night, when he emerged with a commanding lead over Mr. Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The victory came with the help of an array of stars from the Democratic Party’s left wing, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
As a first-time candidate with a fiery anti-establishment message, Mr. Bowman’s victory has echoes of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s own stunning win in 2018 over another entrenched incumbent in New York, Representative Joseph Crowley, then the No. 4 Democrat in the House.
In the closing weeks of the campaign, as Mr. Bowman gained momentum and prominent backers, members of the Democratic old guard tried to salvage Mr. Engel’s flagging campaign. Hillary Clinton endorsed the congressman a week before the primary, followed in short order by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, who said Mr. Engel deserved a vote because “seniority matters.”
Those pleas followed endorsements from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; James E. Clyburn, the House majority whip; and Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic Caucus chairman.
All was for naught, as Mr. Bowman bested Mr. Engel and two other Democratic challengers, embracing progressive plans like the Green New Deal and Medicare for All, while also preaching the need for broader social changes like criminal justice reform and addressing income inequality.
Such issues were given fresh emphasis and added urgency as the nation reeled in the wake of the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in late May. The subsequent demonstrations were broadly incorporated into, and invigorated, the Black Lives Matter movement, and gave a powerful talking point for Mr. Bowman, who is African-American and said he had been physically attacked by police as a child.
The Black Lives Matter movement also served as backdrop for a cringe-inducing moment for Mr. Engel. At a news conference in the Bronx in early June, the congressman was caught on microphone suggesting that he was only there because of his contested race. “If I didn’t have a primary,” he said, “I wouldn’t care.”
Mr. Engel, 73, was first elected in 1988 and had practiced a form of old-school politics: He slowly rose in party ranks, glad-handed a series of passing presidents, and boasted of perks he brought home to the 16th Congressional District, which includes the northern Bronx and portions of southern Westchester County.
Mr. Engel becomes the fifth House incumbent and second Democrat to fall in this year’s primaries; Daniel Lipinski of Illinois was the other. The three Republicans who lost were Steve King of Iowa, Denver Riggleman of Virginia and Scott Tipton of Colorado.
Mr. Bowman received ample financial help from liberal groups like the Working Families Party and political action committees like the Justice Democrats, which jointly spent more than $700,000 to oust Mr. Engel.
The coronavirus outbreak, which killed more than 4,500 people in the Bronx and Westchester, also profoundly changed the primary campaign, limiting in-person campaigning and forcing debates to be conducted via Zoom.
Mr. Bowman, who claimed one million calls to voters, also hammered Mr. Engel’s lack of presence in the district during the crisis, suggesting that the incumbent spent much of his time at a home he owns in suburban Maryland. Mr. Engel pushed back on this assertion, saying he was a steady presence in the district, including Riverdale, where he lives.
Mr. Bowman, 44, is the prohibitive favorite to win in November in the 16th District, where Democrats outnumber Republicans more than four-to-one. There is no Republican candidate, and only one other challenger, Patrick McManus, of the Conservative Party.
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