June 7, 2024
‘Outsider’ Rep. Jamaal Bowman Fights For Third Term As NY Primary Nears
Bowman said his opponent is “completely funded by right-wing, MAGA Republican billionaires.”
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) is eyeing a third term in Congress using the same strategy that helped him secure a seat in 2020—being an outsider.
Labeled a “progressive firebrand” and member of “The Squad,” the 48-year-old Bowman is running against a popular executive and former state senator from Westchester County, George Latimer, who served in the Regan administration.
During a festival in Co-Op City in the Bronx on June 1, the 48-year-old Bowman highlighted the differences between him and his opponent. “I’m for taxing the rich; he’s not. I’m for taxing large corporations, he’s not. I’m for reparations for Black people, he’s not,” he said, according to NBC News.
“So if you want the status quo that got us to the point where we might have Trump in office again and another genocide in Gaza—if you’re with that, that’s the guy.”
Ahead of the June 25 primary, Bowman’s campaign is heavily focused around working for people of color in marginalized communities. In one ad posted on X on May 29, the congressman spoke with Fire Commissioner of the Fairview Fire District, Emma Walthall-Moon, about how climate change has affected the Parkway Gardens community in Queens.
Bowman talked about some of the legislation being pushed at the federal level to “make sure we bring resources directly into communities like this because these are the communities that have been mostly neglected over time.”
Latimer caught wind of Bowman’s remarks that he was being “completely funded by right-wing, MAGA Republican billionaires.” Latimer said Bowman is just here for the “fame” and is obsessed with social media likes over fighting for District 16.
“It’s not about a cacophony of people that live elsewhere outside the district thinking you are the cat’s meow,” Latimer said, according to NBC News.
With 35 years of political experience, Latimer said he’s “got a record of showing you what I do and how I do it.” In a campaign ad, referred to Bowman “as a Congressman spreading lies and conspiracy theories” and used some of his opponent’s quotes with thought bubbles floating behind him.
While Bowman has had his headlining moments in Congress: getting in shouting matches with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) over gun control; standing his ground with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) after she compared being called a white supremacist to being called the N-word— Bowman is still a favorite among some of the country’s most progressive lawmakers.
According to The Hill, he secured a monumental endorsement from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) In a statement, Warren said, Bowman is fighting for what is necessary, including Medicare for All and a Green New Deal.
“Together, we’ve worked with President Biden to protect renters and have plans to lower housing costs, and I look forward to a continued partnership, shoulder-shoulder, to stand up to MAGA extremists and deliver for working families,” Warren wrote.
Bowman said he is elated to “call Senator Warren a partner in our progressive vision.”