House Democratic leaders are trying to stave off primary challengers to a swath of veteran lawmakers by younger, far-left rivals in the ideological mold of first-term Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Key House Democrats threw their support behind New York Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel this weekend in the hope of blunting the primary challenge he faces by an opponent backed by Ocasio-Cortez. Democrats want to form a protective barrier around Engel to save him from the same fate their former colleague Joe Crowley faced when he lost his Queens- and Bronx-based seat to Ocasio-Cortez during the 2018 Democratic primary.
Engel, 73, first elected to the House in 1988, represents municipalities in southern Westchester and the northwest Bronx. He received the endorsement of Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat.
However, although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed Engel, who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, has still refused to endorse Engel. Some say Schumer’s refusal to do so relates to his own fear of being primaried by Ocasio-Cortez in 2022. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, however, has endorsed Engel, who was a House member alongside Schumer from 1989-99.
Engel’s primary challenger, Jamaal Bowman, was until recently the principal of the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action middle school in the Bronx. Engel attacked Bowman in political mailings as a “not a real Democrat” and an abysmal educator.
“He wasn’t even a Democrat when Donald Trump was elected president and he didn’t even vote in the most important Democratic primaries to elect Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as Democratic nominees for president,” the Engel campaign literature says.
“In 2008, Bowman wasn’t a Democrat and was a member of a party that ran John McCain for president and Sarah Palin for vice president against Barack Obama and Joe Biden,” per the mailer. “Bowman did not become a Democrat until he decided to run for Congress in 2018.”
A primary surprise could be brewing on June 23, said Iona College political science Professor Jeanne Zaino.
“Bowman has run a really strong campaign. I do think we have to be cautious about the comparisons to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Democrats in the House and leadership, and of course Engel himself, now have that as a backdrop and should understand that was a possibility in a way that perhaps they didn’t see coming with Crowley,” Zaino told the Washington Examiner. “Bowman is much, at least in my estimation, more well-known in districts than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was, and he’s obviously had a longer professional history in education.”
The New York congressman, who spends his time between a residence in Maryland and an apartment in the Bronx, is also fighting the perception that he is out of touch with his constituents. This charge came to the forefront when he was forced to clarify a candid remark he made on a recent “hot mic,” when he said he only attended a local event in his district related to law enforcement protests for media attention.
Although Engel received intense criticism for his comment, early voting was already underway. Engel’s constituents had already begun to receive ballots up to three weeks ago.
“So while we’re getting closer to Election Day, I think there may be a lot more people who have voted already, so it does sort of change the equation. Now whether or not that occurred right after Engel made his statement that was caught by the News 12 reporter or whatever, that all sort of plays into this,” Zaine notes.
Engel, who did not receive the endorsement of the New York Times this cycle, is not the only New York Democrat facing a primary challenge on June 23.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, House Judiciary Committee chairman, whose district covers the Upper West Side to Bensonhurst, as well as part of Brooklyn’s industrial shoreline, will face off against Lindsey Boylan and Jonathan Herzog, while Rep. Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, is expected to have three challengers: Suraj Patel, Peter Harrison, and Lauren Ashcraft.
