After 31 years in Congress, this could be Rep. Eliot Engel’s last term as he careens toward a stunning upset by liberal challenger Jamaal Bowman in their New York Democratic primary.
Bowman had 60.9% support to Engel’s 35.6% Wednesday morning, with 35,897 votes counted overnight. Absentee ballots were just starting to be counted Wednesday morning, delaying the calling of a winner, potentially by up to a week.
“Our movement is designed to restore that faith, to restore that hope, to bring back the belief in what is possible, to root our values in everything we do,” Bowman told supporters late Tuesday.
Engel, 73, is the House lawmaker who’s represented northern Bronx and southern Westchester County since 1989. He’s also chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Bowman, 44, is the former principal and founder of Bronx public middle school, Cornerstone Academy for Social Action.
The primary, Engel’s third competitive one since being elected, drew battle lines between the Democratic Party’s establishment and its more liberal faction. The race echoed another surprise primary fight from the 2018 midterm election cycle as well: that between New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and then-No. 4 House Democrat Rep. Joe Crowley.
Key Democrats, such as 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, rallied around embattled Engel. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York eventually endorsed him.
The contest didn’t receive much national media attention until Engel, himself a former public school teacher and guidance counselor before entering local New York politics, was heard asking to speak at a press conference held after looting during the Black Lives Matter protests.
“If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care,” he was caught saying into a hot mic.
The incident highlighted the contrast between Engel, who is white, and Bowman, who is black, as demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice after George Floyd’s death raged around the country. In the aftermath, Bowman earned the backing of Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
While Engel’s internal polling had him ahead, a Data for Progress survey last week suggested Bowman was 10 percentage points in front of Engel, 41% to 31%. Many respondents, however, were undecided.
The primary turned nasty in its closing days. Engel attacked Bowman for not registering as a Democrat until 2018 and for his school’s poor academic report card. Bowman, in turn, slammed Engel for staying in his Maryland home during the coronavirus lockdowns.
New York’s 16th Congressional District is a Democratic stronghold, with the primary essentially a proxy for the general election. New York’s slate of primaries were originally scheduled for April 28 but were delayed because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
