The former teacher, who had received support from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren, ousted Eliot Engel from 16-term.
Jamaal Bowman, a former teacher endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren, has ousted 16-term Democratic congressman Eliot Engel in the 16th district race in New York, marking a major win for the progressive wing of the party. Bowman had been leading Engel and candidate Christopher Fink since the primary on 6 July but the Associated Press had not called the race until Friday.
In the end, as the election was called, Bowman beat Engel with 55 percent of the vote, a difference of about 12,000 votes. Bowman had claimed victory earlier in the month when he had concluded the vote in person.
The win of Bowman over Engel, the president of the House International Affairs Committee, is an impressive triumph for leftists who united in the primary behind Bowman. Bowman became a progressive partner, attracting endorsements from standard bearers like Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Warren, as well as national political organizations like MoveOn and Our Revolution.
While, some political leadership leaders, including Hillary Clinton, backed Engel; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Democratic Minority Leader Charles Schumer; and Congressman Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black Democrat in Congress.
In a campaign memo, Bowman’s campaign manager, Luke Hayes, wrote: “Jamaal’s win has been compared to AOC’s in 2018, but the big difference is that this time, they saw us coming. They took nothing for granted, and spent over $5m against us. They aired millions of dollars in attack ads, called in every political favor, and pulled all the stops. And we still won.”
The campaign was a little reminiscent of the shock win of Ocasio-Cortez over congressman and president of the House Democratic caucus Joe Crowley in 2018. Ocasio-Cortez was the primary’s long shot democratic favourite.
Hayes described Bowman as a “brilliant, authentic, caring, fun, empathetic, passionate, and hardworking” candidate in the memo celebrating the victory.
Essentially, Bowman ‘s primary guarantees his success in Congress. Across decades, voters in the area have opted overwhelmingly for the Democratic candidate for Congress and the President.
The ouster of Engel is also a much-needed victory for progressives after the more centrist Joe Biden lost both Bernie Sanders and Warren to the Democratic primary for president.
“From the very beginning, we anchored our campaign in the fight for racial and economic justice. We spoke the truth – about the police, about systemic racism, about inequality – and it resonated in every part of the district,” Bowman said in a statement to reporters. “We brought people together across race, across class, across religion, across gender, to fight for justice, to fight for equality, and to fight to create a country that works for all of us. We didn’t let them divide us. And we did it all without accepting a dime from corporate Pacs or lobbyists.”
