Rep. Jamaal Bowman may have lost big in his Democratic primary in New York — but he’s looking to take the party with him, if his concession speech was any indication.
Bowman, a member of the “squad” who had run a controversial campaign on top of a series of legislative controversies, was handily beaten by Westchester County Executive Steve Latimer in the primary for New York’s 16th Congressional District on Tuesday.
With 88 percent of the vote in as of early Wednesday morning, according to The Washington Post, Latimer led Bowman by 58.4 to 41.6 percent — the kind of drubbing one usually expects from a representative under indictment, say, or who got caught on camera with a prostitute.
However, Bowman’s failings spelled even larger problems himself — and for the Democratic Party in November.
While his behavior prior to the race was certainly a factor — he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was censured by the House after pulling a fire alarm in the Capitol, allegedly to delay a crucial vote, and his past 9/11 “truther” claims were also brought back to light — the key reason for his loss was his pro-Hamas rhetoric and vociferous calls for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire from Israel and its war against the terrorist organization.
Perhaps most notably, he refused to condemn the chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as anti-Semitic hate speech during a debate last month:
#NY16 Rep. Jamaal Bowman debated his primary challenger Weschester CE George Latimer on News12.
Below is part #1 on the two-state solution and whether “from the river to the sea” chanted at campus protests is hate speech ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/RBz18sMxsy
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) May 14, 2024
In his concession speech, Bowman continued to make the race about a larger narrative in which pro-Israel forces had brought down his campaign, calling the race about “justice.”
Was this the result you wanted?
“This was never just about me. It was never just about New York 16,” Bowman said in front of what the New York Post described as a “sparse” crowd of supporters.
“It was never just about this race. This movement has always been about justice,” he continued.
“We will not stand for the bombing and killing of babies in Gaza,” he added. “We will never stand for the killing of children in the Bronx on Tuesday night.
“This race was never about me and me alone. It was never about this district and this district alone. It was always about all of us. Now, our opponents may have won this round at this time in this place. But this will be a battle for our humanity and justice for the rest of our lives.”
The speech was notable for other moments which, um, will probably go down in more viral infamy than his remarks on Gaza and anti-Israeli dog-whistles:
Jamaal Bowman randomly yells during his concession speech. He seems totally normal and stable. Can’t imagine why he lost pic.twitter.com/mFiY1n8quk
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 26, 2024
Furthermore, certain portions of the concessions weren’t just dog-whistles and more like plain old whistles, like when he accused the American Israel Public Affairs Committee of trying to “brainwash people” into not voting for him:
👀 This line is Bowman’s concession speech on AIPAC ⬇️
“We should be outraged when a super PAC of dark money can spend 20 million dollars can brainwash people into believing something that isn’t true.” pic.twitter.com/hfLhytDtwV
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) June 26, 2024
This was the kind of language even Ilhan Omar was once forced to apologize for using before she became a congresswoman. Now, this is how Jamaal Bowman is exiting. Nice. Way to make yourself look worse on your way out the door.
However, keep in mind this is always who Jamaal Bowman was … and he still got elected to public office, as well as got over 40 percent of the vote.
In a year where a small, disaffected minority of far-left activists have voted “uncommitted” against Joe Biden in the presidential primaries to protest even his tepid support of Israel in this time of crisis, Bowman’s speech — and the fact so many on the left still cling to anti-Semitism and pro-Hamas sentiments that will lose them the election in November — should be the biggest canary in the electoral coal mine yet.
This isn’t going away. If Biden and the Democrats don’t capitulate to a small coterie of young, hateful, very online anti-Israel bigots, they could blow the election. If they do capitulate, they will blow the election. And that’s assuming the election is even theirs to blow, which the polls seem to indicate it very much isn’t.
Jamaal Bowman, mercifully, may be going away from Congress. What he represents, though, isn’t going away, and it’s either going to tear the Democrats apart or tear the Middle East apart.
