Bronx middle school principal Jamaal Bowman is on the verge of defeating Rep. Eliot Engel following Tuesday's Democratic primary, potentially unseating an incumbent who has spent more than 30 years in Congress.
The race, in which Engel was pilloried as out-of-touch with his district, echoed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 2018 victory that unseated Rep. Joe Crowley, then the House's fourth most powerful Democrat.
Bowman won the support of the left flank of the party: He was endorsed by the Justice Democrats and the Working Families Party, which together pledged to pour $500,000 into the race to boost his prospects, and won the support of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Ocasio-Cortez.
Engel had the support of party leadership, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Hillary Clinton.
Bowman managed to capitalize on events that have consumed the lives of New Yorkers over the past several months, including the coronavirus outbreak and the protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, arguing that the twin crises revealed the need for more systemic change.
As outrage over Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers spilled into the streets of his district, he narrowed his focus from a grab bag of progressive policy proposals to police reform, sharing his own troubled encounter with the police late in the wake of Floyd's death and joining fellow progressives in their call to defund the police.
Bowman is a self-described socialist who supports progressive projects such as the Green New Deal and Medicare-for-All.
The race, in which Engel was pilloried as out-of-touch with his district, echoed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 2018 victory that unseated Rep. Joe Crowley, then the House's fourth most powerful Democrat.
Bowman won the support of the left flank of the party: He was endorsed by the Justice Democrats and the Working Families Party, which together pledged to pour $500,000 into the race to boost his prospects, and won the support of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Ocasio-Cortez.
Engel had the support of party leadership, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Hillary Clinton.
Bowman managed to capitalize on events that have consumed the lives of New Yorkers over the past several months, including the coronavirus outbreak and the protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, arguing that the twin crises revealed the need for more systemic change.
As outrage over Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers spilled into the streets of his district, he narrowed his focus from a grab bag of progressive policy proposals to police reform, sharing his own troubled encounter with the police late in the wake of Floyd's death and joining fellow progressives in their call to defund the police.
Bowman is a self-described socialist who supports progressive projects such as the Green New Deal and Medicare-for-All.
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