Jamaal Bowman's loss signals uncertainty of where the first member of 'the Squad' to lose went wrong
George Latimer's decisive victory over Rep. Jamaal Bowman in suburban New York dealt the left-flank its first electoral defeat this cycle
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Jamaal Bowman first ran for Congress, he chastised his opponent — a 16-term Democratic congressman who chaired a powerful House committee — as disconnected from his suburban New York district and too focused on foreign policy.
The message helped Bowman defeat incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel and become the first Black man to represent the 16th Congressional District. But four years later, the case he made against Engel ended in his own political demise in one of the nation's most closely watched primaries, as he became the first member of the progressive band of liberals known as the “Squad” to lose a reelection bid.
“He became the very person he accused Engel of being,” Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic political consultant, said Wednesday. “Much more engaged in foreign affairs, less engaged in community-based activities. Much more rhetorical, much less constituent services.”
The decisive victory by 70-year-old George Latimer, a white centrist Democrat, handed the left flank its first electoral defeat this cycle, raising concerns about how other incumbents might fare in the coming months and, more broadly, whether progressives are in retreat in Washington.
