Jamaal Bowman's Primary Woes Get Worse After Ritchie Torres Flattens Him in Dispute Over Israel Support

It's no secret that Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) is in trouble in his bid for reelection thanks in part to a well-known Westchester Democratic political figure as well as Bowman's notoriously bombastic nature and anti-Israel positions.

As RedState reported last Tuesday, the latest polling shows Westchester County Executive George Latimer polling at 48 percent to Bowman's 31 percent.

But with 21 percent still undecided and early voting beginning this past Saturday, Bowman is pulling out all the stops to try and win over the holdouts, and apparently, he thinks he can do it in part by continuing to (predictably) trot out the race card against Latimer, and by attacking one of the city's most staunchly pro-Israel Democrats: Rep. Ritchie Torres.

Though Torres is an unabashed leftist on most other issues, on the issue of the Israel-Hamas war he has taken a strong public stance against the dangerous antics of the AOC-led Squad/Hamas Caucus, which includes Bowman.

Torres and Bowman have largely avoided commenting directly to or about each other on the issue until Friday when Bowman took aim at Torres during a podcast:

“I think that he’s trying to gain political power for himself towards an ultimate objective,” Bowman told Marc Lamont Hill on the “Night School” podcast last week.
“I don’t know if it’s [for] US Senate. I don’t know what it is,” the Yonkers Democrat said of Torres.
[...]
“Ritchie is very calculating in this way … Ritchie – he just seems to be always plotting, always calculating something,” Bowman said.
He said Torres and other Democrats are wary of bucking the pro-Israel position because of the “power of the Israel lobby” whose supporters fill campaign coffers.

As the Post also reported in their story, Bowman didn't share the same view of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), also an Israel supporter - and that is likely because Jeffries has endorsed Bowman and has thrown money behind his reelection efforts.

Not surprisingly, Torres has fired back, referencing Bowman's infamous fire alarm incident to make a larger point about the irrelevancy of Bowman's opinions on him:

“I care as much about his opinion on me as I do about his opinion on how to properly pull a fire alarm or his opinion on how to remain in Congress. His opinion of me is worse than a rubber stamp—it leaves no impression, much like his legislative record.”

There was also this:

Imagine me saying: “Thank God I still have a lot of support within the Democratic Socialists of America.”
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) June 17, 2024

Replying to another jab from Bowman about how he's in the Squad but Torres isn't, Torres wrote "Needless to say, I am not remotely heartbroken. I do, however, look forward to remaining in Congress."

Relatedly, something else to note about Bowman is that from a campaign donations standpoint, he has not gotten a lot of support in his district in comparison to Latimer:

Sorry, Pramila.

Neither the people nor the money in #NY16 want to stand with Jamaal Bowman. https://t.co/5IEfzCoM5T pic.twitter.com/jURLHWuAh8
— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) June 17, 2024

Will Bowman be the first Squad socialist to go down in defeat in a Democrat primary? I'm wary of saying anything definitive here because there have been other members, like Rep Summer Lee (D-PA), who appeared to be on the ropes but who ended up winning their respective primaries handily.

We'll find out on June 25th or, if history is a reliable indicator as it relates to how long it takes New York to count ballots, maybe a couple of weeks later. As always, stay tuned.

Flashback: Hamas Caucus Member Summer Lee Survives Primary Challenge, Proves Democrat Voters Never Learn