Charges of racism mark final stretch of nasty NY House primary

MOUNT VERNON, New York — Allegations of racism leveled by a vulnerable Black New York House member against his ascendant white challenger have become a vitriolic hallmark of the primary’s final weeks.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman has for months condemned county leader George Latimer’s policies, rhetoric and AIPAC ties as harmful to working-class minorities — and notably accused his rival in their first televised debate of portraying him as an “angry Black man.”

That line of attack is intensifying as Bowman’s reelection appears increasingly uncertain with two weeks until the final vote.

“He’s in the pocket of Republican billionaires who want to take our voting rights, our reproductive rights, affirmative action and who are racist,” Bowman said in an interview Wednesday with POLITICO, in suburban Mount Vernon. “And he also is not just anti-Black racist, he’s anti-Muslim racist.”

Hours later, at another televised debate, Latimer alleged that Bowman has neglected parts of the Westchester County and Bronx district that are predominantly white and Asian.

“You don’t mention people who are not Black or brown. There’s a whole district, Jamaal, that you’ve ignored and the district knows you’ve ignored it,” Latimer said at the Spectrum News-hosted debate, which was nevertheless far more civil than their previous faceoffs.

Latimer has been forcefully rejecting Bowman’s charges as lies borne of desperation, pointing to his upbringing in a racially diverse New York suburb, hiring of Black aides and endorsements by Black leaders.

The contentious primary this month between Bowman and Latimer is proving ground on where Democratic voter sentiment lies as the Israel-Hamas war rages on, Palestinians death and displacement in Gaza come into sharper focus and Israelis abducted on Oct. 7 remain Hamas’ hostages.

More specifically, the faceoff is a gauge of the political prospects of far-left ardent critics of Israel in a party whose leadership is protective of the United States’ bond with the Jewish state.

The Westchester County executive on Monday gave the Squad member a fresh comment to excoriate as bait for bigots when the Latimer — a beneficiary of support from pro-Israel AIPAC — said the Arab-majority city of Dearborn, Michigan, is part of Bowman’s base of support.

“George Latimer has traded in his dog-whistle for a bullhorn,” said Bowman-allied New York Working Families Party co-director Jasmine Gripper.

Latimer’s campaign spokesperson Yuridia Pena responded that his reference of Dearborn — and San Francisco, a breath later — was intended to show “the majority of the incumbent’s donors come from hundreds and thousands of miles away.” She noted that Bowman has a joint fundraising committee with Rep. Rashida Talib, the Squad member whose district includes Dearborn.

Latimer had been charging that Bowman is allied with antisemitic forces and trafficks in conspiracy theories, including on the 9/11 terror attacks. He has castigated how Bowman dismissed Hamas’ raping of Israeli women on Oct. 7 as “propaganda,” a remark the leftist House member later walked back.

At its core, the contest pits a white challenger against a Black incumbent in a majority-minority district. The 16th Congressional District is about 21 percent Black and 29 percent Hispanic.

Latimer has sought to stress that it’s much more — a reality he said those familiar with his three-plus decades in public service understand well.

“This is not a choice between a progressive champion and some ultra-conservative old white guy,” the county executive said Sunday in New Rochelle. “This is a choice of: Do you send somebody to Washington, who will do what a legislator is supposed to do? Or will you send somebody to Washington who’ll be on the stump?”

Bowman and his coalition have argued, including through fundraising appeals, that support for Latimer from AIPAC and its affluent Republican donors undermine the local official’s claims of progressivism.

Bowman, a former middle school principal, has built his reputation over two terms as a far-left agitator for the working class. But his chances at a third appear grim against Latimer.

So the endangered House member is pulling no punches.

“A thug, like Tupac said, is the hate you gave,” Bowman told Latimer at a forum Monday. “We’re talking about the hate you gave to Black Americans through your concentrated poverty and enslavement and Jim Crow.”

A Latimer supporter had responded to his social media post several weeks ago by calling Bowman “a bully and a thug” primed to physically attack Latimer.

“The issues of race that come up for me is people on his Facebook page calling me a thug and saying I should have a stroke and him not correcting, redirecting or commenting on them,” Bowman said in a Monday interview with POLITICO in New Rochelle. “That’s disgusting and despicable, just like him saying I’m taking money from Hamas, which is also racist and despicable.”

Bowman said Latimer’s housing and tax policies left Black residents further marginalized, but he has given no context for why he invoked the eras of slavery and legalized racism against his rival.

The Working Families Party earlier in the campaign highlighted another instance that they say shows Latimer’s true colors. The county executive had said in a May interview with Republican radio host John Catsimatidis that George Floyd’s death, which galvanized Black voters, “probably skewed results” in the House race that led to Bowman’s 2020 election.

And Latimer was forced Wednesday to explain to a caller to WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” his 2021 Facebook comment comparing critics of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to the mob that lynched Black teenager Emmett Till, saying he deleted the post almost immediately and has apologized for his lapse in judgment.

Latimer has fought back, repeatedly demanding that Bowman be truthful.

He has help courting Black voters from the National Black Empowerment Action Fund, founded by AIPAC veteran Darius Jones, which is spreading the message that Bowman is too politically extreme to represent mainstream African Americans worried about issues like public safety.

Responding recently to charges of racism, Latimer ticked off the names of Black leaders he’s appointed in the county and detailed how he worked with Black colleagues when he was a state legislator.

“In every one of those cases, I showed that race, color of skin, meant nothing to me,” he said in Tarrytown. “And I grew up in a neighborhood that was diverse. I grew up in Mount Vernon … so anyone who accuses me of racism is saying it for political purposes and not on the basis of the way I live my life.”

Latimer has support from several Black leaders, including ex-Gov. David Paterson, former Rep. Mondaire Jones and Yonkers City Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy.

“People will say, Well, why you’d go with George over another person of color?” Collins-Bellamy told POLITICO after endorsing Latimer. “And why I decided to do it is because Yonkers needs results. Yonkers needs a partner that can put aside differences.”

Rich Mendez contributed to this report.