[Peace-discuss] Politico: ‘We just need a win’: The left unites to take down Eliot Engel

[Robert Naiman]

What a headline!

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/16/eliot-engel-progressives-election-324102

‘We just need a win’: The left unites to take down Eliot Engel
Progressives are channeling their grief, volunteer muscle and small-dollar
donations into the effort to oust the longtime Democratic incumbent.

By HOLLY OTTERBEIN
06/16/2020 07:13 PM EDT
Updated: 06/16/2020 08:45 PM EDT

Desperate for victory after watching the presidential nomination slip
through their fingers, progressives have found a new cause to rally around.

Across the country, they’re channeling their grief, volunteer muscle and
small-dollar donations into Jamaal Bowman, a left-wing candidate in New
York trying to oust decades-long incumbent Congressman Eliot Engel.
Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, all of whom
have shown caution in the past about backing primary challengers to
incumbent Democrats, have endorsed Bowman. Justice Democrats and the
Working Families Party, two left-wing groups that took different paths
during the presidential race, announced they are coming together to spend
more than a half-million dollars to elect Bowman. Former aides to Sanders
and Warren have also publicly lined up behind Bowman.

The all-hands-on-deck strategy is a striking show of unity after the
presidential campaign ended with deep rifts on the left — and it’s had a
catalytic effect on Bowman’s bid in the run-up to the June 23 primary. But
their efforts have also exposed party fissures, spurring Democratic
establishment powerhouses such as Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Jim
Clyburn to throw their support behind Engel.

“What is that left phrase? We just need a win,” said Andom Ghebreghiorgis,
another progressive candidate who challenged Engel this year but recently
dropped out and endorsed Bowman. “People are investing a lot emotionally in
this race because they see it as a down-ballot race where the policies of a
Bernie, for example, which weren’t able to achieve victory on a national
level, can at least be achieved on a congressional level.”

The clash between heavyweights like Clinton and Sanders has made New York’s
16th District race one of the most-watched primaries of the cycle — and one
of the most telling.

If Bowman, a 44-year-old middle-school principal, beats Engel, the
73-year-old chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, it will mark
the second time in two years that a senior House Democrat from New York was
taken down in a primary. In 2018, Ocasio-Cortez knocked out Rep. Joe
Crowley in a massive upset. Should Engel hold onto his seat, it will mark
yet another bitter intra-party defeat for progressives.

“If all of this super lefty firepower turns out not to be enough and Bowman
comes up short, that’s going to be added to the list,” said Jon Reinish, a
Democratic strategist based in New York. “There’s a lot of examples over
the last two years since Ocasio-Cortez, like Our Revolution’s slate of
endorsed candidates in 2018 or most recently the Henry Cuellar challenge
down in Texas, where time and again these challengers, no matter the energy
of these groups, have come up short.”

The protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, as well as the
coronavirus — which has disproportionately impacted black and Latino
Americans — have increased the urgency among progressives to oust Engel.
Bowman has criticized Engel for voting for the 1994 crime bill, which
contributed to a rise in incarceration. Bowman champions the idea of
defunding the police, whereas Engel said he opposes fully cutting their
budgets, though he supports reallocating some resources.

“If you’re someone who wants to translate the energy in the street into
elected office, Jamaal is one candidate among many that you can be
supporting,” said Waleed Shahid, the communications director for Justice
Democrats. “Jamaal might be the first candidate elected to Congress from
this movement.”

Bowman has also talked about his first experience with police brutality at
age 11 on the campaign trail and been a regular presence at Black Lives
Matter protests.

“That was murder by law enforcement that is supposed to serve and protect
us. It robs you to your core and shakes your soul to see something like
that happen,” Bowman told POLITICO of watching the video of Floyd’s death.
“I couldn’t contain myself and I did a direct-to-camera video about my
reaction and I was sobbing. I was crying.”

"If all of this super lefty firepower turns out not to be enough and Bowman
comes up short, that’s going to be added to the list."

 Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist based in New York

Bowman’s campaign got a boost when Engel was caught on a hot mic at an
event amid the civil unrest saying, “If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t
care.” At the time, Engel said that “in the context of running for
reelection, I thought it was important for people to know where I stand,
that's why I asked to speak."


Engel has touted his support of the Justice in Policing Act and
endorsements from black lawmakers such as civil rights icon John Lewis, New
York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, and the Congressional Black Caucus’ political
arm. He has also said that his incumbency has allowed him to “bring home
the bacon” to the district, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus.

“Unlike our opponent, the congressman’s response to the pandemic was going
out and fighting for $6 [billion] in additional aid for New York hospitals,
including many in the district,” said Tom Watson, Engel’s communications
director. “It was getting funding for community health centers, and
fighting to keep Mount Vernon Hospital open.”

Foreign policy has also roiled the primary, with Bowman bashing Engel for
voting for the Iraq War and being “completely funded by corporate PACs and
large donors, and many of those are weapons manufacturers." The Democratic
Majority for Israel, a super PAC, has aired ads supporting Engel, a top
pro-Israel voice in the House, and knocking Bowman, who has criticized the
Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians. The group reserved an
additional $250,000 in spots Tuesday, according to Advertising Analytics.

A Bowman victory would make him the fourth candidate supported by the
anti-establishment Justice Democrats to unseat an incumbent Democrat since
2018. The organization, which developed a strategy after 2018 of going all
in on one candidate at a time instead of endorsing dozens like many groups,
backed Bowman after a public education activist nominated him for its
recruitment program.
<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/09/bernie-sanders-ensorses-insurgent-candidates-309068>

Shahid said the organization honed in on Bowman because of “his record of
leadership in the district, his commitment to racial and economic justice
throughout his career, and the fact that his opponent is particularly
vulnerable.” Engel’s role in Democratic House leadership was also a factor.
“Someone with that much power should be someone who is paying attention to
the needs of their district,” said Shahid.


Two weeks after Sanders dropped out of the presidential race, Justice
Democrats held an event featuring former Sanders and Warren aides who
supported Bowman. The group has seen an influx of interest in the New York
primary since Super Tuesday, when Joe Biden built a delegate lead that
proved impossible for Sanders to surmount and which prompted Warren to drop
out.

There have been other attempts at fostering progressive unity in the Bronx
and Westchester County-based 16th District. The Working Families Party
helped broker the departure of Ghebreghiorgis from the race and his
endorsement of Bowman, with New York director Sochie Nnaemeka playing a key
role, according to multiple people familiar with the moves. That helped
prevent the progressive vote from splitting. Engel, on the other hand, has
two additional moderate challengers, Sammy Ravelo and Chris Fink.

The consolidation is such an achievement for the left, which is known for
splintering, that Ghebreghiorgis said activists from the Democratic
Socialists of America and other progressives asked him, in reference to him
dropping out and creating a united progressive front behind Bowman, “How
can we make this scalable ... in any race where we see any issue like
this?”

Leftists across the country recognize the Bowman candidacy is likely to be
one of their last, best opportunities to take out an entrenched Democratic
incumbent because of the realities of the primary election calendar.

“If you’re a progressive who supported Bernie or Warren, Jamaal is really
one of the last shots we have at any victory this year,” said Shahid. “He’s
the main one who can pull off an AOC-style victory.”
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