WASHINGTON – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed the main Democratic challenger from the chair of the DPR veterans committee whose New York district borders its own district, the latest progressive freshman challenge to party leaders.
Ocasio-Cortez, who in less than two years had shot from obscurity to one of Congress’s best-known names and faces, used a series of tweets on Wednesday night to announce he supported Jamaal Bowman, an educator.
That means Ocasio-Cortez is trying to overthrow fellow Democratic Party member Eliot Engel, 73, chairman of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Engel, a liberal, is in his 16th term in the House and represents a district of parts of the Bronx and Westchester, next to the home base of Ocasio-Cortez, Bronx and Queens.
“This moment requires leadership that is renewed and revitalized throughout the country AND in the ballot box,” Ocasio-Cortez, 30, tweeted when he gave his support to Bowman.
His announcement came during the second week of national protests against the killing of black men by police officers and after the appearance of President Donald Trump’s physical force and ridicule against the demonstrators, some of whom had committed violence.
He called Bowman, who is an African-American, “a leader of a deep community.” The Engel District mostly has black and Hispanic voters.
Ocasio-Cortez’s move also means he opposes House Democratic leaders, who have stood behind party incumbents to face the main challenger. When she first entered Congress last year, Ocasio-Cortez and three other new young women – calling themselves “Forces” – repeatedly clashed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, although in the past few months the fighting had receded.
P. Eliot Engel, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, at a press conference on Capitol Hill.AFP through Getty Images
Engel reportedly amassed more than $ 1.6 million by March, roughly tripling Bowman’s catch. But Engel has been accused of spending insufficient time in his district, and Bowman’s challenge is considered legitimate.
Bowman claimed the fundraising bonanza this week after Engel was heard at a press conference looking for time to overcome the crowd. He told the organizer of the event that he “wouldn’t care” about talking if he didn’t face the main.
Engel’s campaign spokesman, Tom Watson, said lawmakers praised the combined “expertise, ethics and experience” of colleagues who he said supported him, including Pelosi, the icon of the civil rights Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., And the Congressional Black Caucus.
Watson also gave a statement in which Engel explained his press conference statement by saying that “running for re-election, I think it’s important for people to know where I stand.”
Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed two other challengers for the conservative Democratic House for this year’s election. Marie Newman defeated Rep. Daniel Lipinski in the southern Illinois district of Chicago, while Rep. Henry Cuellar defeated his opponent supported by Ocasio-Cortez, Jessica Cisneros.
A spokesman for the Democratic Congress Campaign Committee said the Democratic political arm was waiting for Engel “to continue serving his community for years to come.”
The district is truly Democratic, with the ultimate winner but is confident it will be elected in November.
