Photos: Campaign of Rep. Jamaal Bowman\Wikimedia Commons YouTube Screenshots
THE BRONX, NY — Ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, labor unions, and progressive groups rallied with Congressman Jamaal Bowman in support of his re-election, alongside hundreds of voters and supporters in the Bronx. The national and local progressive leaders united together to speak out against the historic nearly $15 million AIPAC’s Super PAC is spending and to remind voters that they decide the outcome of this election—not Republican megadonors and corporate special interests. AIPAC’s spending has made the upcoming NY-16 primary the most expensive House race in history, spending up to $17,000 an hour.
AIPAC’s Super PAC, which is funded by Trump megadonors and Republican billionaires, endorsed over 100 election-denying insurrectionists and over 200 anti-abortion Republicans, and is now the single biggest source of GOP donations in Democratic primaries. In the 2024 election cycle, Bowman’s AIPAC-endorsed opponent George Latimer is the single biggest recipient of AIPAC’s funds, receiving over $2.4 million with a substantial amount from Republican donors.
Congressman Jamaal Bowman: “This election is a generational fight against big money in politics and right-wing interests that are threatened by policies that prioritize working families over corporate interests. It’s the many vs. the money, and the many believe that healthcare is a human right, that childcare should be universal, that housing should be affordable, and that genocide should be condemned. And united we will win.”
Senator Bernie Sanders: “I’m here today because this election is one of the most important in the modern history of America. It really is. You think, ‘why, District 16 in the Bronx, New York — most important in American history?’ Really. Yes, really. Because this election is not about Jamaal versus Mr. Latimer. This election is about whether or not the billionaire class and the oligarchs will control the United States government — and our view is no, they won’t. Yeah, Jamaal and Mr. Latimer have differences of opinion. Jamaal believes that healthcare is a human right. And Jamaal wants every kid, and every senior, and every working class person to be able to walk into the doctor and not have to take out their wallet, because health care belongs to all of us. And Jamaal believes there’s something wrong when, in America today, three people own more wealth than the bottom half of American society. Jamaal believes that we need an economy that meets the needs of all of us — not just the 1%.”
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:“We are tired of having corporate lobbies try to buy up our community and sell them to the highest bidder. We’re not doing that anymore. We have enormous outside influence trying to buy our representation, because they don’t like who we chose to represent us. But we know that the person who is best suited to represent New York’s 16th District is Jamaal Bowman. Our brother Jamaal Bowman is under absolute attack — not just from these big lobbies, and not just from big money, but from the underlying forces that have been trying to decimate our community for decades. He is being primaried by racism. He is being primaried by greed. He is being primaried by corruption in our politics. And we cannot let them win. Jamaal is under attack — because Jamaal Bowman dared to speak up for Palestinians. The establishment is primarying Jamaal Bowman because to this day he has refused to take a dime from corporate lobbies and big money. Not Wall Street, not big real estate, not AIPAC, not anybody. They want him out because he’s not bought. He’s not owned by anybody. Because he knows that his primary fidelity and duty is to our community, to our people, to our towns. To White Plains. To New Rochelle. To Yonkers. To Rye. To Tuckahoe.”
Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez: “We are not going to let anything — no record heat, or record of outside spending — stop us from sending Jamaal Bowman back to Washington. We need leaders like Jamaal in Congress advocating for us. This fight is about values. It is to support those who believe that we must end fossil fuels in our country, and we must provide Medicare for All, and that is why I respect him so much. Because he is not willing to compromise his values, regardless of the consequences. So Jamaal’s progressive values have made him a target of the right-wing billionaires and dark money groups that have deemed Jamaal a threat to their agenda. This has become the most expensive primary in the history of our nation. Outside groups have broken spending records attacking Jamaal. So, are you gonna allow for outside groups, for right-wing billionaires, to decide who best represents the interests of our community here in the Bronx? Or will you, like Jamaal, stand up against those MAGA Republicans and say not in our backyard? These megadonors don’t care an iota about the Bronx, White Plains, Yonkers, or anywhere in the district. They are funneling millions of dollars into this race for the simple fact that Jamaal will not rubber stamp their agenda. In barely a month, an AIPAC-affiliated super PAC has spent $14.5 million against Jamaal simply because he, like me, supports a ceasefire to end the horrific war in Gaza.”
As Tuesday’s primary draws closer, the coalition supporting Bowman has grown daily, mobilizing the campaign to increase its ability to connect with voters, and empowering community members to speak with more and more fellow voters. In just the past week, Bowman supporters have knocked more than 49,000 doors and made more than 310,000 calls — averaging out to nearly 7,000 doors knocked per day, and over 44,000 voters called each day.
Congressman Jamaal Bowman’s campaign for re-election has been endorsed by Democratic leadership, members of Congress, and local electeds including Senator Bernie Sanders, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, House Minority Whip Katherine Clarke, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Congresswoman Cori Bush, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Congresswoman Summer Lee, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, State Senator Jamaal Bailey, New York City Councilmember Kevin Riley, Mount Vernon City Councilmember Derrick Thompson, Hastings-on-Hudson Mayor Nicola Armacost, Hastings-on-Hudson Trustee Georgia Lopez, Hastings-on-Hudson Trustee Douglass Alligood, Mamaroneck Trustee Leilani Yizar Reid, and Mamaroneck Trustee Manny Rawlings. Bowman has also been endorsed by organizations across issue areas including 350 Action, 504 Dems, Alliance for Quality Education, Bend The Arc Jewish Action, Congressional Black Caucus PAC, Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR) SEIU, Common Defense Civic Engagement, Community Voices Heard Power, Citizen Action of NY, College Democrats, DC37, Friends of the Earth Action, Human Rights Campaign PAC, IfNotNow, Indivisible Brooklyn, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Justice Democrats, League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, Make the Road Action, Muslim Democratic Club of NY, National Nurses United, New York Communities for Change, New York Progressive Action Network (NYPAN), New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), Our Revolution, People’s Action, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, SEIU 1199, Sierra Club Independent Action, Sunrise Movement, Teachers Unify To End Gun Violence, The Jewish Vote, UAW Region 9A, and the Working Families Party.
Congressman Jamaal Bowman was an educator and advocate for public schools for over 20 years and previously served as principal for the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action (CASA), a public middle school he founded in 2009 in the Baychester neighborhood of The Bronx. Rep. Bowman is a life-long New Yorker who lives in Yonkers with his wife and children.
