Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is predicting Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) might be wishing he had an electoral fire alarm to pull.
In a post on X, Cuomo wrote, “Jamaal Bowman should pull the fire alarm again because he is going to be smoked by [George Latimer] today.”
“The message is clear: anti-semitism in any and all forms will not be tolerated in New York. And you can’t call yourself a progressive without making progress,” he added.
The shot at Bowman, a member of the so-called “Squad,” refers to a moment from last year when he intentionally pulled a fire alarm to delay a vote on a government funding bill.
And it comes as Bowman is facing a tough primary challenge.
Politico reports of the race, “It’s a surprising turn of events for about a million reasons. For one, Bowman in 2020 unseated then-House Foreign Affairs Chairman ELIOT ENGEL in part by portraying him as too closely tied to Israel and too indulgent of its right-wing government. Now it’s Bowman, after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, who is on the defensive over his Israel views.”
“There’s also the unusual age and racial dynamics: Bowman, a 48-year-old Black former middle school principal, was seen as emblematic of a new and diverse generation of Democratic political talent. He’s at risk of being replaced by Westchester County Executive GEORGE LATIMER, who is 70, white and a proud practitioner of old-school retail politics,” it added. “The more complete story of the race is how Bowman showed weaknesses that Latimer, AIPAC and others have easily leveraged against him, whether it’s the infamous fire alarm incident, revelations of long-ago comments about 9/11 being an inside job and, most of all, his string of incendiary comments about the Hamas attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza that have fueled accusations of antisemitism against him.”
Cuomo’s post targeting Bowman garnered some interesting reactions on X from conservatives: