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Here's What AOC Claims Is a 'Core Threat to Democracy'

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  June 17, 2024 6:15 PM

We're now just over a week away from the New York primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives, with NY-16 being particularly one to watch. Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a member of the Squad, is looking particularly vulnerable as he goes up against Westchester County Executive George Latimer. The latter leads Bowman in polls and also enjoys high profile endorsements. With Bowman and the overall Squad's anti-Israel take, especially but not merely since Hamas launched its October 7 attack against our ally in the Middle East, support for Israel certainly has come up as a prevalent issue in this race. That outside groups would dare to raise money on such a race is a factor Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a fellow Squad member of a nearby district, has not taken kindly to.

AOC has been ranting for some time about this primary, though her outrage that Latimer would dare to challenge Bowman has really been ratcheting up in recent weeks. As we covered earlier this month, former Rep. Mondaire Jones, who previously represented the 17th Congressional District and is trying to win his seat back this year, has endorsed Latimer, to AOC's ire. Since then, Hillary Clinton has also endorsed him. Latimer also leads not only in internal polls, but non-internal polls as well. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and AOC will meanwhile hold a campaign event for Bowman on Saturday.

Posting and reposting about those campaign event aren't enough for AOC, though. On Sunday she posted her outrage about outside spending involved in the race, including a cryptocurrency group known as FairShake. The independent expenditures for this cycle, at $16,478,266 shows Bowman on the receiving end of $10,264,793 and Latimer at the receiving end of $6,213,473.

"People everywhere need to understand how disgusting and abnormal it is for special interests to dump nearly $15 million to unseat a member of Congress in a primary," AOC claimed in her post. Rather than offer an explanation, she further engaged in an unhinged rant. "This is corruption. It is a core threat to American democracy. It also fuels Trump," she also posted, demanding people "Support Jamaal Bowman."

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We've pointed out plenty of times before how Democrats keep ranting about and likely will keep ranting about these supposed "threat[s] to American democracy," but to say that our primary process at work is "a core threat" is nonsensical even for AOC.

Both AOC and Bowman, as well as Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), another Squad member at risk of losing her primary, came into office by defeating a Democratic incumbent in their primaries. 

Bowman beat Rep. Eliot Engel, known for being a pro-Israel Democrat in the 2020 primary. During a recent virtual campaign event, Bowman referenced Engel and used antisemitic tropes in claiming that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has "full control" of Congress.

According to Open Secrets, $635,220 of outside money was spent in AOC's 2018 primary against then incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, with $633,302 spent to oppose her candidacy. Considering that AOC has beat outside spending forces before, she should perhaps welcome the challenge it brings to Bowman in this case. 

In her general election against Republican Anthony Pappas, 36.31 percent of her funds came from "Large Individual Contributions" and 3.62 percent came from "PAC Contributions," which "Includes contributions from other candidate committees." This notably isn't 0 percent for a candidate who swears off PACs. 

For Bowman's 2020 primary, OpenSecrets shows that he benefited from outside support. Of the $1,710,417 spent to support/oppose Bowman's bid to defeat Engel in the primary, more was actually spent to support Bowman: $903,752 worth. Engel benefited even more from outside dollars to support him, $1,404,737 worth of the $1,707,614 outside money spent, and he still lost.

That the primary process working in such a way "fuel [former and potentially future President Donald] Trump" is even more absurd a claim. This is a Democratic primary for a heavily Democratic district. The race is regarded as a "Safe" or "Solid Democratic" one regardless as to who wins the primary. 

This would not be the first time that supposed Republican influence has come up in the primary for this heavily Democratic district. A common refrain from AOC, Bowman, Bush, and others has been to lambast AIPAC for also funding Republicans. 

In addition to Bowman benefiting more from the groups mentioned in AOC's quoted repost, it's also noteworthy that 10 percent of Bowman's donations come from within the district, while that amount for Latimer is more than half. 

POLITICO on Sunday highlighted those donation figures, but also the kind of rapport Latimer has in the district he's looking to represent:

Latimer has picked up endorsements from fellow local leaders week after week — including the mayor and three City Council members in Yonkers, where Bowman lives. And while just 10 percent of Bowman’s campaign contributions come from his neighbors, more than half of Latimer’s donations come from within the district.

Latimer may not have any national name recognition compared to Bowman — who has built his reputation in Congress as a left-wing agitator for sweeping change nationwide — but he enjoys a different kind of celebrity. He’s the Cher of Westchester County, known as just “George” to many in the suburban enclave north of New York City thanks to his 35 years in state and local government.

Latimer’s additional edge over Bowman comes from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, that’s flooded the airwaves with more than $12 million in ads attacking the far-left firebrand for being out of step with mainstream Democrats. Bowman has tried to counter the hits by saying that AIPAC gets contributions from Republican megadonors.

The bitter Democratic primary between Bowman and Latimer — one of the country’s most competitive this cycle — will test the influence of a movement politician pushing ultra-progressive national policies against a longtime local leader leveraging both his AIPAC support and his considerable community connections.

“You should know every one of the mayors, you should know what the five most important issues are in these communities,” Latimer said at a recent campaign event. “You ought to know that because you represent the people of your district, not the people who are part of a nationwide network that you communicate with on Twitter.”

That same article begins by highlighting the "local political clout" Latimer has, in a piece memorably titled "Jamaal Bowman’s challenger is the Cher of suburban New York."

Rather than "a core threat to American democracy," it is actually democracy in action for this primary to take place next Tuesday as the Democratic voters of New York's 16th Congressional District get to decide whether or not to elect Bowman for another term.

Close to 6,000 replies came pouring in, as well as over 500 quoted reposts, to take issue with AOCs narrative. Users also jumped at the chance to bring up how Bowman pulled the fire alarm on September 30 last year when Congress was voting to avert a government shutdown, despite there being no emergency.