Jamaal Bowman, a first-time House candidate challenging a 16-term Democratic incumbent in New York, secured a major progressive endorsement from Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday.
Ms. Warren, who was a top candidate in the Democratic primary last year, joins Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rep. Katie Porter of California in supporting Mr. Bowman’s bid against Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot L. Engel.
“I am proud to endorse Jamaal Bowman for Congress in New York’s 16th District,” Ms. Warren of Massachusetts said in a statement. “He is exactly the kind of person we need in Congress fighting for big, structural change. Whether it’s fighting for high-quality public schools, affordable housing, or rooting out systemic racism, Jamaal Bowman will be a champion for working people in Washington.”
Mr. Bowman responded: “I am thrilled to have earned Senator Warren’s endorsement, who has made it her life’s work to fight for workers, their families, and for an economy that doesn’t just work for those at the top.”
The competition between Mr. Engel, a 16-term incumbent and House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, and Mr. Bowman, a former middle school principal, is framed as, potentially, the next AOC-esque challenge.
It’s a test of whether Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s radical success — which toppled former Democratic Caucus Chairman Joseph Crowley in 2018 — can be duplicated in the nearby 16th Congressional District of New York.
But its also a challenge between the “old guard” of the Democratic Party and younger progressives.
