Politicians on both sides of the aisle celebrated progressive Squad member Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s crushing primary loss to moderate Democrat George Latimer as a stunning indictment of the far-left.
“Being a little bit to the left is not necessarily a reason to just run against someone — it would be that they are taking positions on issues that actually aren’t helping their constituents,” former New York Governor David Paterson, a Democrat, told The Post of Bowman’s double-digit loss.
“It’s more ideological than it is service to the people who sent you there.”
Bowman – who was first elected to represent the 16th District in 2020 – is the first member of the Squad to lose office following the most expensive congressional primary ever in terms of ad spending.
The former Empire State governor also slammed Bowman’s antics in the run-up to the primary, which included a last-ditch Bronx rally where he jumped up and down on stage and pledged to show the opposition “who the f–k we are.”
“He was too busy running around on stages, cursing and setting off fire alarms and putting out press releases that were completely fallacious,” Paterson scoffed.
“We can put up with people who have divergent points of view and maybe they’re a little a little bit on the edge, but what we can put up with is the coded language that really was antisemitism,” he added, referring to Bowman’s controversial stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
“When you do that kind of thing, karma gets you and you know what they say about karma.”
In November, Bowman was slammed for saying there was “no evidence” that Israeli women were raped by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 attack. He apologized for the comments last week.
Former Republican congressman Lee Zeldin concurred with Paterson’s assessment of Bowman’s loss.
“The anti-American, Jew-hating Squad will be short one radical member in January 2025,” the former gubernatorial candidate said.
“Democrats nationwide have been put on notice. Americans do not support the antisemitic, pro-criminal, high-tax, open border, and anti-business policies championed by the likes of Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Jamaal Bowman,” he added.
“Our nation will be stronger with a Congress no longer disgraced by his presence.”
New York Republican Party Chair Ed Cox also said “good riddance” to the progressive lawmaker.
“Jamaal Bowman just faced the consequences of his disgraceful actions. From his childish fire alarm stunt to his blatant anti-Semitic remarks and his latest public meltdown, Bowman has repeatedly shown he is unfit for office,” Cox’s statement read.
“Every socialist in Congress and the State Legislature should likewise be rooted out of public office.”
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, also a Democrat, shared his thoughts on X, where he slammed Bowman as the political equivalent of a pre-teen.
“Tonight middle school children who pull fire alarms & do it while denying rape as a weapon of war lost. And progress won,” the Democrat said, referring to how Bowman famously pulled a fire alarm to avert a government shutdown vote last year.
“You can’t be a real progressive if you don’t make ‘progress.’ Now we can!” he added.
Hours before the election Cuomo had warned Bowman that he better “pull the fire alarm again” because he was going to be “smoked” by Latimer.
Meanwhile, Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a House Republican who famously got into a shouting match with Bowman over gun control used the latter’s loss as an opportunity to revisit the viral moment and poke fun at the lefty lawmaker.
“I’m going to miss our informal chitchats in the hallways,” Massie wrote on X alongside a clip of the scuffle.
In March 2023, Bowman and Massie got into a war of words over the aftermath of the shooting at a Nashville Christian school that killed three children and three adults.
The heated exchange started when Bowman declared his GOP colleagues were “cowards” for failing to back stricter gun control measures.
“They’re freaking cowards. They’re gutless,” Bowman screamed.
Massie, who is a member of the Second Amendment Caucus, cut in and argued that arming teachers would be a viable way to curb school shootings.
“You know, there’s never been a school shooting in a school that allows teachers to carry,” Massie insisted.
“Carry guns?” Bowman scoffed. “More guns lead to more death!”
Bowman later shared a video of the exchange on his social media, writing that “Republicans won’t do S–T when it comes to gun violence, but try to tell me to calm down.”
