Similar Political Dynamics, Let’s Hope for a Similar Results

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed Jamaal Bowman in his primary challenge to Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

All things considered, Engle is a prime candidate for “termination with extreme prejudice” by his constituents.

His district, one of the hardest hit by Covid-19 in the district, is right next to AOC’s, and Engel has been almost completely absent from it for decades, so it’s no surprise that he is vulnerable.

Here is hoping that this challenge gets another old party hack out:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), in her latest break with party leaders, has endorsed a Democratic primary challenger to Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), a long-serving committee chairman who represents a district adjacent to hers.

In a series of tweets, Ocasio-Cortez announced her support for Engel’s leading challenger, middle-school principal Jamaal Bowman, whose message of generational change has echoed that of Ocasio-Cortez ahead of her 2018 upset of a long-serving Democratic incumbent.

………

Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is serving his 16th term in the House.

He has reported raising more than $1.6 million through March — about three times as much as Bowman — but is facing a spirited June 23 primary amid criticism that he has not spent enough time in the district.

On Tuesday, Engel generated headlines after he repeatedly asked to speak at a Bronx news conference on protests over the killing by Minneapolis police of George Floyd, then said near a live microphone, “If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care.”

………

Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed two other challengers to House Democrats in this year’s elections. Business executive and activist Marie Newman defeated Rep. Daniel Lipinski in an Illinois district south of Chicago, while Rep. Henry Cuellar defeated Jessica Cisneros, an immigration attorney backed by Ocasio-Cortez.

Here is hoping that Engel gets a well deserved retirement.

The geriatric leadership of the House Democrats need to go.

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