Bowman backs fellow progressive challenging longtime Dem rep in St. Louis

close

Video

Engel trails progressive challenger in NY, 24-year-old Republican beats Trump-backed candidate in NC

Peter Doocy has recap of primary races across the country as former President Obama joins Joe Biden for a virtual fundraiser.

A week after progressive challenger Jamaal Bowman toppled longtime Rep. Eliot Engel in New York’s Democratic primary, Bowman is backing a fellow progressive challenging a 10-term Democratic congressman in St. Louis.

Bowman – a former middle school principal and first-time candidate – on Thursday endorsed nurse Cori Bush in her bid to oust Rep. Lacy Clay, who’s held Missouri’s 1st Congressional District seat for two decades. Clay succeeded his father – the late Rep. William Clay Sr. – who held the seat for more than 30 years and was one of the founders of the Congressional Black Caucus.

AOC BACKED BOWMAN DEFEATS POWER REP. ENGEL IN NY PRIMARY

“Proud to endorse @CoriBush, a leading organizer in the Ferguson uprising that sparked the movement we’re seeing today. She will fight tirelessly to confront racist and reckless policing in her communities. We need more voices like hers in Congress,” Bowman tweeted on Thursday.

Bush is making her second straight primary challenge against Clay, who defeated the registered nurse by double digits in the 2018 primary.

Bush – who was endorsed by then-presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., early this year – seems to be gaining a bit of momentum. The ordained minister who says she got involved in politics as a Black Lives Matter activist in the wake of the 2014 fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., raised nearly $240,000 in the past three months, including $170,000 in June alone. That’s a major increase in her fundraising compared with the prior 14 months of her campaign.

Last Friday, the AP called the Democratic primary in New York’s 16th Congressional District for Bowman – more than three weeks after the June 23 contest. The massive amount of votes cast by mail – due to health concerns of in-person voting amid the coronavirus pandemic – delayed the counting of ballots.

Bowman’s victory over Engel – the powerful chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee – in a district that encompasses parts of the New York City borough of the Bronx and portions of neighboring southern Westchester County, was compared to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s stunning 2018 Democratic primary upset of longtime Rep. Joe Crowley, which created political shockwaves.

'SQUAD' MEMBERS TLAIB, OMAR, FACE SERIOUS PRIMARY CHALLENGES

Two years ago Ocasio-Cortez, fresh off her defeat of Crowley, endorsed Bush. But the influential progressive freshman lawmaker is remaining neutral in the rematch in St. Louis. Last year, Lacy signed onto the Green New Deal – which was pushed by Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts. At the time Lacy sent out a news release, which included a photo of him with Ocasio-Cortez.

Word of Bowman’s endorsement of Bush was first reported by CNN.