Ryan Grim on Jamaal Bowman’s chances of defeating Engel in primary

The Intercept’s Washington, D.C. bureau chief, Ryan Grim, said Jamaal Bowman’s chances of defeating New York Rep. Eliot Engel (D) in the June 23 primary are higher after a series of recent endorsements for the progressive challenger.

Progressive firebrand Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) endorsed Bowman, a middle school principal, on Tuesday. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who achieved an upset in a neighboring district in 2018, endorsed Bowman earlier this month. 

“I certainly think Jamaal Bowman has a shot,” Grim said on Hill.TV’s “Rising.” 

Grim also noted Engel’s comments at a demonstration protesting the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in Minneapolis police custody on May 25. Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was recorded saying “if I didn’t have a primary I wouldn’t care” after he was told he wouldn’t have the chance to speak. 

“That has to go up as one of the worst things you could ever say in the middle of a contested primary,” Grim said. “There were two progressives running against him and I think that was his best hope, that the progressive opposition to him would be splintered between two candidates.”