UAW chief defends Bowman amid divisive primary

United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain defended Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) Wednesday in his contentious primary race.

“The @UAW fights for economic justice from the bargaining table to the ballot box,” Fain said in a post on the social platform X. “We need leaders like @JamaalBowmanNY who will fight for the wealthy to pay their fair share! We can’t keep electing people who are too scared to stand up to the billionaires.”

Fain’s post also included a screenshot of a New York Times story that referenced reporting by The Journal News, a local outlet, in which Bowman’s Democratic opponent, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, said he opposed raising taxes on the wealthy.

The race between Bowman and Latimer for the Democratic nomination for New York’s 16th Congressional District has captured some attention and caused a divide among progressive New York Democrats, after former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) endorsed Latimer.

“Jamaal Bowman has earned support across the entire Democratic Party – from House leadership and the Congressional Black + Progressive Caucuses to Labor + grassroots – bc he is a proven, effective,& beloved leader. Dem unity means supporting Bowman. That’s how we win in November,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday in a post on X in response to a Times article reporting Jones’s endorsement. 

Jones said in an interview with the Times that he couldn’t stand on the sidelines as Bowman became critical of Israel during its war with Hamas in Gaza.

“As someone who is among the most popular Democrats in the Hudson Valley, it is my prerogative to play a dispositive role in ending this long, painful nightmare that we have been experiencing since Oct. 7,” he said, according to the Times.