Gov. Kathy Hochul threw shade at Rep. Jamaal Bowman ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic primary, while early voting numbers could spell trouble for the embattled “Squad” member.
During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Hochul said she hadn’t taken sides in the race between Bowman and moderate challenger George Latimer, who serves as the Westchester County executive.
But she made it clear she disagrees with Bowman’s view on the Israel-Hamas war when asked about the congressman accusing the Jewish military of committing “genocide” in Gaza.
“I stand strongly with Israel,” Hochul said.
“I went to Israel after Oct. 7. It was traumatizing still to see the images of women who were raped and what the country endured,” the governor said.
Bowman apologized last week after saying that reports of rapes and child murder by Hamas militants in Israel on Oct. 7 were a “lie” and “propaganda” at a November anti-Israel rally.
Meanwhile, Jewish residents in parts of the 16th District, which stretches from Co-Op City in The Bronx through much of Westchester, voted in large numbers via mail-in ballot or early voting in person – a welcome development for Latimer and trouble for Bowman.
Nearly 80% of registered Democrats who are congregants of the Young Israel synagogue of New Rochelle – 676 out of 873 had voted either by mail ballot or early voting in person, according to organizer Bruce Schanzer.
“Antisemitism is on the ballot,” said Schanzer, a Young Israel of New Rochelle congregant.
“We are American Jews who support Israel – the only liberal democracy in the Middle East. Bowman hasn’t represented the district well, and that was before October 7,” he said.
Schanzer credited the Teach New York Coalition/Westchester United group, an arm of the Orthodox Jewish Union, for helping set up a database that tracks whether congregants who are registered Democrats voted in the primary. If they didn’t, they’d be pinged.
Four other synagogues in Westchester had at least half of their Democratic congregants vote already, the Teach New York representative said.
Election data provided to The Post said overall, 15% or 3,537 registered Democrats in New Rochelle voted through Saturday.
Elsewhere, 17% or 4,102 Democrats voted already in Greenburgh, an area Latimer is expected to carry.
Bowman, however, is expected to do well in the 82nd Assembly District in the Bronx which includes Co-Op City, where more than 2,000 people voted already.
The incumbent was in the hot seat after throwing a cringe-worthy rally Saturday with fellow lefty Squad Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Ben. Bernie Sanders.
Meanwhile, Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres said Bowman should be embarrassed by his potty-mouthed antics during the event.
“The level of profanity here is so shocking as to be unbecoming of a Member of Congress,” Torres said in a statement on X.
“There is nothing in Jamaal Bowman’s unhinged tirade that remotely resembles the decency of the people I know and represent in the South Bronx.”
