A progressive congressional PAC and left-wing political group rescinded their endorsements of Mondaire Jones on Wednesday after the former New York representative backed Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s Democratic primary opponent because of the “Squad” member’s anti-Israel views.
Jones’ campaign announced Thursday that the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC had pulled its support due to the ex-congressman’s endorsement of Westchester County Executive George Latimer over Bowman in New York’s 16th Congressional District.
“Jones was clear that he made the endorsement to stand up for his Jewish constituents,” the campaign said in a press release.
“I have no regrets about standing up for what I firmly believe in. I have known and worked with George Latimer for years,” Jones added in a statement. “Rep. Bowman and I have very different views on Israel.
“I have been horrified by his recent acceptance of the DSA endorsement, his denial of the sexual assault of Israeli women by Hamas on October 7, and his rush to call for a cease-fire before Israel could hardly begin to defend itself against the worst assault on Jews since the Holocaust,” he added.
The progressive PAC said in a statement to NBC News that “a number of factors” led to the decision, but it was unanimously made by the PAC’s board.
The Working Families Party also revoked an endorsement of Jones on Thursday for having “strayed from the values and principles that made us proud to support him in 2020.”
“His decision to back George Latimer, who uses racist dog-whistles, rejects core parts of Biden’s economic agenda and shares donors with Mondaire’s own MAGA extremist opponent, runs counter to our values as a party,” the group said in a statement.
Jone will nevertheless remain on the party’s ballot line, since candidates can only be kicked off for losing a primary, moving out of state, committing a felony, running for another seat or dying.
House Progressive Caucus chairwoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) told NBC that Jones’ endorsement this week of Latimer was “horrific.”
“Honestly, I’m just so disgusted by it,” she told the outlet. “This is a former colleague of his, an incumbent member who is a top-priority candidate for us, an incumbent for us in the Progressive Caucus.”
Jones in his Thursday statement said if elected, he “will continue to be a champion for the policies I have long advocated, including lowering costs for working families, restoring women’s reproductive freedom, protecting Social Security and Medicare, implementing transformative climate action, banning assault weapons, and fighting for universal health care.”
He will proceed unopposed through the June 25 primary in the Empire State, unlike Latimer and Bowman, and face a rematch against freshman Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in the November general election for Hudson Valley’s 17th district.
The pivot comes after he faced criticism last year from his former primary opponent, Liz Whitmer Gereghty, the sister of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, for mocking Lawler and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) wearing yarmulkes during a meal with Jewish leaders.
“Well this was a waste of everyone’s time,” Jones snarked on X, prompting Gereghty to publicly question his “judgment.”
“If Mondaire Jones didn’t realize that his tweet could be viewed as antisemitic and elicit vile comments in response, I would question his judgment,” Gereghty told Jewish Insider in October, just days before Hamas invaded Israel.
Jones and Bowman in past congressional cycles also received donations from members of the Westchester People’s Action Coalition (WESPAC), a fiscal sponsor of the groups Within Our Lifetime and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) that funded anti-Israel tent encampments on college campuses nationwide this spring.
The former Hudson Valley Democrat received more than $35,000 in donations from billionaires George and Alex Soros since 2022, FEC filings also show, who also funded the tent cities whose denizens harassed and intimidated Jewish students on campuses.
His principal campaign committee has more than $3 million cash on hand as of the latest filings in April — roughly the same amount as Lawler’s campaign committee.
Jones was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2020 and served just one term following a stint as a litigator in the Westchester County Attorney’s Office.
