Back in January, the rot began to show when J Street, the progressive Jewish organization that portrays itself as the left-wing alternative to AIPAC, pulled its endorsement of Bowman in response to his “framing and approach” to Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel. ...

In his concession speech, Bowman blamed his defeat on AIPAC, telling supporters “We should be outraged when a super PAC of dark money can spend $20 million to brainwash people into believing something that isn’t true.” Bowman added: “We should be outraged when, unfortunately, some so-called Democrats are aligning themselves with radical, racist, right-wing Republicans.” 

But Michael Levinson, a Latimer supporter at the event, said the opposite was true, and that Bowman’s defeat shows a desire to return to the sensible middle.