Progressives launch ‘all-hands-on-deck strategy’ for Jamaal Bowman’s primary against Rep. Eliot Engel: report

One week before New York Democrats will vote in the state's Democratic Party primary, progressives are turning up the heat in a primary bid against the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, Politico reported Tuesday.

"Desperate for victory after watching the presidential nomination slip through their fingers, progressives have found a new cause to rally around. Across the country, they’re channeling their grief, volunteer muscle and small-dollar donations into Jamaal Bowman, a left-wing candidate in New York trying to oust decades-long incumbent Congressman Eliot Engel," Politico reported.

"Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, all of whom have shown caution in the past about backing primary challengers to incumbent Democrats, have endorsed Bowman. Justice Democrats and the Working Families Party, two left-wing groups that took different paths during the presidential race, announced they are coming together to spend more than a half-million dollars to elect Bowman," Politico reported. "Former aides to Sanders and Warren have also publicly lined up behind Bowman."

During the 2018 midterms, Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress after beating Rep. Joe Crowley in the primary. Crowley was serving as the Chair of the House Democratic Caucus at the time he lost his Democratic Primary. Engel currently serves as Chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee.

"The all-hands-on-deck strategy is a striking show of unity after the presidential campaign ended with deep rifts on the left — and it’s had a catalytic effect on Bowman’s bid in the run-up to the June 23 primary. But their efforts have also exposed party fissures, spurring Democratic establishment powerhouses such as Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Jim Clyburn to throw their support behind Engel," Politico reported.

Polls close at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday.

Read the full report.