Pushing From the Left
LAST YEAR, JAMAAL BOWMAN, a 45-year-old former educator, unseated 16-term U.S. Representative Eliot Engel in the Democratic primary for New York’s 16th District, which includes the northern Bronx and the southern portion of Westchester County. The district is so solidly Democratic that no Republican ran for the seat and Bowman easily crushed his Conservative Party opponent in the general election. Bowman had been inspired by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who had won her seat in New York’s 14th district in 2018 in a similar upset.
Like Ocasio-Cortez, Bowman is a member of the nearly 100-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, part of “The Squad” (the informal group of Democratic congressional progressives which includes Ocasio-Cortez, Representatives Cori Bush of Missouri, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan). Also like Ocasio-Cortez, Bowman is a proud member of Democratic Socialists of America.
Newsweek spoke to him recently about his efforts to promote progressive causes in Congress. The interview was conducted before the verdict in the Derek Chauvin case, but just days after the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright in Minneapolis by a police officer. The interview has been edited for space and clarity.
You’ve been in Congress now for just over three months. How’s it been so far and