The Democratic establishment is getting desperate

They're pulling out all the stops to save an incumbent who deserves to lose

Nancy Pelosi and Eliot Engel.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, AP Images, iStock)

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) is in trouble. Engel, who is white, 73 years old, and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has been in Congress since 1989, and currently represents the state's diverse and heavily Democratic 16th District. He faces a strong primary challenge from Jamaal Bowman, a local black middle-school principal nearly 30 years his junior. For the first time in decades, Engel is having to campaign hard — and he is none too good at it. Earlier this month, he tried to address a crowd regarding anti-police brutality unrest, and when rebuffed, he said over a live mic: "If I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care."

Bowman got a surge of campaign donations as a result, and has since been endorsed by Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Elizabeth Warren. But the Democratic establishment is rushing to save Engel. He has recently collected endorsements from Hillary Clinton, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff, and bizarrely, the Congressional Black Caucus.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.