#NY Rep. Eliot Engel in ‘hot water’ amid fierce Bronx primary fight, say Democrats

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New York Rep. Eliot Engel
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New York Rep. Eliot Engel’s re-election bid is going from bad to worse, with Democrats now conceding the veteran lawmaker is in serious trouble ahead of the Empire State primary later this month.

After a string of disastrous headlines, Democratic Party sources this week told The Post the 16-term Bronx-Westchester congressman is in “hot water” and setting himself up to be the next Joe Crowley.

With just two weeks left in the race, most of Congress’ New York legislators have also remained silent and refrained from endorsing their beleaguered colleague as he fights for his political life.

Engel, 73, chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, is facing a fierce primary challenge from former middle school principal Jamaal Bowman, 43, who has recently scored a string of endorsements from Bernie Sanders, Bronx-Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of New York’s liberal establishment.

Bowman’s insurgent campaign is also raking in hundreds of thousands of fundraising dollars after Engel was caught on a hot mic last week apparently saying he didn’t care about looting and unrest in his Bronx district in the wake of George Floyd.

Multiple Democrats described the moment as fatal and are now speculating Engel could lose his seat at the June 23 primary.

“He’s following the Joe Crowley playbook,” said one Democrat source, referring to the party stalwart who was infamously unseated by Ocasio-Cortez in 2018.

Others noted that Bowman, a Justice Democrats-backed progressive who is black, is a much better fit for the political moment as the nation experiences civil rights protests not seen since the 1960s in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

So far, members of the Empire State Democratic Caucus like influential Rep. Hakeem Jeffries have given Engel a wide berth and the only member of the House who has endorsed his re-election bid are out-of-towners Rep. Maxine Waters and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand quietly endorsed Engel late last month. When pressed on Tuesday on why he hadn’t yet supported Engel, Sen. Chuck Schumer demurred, but The Post understands the Senate Minority Leader is mulling an endorsement.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was also forced to come to Engel’s rescue and throw her weight behind Engel last week after Ocasio-Cortez and City Comptroller Scott Stringer backed Bowman and New York Sen. Alessandra Biaggi dropped her Engel endorsement too.

Engel exploded at AOC’s backing of his first serious challenger in 20 years, accusing her on Sunday of acting like a dictator and claiming she was acting out of line.

Veteran Big Apple Democrat consultant George Arzt, who is working on NY Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s own primary race, also said the hot mic moment was “a lethal mistake” but defended the Bronx pol.

“I don’t think it’s like Joe Crowley. Joe Crowley moved his family to Virginia and just ignored AOC. That’s not the case here. I think Eliot knew he was vulnerable to begin with and is putting on a fierce campaign,” he said.

“The problem is that having been vulnerable at the outset and he then makes the mistake on the hot mic — his opponents have been plastering it all over the place. I think that was a lethal mistake,” he continued.

Last month, The Atlantic revealed how Engel was missing in action for over two months as his New Rochelle district battled the first COVID-19 outbreak in New York — instead hiding out at his Maryland home.

The vanishing act left political pundits scratching their heads and Bowman seized on the moment to accuse Bronx-born Engel, who has serve in the House since 1989, as having “completely lost touch.”

But some insiders chafe at the idea that Engel should be written-off entirely given his lock on the moderate upstate vote.

“There is no question that Engel is in hot water for re-election, but it will take more than a Freudian slip to make him a loser,” said one Democrat congressional insider.

“Any opponent believing the Congressman is a goner fails to appreciate that he’s actually delivered for his district and for New Yorkers at large,” they added.

Said Arzt: “I think that the problem is Eliot has a minority district. He goes into the Bronx and that is a black and brown area and so that is very much akin to AOC and Crowley because Crowley also was vulnerable to begin with because he had a minority district.”

“But Bowman’s popular in only one small area of the district. I would say there are politicians who think he’s in trouble, but no one’s writing him off.”