#Progressives scarred by 2020 divisions find common ground in ousting Engel

It’s progressives versus moderates in the race to be the Democratic candidate for New York’s 16th Congressional district — and both sides are pulling out all the stops.

In the moderate corner is 16-term incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), who is facing the primary challenge of his career despite the endorsements of establishment figures like Hillary Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

On the progressive side is Jamaal Bowman, a 43-year-old former middle school principal with the backing of heavyweights like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

Bowman has seen a surge in progressive attention and support in recent weeks, most certainly thanks in part to the string of disastrous headlines Engel, 73, has faced since May.

In an effort to maintain that momentum, progressives are uniting in spite of wounds that are still healing in the wake of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, where moderates were able to get their candidate of choice across the finish line.

With Sanders and AOC behind him, Bowman was able to secure the support of fellow 2020 progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and AOC’s fellow “squad” member Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).

Former aides to Sanders and Warren have publicly thrown their support behind Bowman.

Warren said of Bowman in her endorsement Tuesday that he was “exactly the kind of person we need in Congress fighting for big, structural change.”

Whether progressive endorsements will help Bowman land the plane remains to be seen, but the effort to oust Engel has united the recently-fractured wing of the Democratic party.

Two of the most prominent progressive organizations — Justice Democrats and the Working Families Party — announced earlier this month that they would be uniting to spend over half-a-million dollars to elect Bowman.

During the Democratic presidential primary, Justice Democrats endorsed Sanders, while WFP endorsed Warren.

While the united effort is likely understandably a concern for the powerful incumbent, he is not going down without a fight.

Engel, who serves as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has seen a wave of moderates stick their necks out for him during this election cycle.

Aside from Pelosi and Clinton, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) have all endorsed Engel’s reelection bid as his progressive challenger gains steam.

In Jeffries’ endorsement, he did not mince words about a recent controversy plaguing the embattled politician, calling Engel’s “if I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care” remark from earlier this month “inartful.”

Jeffries went on to defend the House Democrat, saying that “his words were weaponized against him and taken out of context.”

Engel has defended the remarks since, arguing that he wanted voters to know he cared deeply about the unrest roiling the city.

“In the context of running for re-election, I thought it was important for people to know where I stand, that’s why I asked to speak,” he said.

The Congressional Black Caucus came under fire with its endorsement of Engel’s re-election bid, due to the fact that Engel is white and Bowman is black.

The caucus, however, is a strong defender of seniority within its ranks, and has previously endorsed white incumbent lawmakers instead of black primary candidates.

Regardless, some Democratic insiders have noted to The Post that Bowman, a Justice Democrats-backed progressive, 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.

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

Clyburn spoke to that in his endorsement of Engel, saying at the time, “During the South Carolina primary several months ago, I endorsed our party’s presumptive nominee, Joe Biden for President, because of his long and distinguished record of standing with us. The same goes for Eliot Engel.”

The New York Democrat’s primary race went from bad to worse when 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, the magazine reported, he was hiding out at his Maryland home.

The vanishing act left political pundits scratching their heads and Bowman seized the moment to accuse Bronx-born Engel of having “completely lost touch” with the district he serves.