Former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has endorsed Westchester County executive George Latimer in his primary challenge to liberal “squad” member, Congressman Jamaal Bowman, who is trailing Mr. Latimer in the polls after representing the district for the last two terms. 

“With Trump on the ballot, we need strong, principled Democrats in Congress more than ever. In Congress, @LatimerforNY will protect abortion rights, stand up to the NRA, and fight for President Biden’s agenda — just like he’s always done,” Mrs. Clinton wrote on X on Wednesday afternoon. 

Mr. Bowman could not immediately be reached for comment, but his fellow Congressional Progressive Caucus member, Congressman Ro Khanna, tells the Sun that Mrs. Clinton should be focused on reelecting President Biden — not going after a fellow Democrat. 

“What I fear is that we’ve got to come together as a party to focus on electing Joe Biden, and he’s going to need all parts of the coalition to do that,” Mr. Khanna says. 

Mr. Bowman has been inundated with negative advertisements from both Mr. Latimer’s campaign and outside spending groups, especially the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has spent millions of dollars in recent months to defeat the anti-Israel lawmaker. In the past, Mr. Bowman has denied that Hamas used rape as a weapon of war during the October 7 attacks, and claimed that Israel was deploying “propaganda” to win sympathy from Americans after the attack. 

An Emerson College poll released on Tuesday shows Mr. Bowman trailing Mr. Latimer by a large margin in the district, which encompasses parts of Westchester County, a portion of the Bronx, and several affluent suburban cities. 

Mr. Latimer leads in the poll, with 48 percent of the vote, compared to Mr. Bowman, who wins just 31 percent. Undecided voters make up 21 percent. 

As of Tuesday, Mr. Bowman is being pummeled with money by Mr. Latimer. According to the Federal Election Commission, Mr. Latimer has spent $5.5 million on negative ads against Mr. Bowman and nearly $4 million in ads supporting his candidacy, compared to Mr. Bowman who has spent less than $900,000 attacking Mr. Latimer and just $902,000 supporting himself. 

On June 6, Mr. Bowman called Aipac a “racist organization” that is “trying to buy this seat.” 

Aipac and Mr. Latimer have compiled in their ads a number of controversial statements made by the congressman, including a YouTube page uncovered by the Daily Beast that showed Mr. Bowman had liked videos that questioned whether or not the American government was involved in the September 11th attacks. The ads have also highlighted Mr. Bowman’s vote record, including voting for a resolution that described Israel’s founding as a “catastrophe” and a voting against a resolution that condemns Hamas.