Keep Engel in Congress – Dem bigs
‘Inartful’ remark downplayed
The Democratic cavalry is coming to the rescue of embattled long-serving Rep. Eliot Engel, with Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries leading the charge to endorse the 31-year incumbent’s reelection bid.
The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has made headlines lately for all the wrong reasons, with just more than a week until the New York primary on June 23. First, he got caught sheltering in place because of COVID-19 at home — in Potomac, Md., not his Bronx apartment. Then he infamously pleaded to speak at an event in the Bronx, saying on camera, “If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care.”
None of that outweighs a long history of service to his Bronx-Westchester district, though, Jeffries (top left) told the Daily News in an exclusive interview to throw his significant political weight behind Engel (top right).
“Yes, he made an inartful statement, and his words were weaponized against him and taken out of context,” said Jeffries, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus — the No. 4 Democrat in Congress. “But one inartful statement should not wipe out decades of authentic, committed compassionate on-the-ground service to the community.”
The event where Engel got caught on tape was aimed at bringing attention to peaceful protests of police abuses. Jeffries pointed to Engel showing up for years to support people harmed or killed by police violence, from Amadou Diallo through Eric Garner to Ramarley Graham,
a Bronx 18-year-old killed in his own bathroom by police. “The notion that Eliot Engel has been missing in action throughout his career is ill-informed and ill-conceived. Every time the community has needed Eliot Engel to be there, he has been there,” Jeffries said.
He said Graham’s mother even stepped forward to defend Engel when he was heckled at a recent rally against police violence with Engel endorser state Sen. Jamaal Bailey (D-Bronx).
“Eliot Engel was there for me, for my family and for the community, and in fact, was present in the funeral,” Jeffries recounted the mom saying.
Engel has already racked up significant endorsements from party leaders, although embarrassingly Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) last week emphatically denied he had endorsed Engel, though Engel listed him on his website as a backer.
Engel’s primary threat is coming from former Bronx educator Jamaal Bowman, who has been embraced by progressives in the AOC wing of the Democratic Party, and is hoping to repeat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s feat of knocking out Joseph Crowley — previous chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed Bowman, as has Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Bowman was not buying Jeffries’ take on Engel’s service.
“The No. 1 word we hear from voters to describe Eliot Engel is absent,” he said. “This is not about a single gaffe, this is about an absent congressman who has neglected his district for decades.”