A White Liberal Is Trying To Oust A Progressive Black Congressman. His Comments Could Make That Job Harder.

When Westchester County Executive George Latimer ascended the rostrum on the Black Democrats of Westchester’s annual reception in late January, he selected to discuss the abundance of Black elected officers who now dot the majority-white, suburban county.

Listing out Black officers — from state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and his personal hand-picked deputy county government to extra native figures — Latimer described the current second because the product of a long time of laborious work towards attaining racial equality.

“That’s a sign of progress,” Latimer recalled of his remarks. “We haven’t made enough progress, but we’re making progress.”

To some within the crowd although, Latimer’s phrases betrayed a scarcity of self-awareness. Latimer is at the moment operating to unseat Rep. Jamaal Bowman, decrease Westchester’s first Black consultant in Congress, who was in attendance as properly. The county government didn’t point out his Democratic main opponent when enumerating Westchester’s completed Black elected officers.

“The silence was deafening — he goes out of his way not to mention the fact that Jamaal is the first Black man to represent a very diverse district and the fact that he’s actually really challenging someone,” stated Shane Osinloye, a progressive member of the New Rochelle City Council, who was current on the occasion. “I can’t believe that he doesn’t know what he’s doing when he’s trying to surgically remove representation — not just somebody who looks like me and shares my gender, but someone who represents my issues in a way that very few other elected officials do.”

Leilani Yizar-Reid, a city trustee in Mamaroneck who was additionally current, referred to as Latimer’s feedback “insulting.” She questioned Latimer’s resolution to even deliver up a sore topic within the context of his main run.

“I don’t know why he chose that particular topic, but that’s on him,” she stated. “Know your audience.”

County Legislator Terry Clements, majority whip on the Westchester County board of legislators and chair of the Black Democrats of Westchester, declined to touch upon Latimer’s remarks for this story.

The extent to which Bowman supporters are in a position to increase questions in voters’ minds about Latimer’s racial sensitivity may play an essential position within the county government’s bid to rob Bowman of the Democratic nomination in June. Since New York’s sixteenth Congressional District, which additionally features a sliver of the northern Bronx, is solidly Democratic, this yr’s main will resolve which particular person — and which wing of the celebration, Bowman’s anti-establishment progressives or Latimer’s mainstream liberals — will get management of a coveted House seat.

The inhabitants of New York’s sixteenth was about one-third Black and one-fifth Latino when Bowman first received there in 2020. But the exclusion of predominantly Black Bronx neighborhoods like Co-Op City from the district throughout court-ordered redistricting in 2022 diminished the Black share of the district’s inhabitants to about 21%, whereas sustaining the Latino inhabitants at its earlier stage.

Latimer and his Black allies insist that the criticisms of his remarks come from people who find themselves offended about his resolution to run, and that the denunciations don’t mirror his file as county government or the depth of his relationships with Black constituents and elected officers.

Referring to his remarks on the January reception, Latimer informed HuffPost, “Anyone who took offense at that is probably a person who doesn’t support me and is looking to be offended.”

“There are people who are African American who are unhappy that I am in this race,” he added. “They want to impute racial reasons for my candidacy and there are no racial reasons for my candidacy.”

But it’s not simply Bowman supporters who’re urging Latimer to train discretion together with his selection of phrases.

“It’s easy to cross over from campaigning to being patronizing,” stated Basil Smikle, a former chair of the New York State Democratic Party who’s extra aligned with the celebration’s average institution however has not endorsed a candidate within the main. “He’ll need to be careful not to lean into the latter in front of both Black and non-Black voters.”

Latimer’s beforehand unreported feedback on the Black Democrats of Westchester occasion are one among a number of incidents that his principally progressive Black critics see as proof of his tin-eared language on racial issues.

Earlier this month, Black Westchester Magazine reported that Latimer accused Bowman of accepting cash from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which perpetrated the brutal Oct. 7 bloodbath in Israel, whereas talking with a skeptical voter at Black History Month e book honest in New Rochelle. Latimer maintains that he was referring to a fundraiser for Bowman organized by pro-Palestine activists sympathetic to Hamas, which the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative outlet, reported on days earlier than the e book honest occurred. Bowman’s marketing campaign responded to the reported remarks by threatening Latimer with a defamation lawsuit.

In addition, when Latimer introduced his candidacy in December, he defended himself in opposition to prices that he’s backed by teams that concentrate on candidates of coloration by noting that he grew up in a predominantly Black a part of the city of Mount Vernon, and went on to function head of the tenants affiliation in a majority-Black house constructing. “I grew up as a white kid in a Black neighborhood, was I a racist?” Latimer requested in an interview with City & State.

In the identical City & State interview, he additionally stated that he wouldn’t be capable of win in opposition to Bowman if New York’s uncommon mid-decade redistricting had restored elements of the Bronx to New York’s sixteenth. Latimer’s detractors interpreted the back-to-back feedback as proof that whereas he would use his Black pals to defend in opposition to racism prices, he could be afraid of operating in a seat with extra Black voters, since a district with a higher share of the adjoining elements of the Bronx would successfully be sure that final result.

Finally, in a March 2021 Facebook put up, Latimer likened the push for then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign over sexual harassment allegations to the white lynch mob that murdered the Black teenager Emmett Till in 1955. He later edited the put up to omit Till.

“It was a foolish reference,” he informed HuffPost.

But of the varied feedback he’s made which have provoked controversy, Latimer in any other case stands by his phrases. He defended his resolution to invoke his upbringing in a Black neighborhood, claiming it was not a superficial bid to curry favor with Black voters.

“If you look at me and see I’m white, you might make assumptions about who I am, what I am, what my exposure to the African American community is,” stated Latimer, who now lives within the predominantly white coastal city of Rye. “‘He’s living up there in Rye, New York. What does he know?’ And I’m telling you, this is the world I live in.”

“I’m comfortable dealing with African Americans as well as whites,” he added. “I do not have the mindset that, ‘Oh my God, I have to speak carefully, because I might offend,’ because I speak honestly and openly.”

In a separate a part of his interview with HuffPost, Latimer requested that folks decide him on how he has served Black constituents: As county government, he’s allotted $1 million for a pilot program to enhance Black maternal well being in Yonkers; upped funding neighborhood well being facilities in predominantly Black areas; and invested $40 million within the renovation of a sports activities complicated in Mount Vernon. He additionally takes credit score for lending a hand to aspiring Black politicians: by tapping Ken Jenkins to function his deputy after defeating him within the 2017 Democratic main for county government, and earlier than that, by stepping apart in 2001 as chair of the Westchester County Board of Legislators, the principle county governing physique, in order that the late Lois Bronz may turn into the board’s first Black chair.

“That’s what I’m offering,” Latimer stated, referring to his accomplishments. “I’m not offering my demographic package versus somebody else’s demographic package.”

And certainly, what Latimer is providing is interesting to at the least some outstanding Black Westchester residents, together with County Legislator Ben Boykin, Pastor Lamont Granby of First Baptist Church in Bronxville, and Bishop Troy DeCohen of Mount Vernon Heights Congregational Church — all of whom have relationships with Latimer that predate Bowman’s tenure in Congress and at the moment are supporting Latimer’s congressional bid.

“He’s always been an aid to our community,” DeCohen informed HuffPost. “He’s been a good county exec.”

When it involves the incident on the e book honest in New Rochelle, the three events concerned — Latimer, the lady who confronted him, and A.J. Woodson, the editor-in-chief of Black Westchester, who witnessed the dustup — agree about all the pieces that occurred aside from the important thing element of what Latimer truly stated about Bowman’s donors.

Latimer was strolling across the occasion unaccompanied, and a lady, who has requested anonymity to make sure her private security, approached him to ask why he’s operating in opposition to Bowman. Latimer stated that he believes that by being extra pragmatic and discreet, he would ship for the district extra successfully than Bowman — a solution that the lady didn’t discover passable.

Then, the lady, who informed HuffPost that she is a staunch progressive and would have been supporting Bowman no matter how the interplay went, informed Latimer that she considers his reliance on donations bundled by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to be tantamount to “taking money from the devil.” (She informed HuffPost she principally objects to what she sees as AIPAC’s focusing on of candidates of coloration and use of huge sums to intervene in Democratic primaries. AIPAC maintains that its electoral issues are solely based mostly on candidates’ assist for Israel and notes that it has backed many candidates of coloration and sought to unseat a number of white elected officers.)

According to Latimer, he replied that if the lady took situation together with his monetary backers, she ought to know that Bowman had obtained donations from “Hamas supporters.” The Washington Free Beacon’s reporting that Bowman attended a fundraiser whose co-hosts included somebody that condoned the Oct. 7 assault and one other particular person affiliated with a bunch that declined to sentence it, has not been rebutted. (Bowman instantly condemned Hamas’s actions the day of the assault.)

“If you’re going to talk to me a certain kind of way, I’m not going to be a pin cushion,” Latimer stated of his resolution to argue with the voter.

Woodson, who was listening in, swears that he heard Latimer say that Bowman obtained cash from Hamas. “He never said [supporters,] he said Hamas,” Woodson recalled. “That’s a pretty strong statement.”

The lady with whom Latimer spoke is much less sure than Woodson about which phrases Latimer truly stated. “I cannot remember his verbatim words,” she stated. “But I know that A.J. Woodson was literally within a few feet, and a part of this conversation, so I defer to him for the exact wording.”

Regardless, the lady faults Latimer for instantly deflecting the criticism of AIPAC, and for citing a conservative information web site to assist his level.

“The goal is to try to draw a connection between Bowman and Hamas,” the lady stated. “It is like a flashback to the Southern Strategy.”

Jenkins, Latimer’s deputy, informed HuffPost that Latimer’s pugnaciousness when talking to prickly constituents has nothing to do with race. He is accustomed to seeing Latimer specific frustration with any variety of advocates or voters —together with these griping about points as mundane as the way forward for the county airport — who dictate complaints to elected officers quite than have constructive conversations.

“A lot of these things you’re talking about have the same consistent thread, which is, ‘We want to speak truth to power. We want to tell you what to do,’” stated Jenkins, who shares Latimer’s exasperation with bad-faith complainers. “Why don’t you look at what we have done? We’re listening to you, otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”

Jenkins at the moment serves on New York’s Independent Redistricting Commission, the place his fellow commissioners elected him chair. The fee proposed a new map of congressional district boundaries on Feb. 15 that stunned observers for its lack of adjustments, together with to New York’s sixteenth.

HuffPost requested Jenkins whether or not his presence on the fee, as a Latimer ally, was not a battle of curiosity on a panel whose selections would have an effect on Latimer — and certainly, whose newest map in the end spared him from having extra of the Bronx in his district. On the opposite hand, although, the proposed map additionally preserved the liberal communities alongside the Hudson River, the place Bowman retains main assist. (Once the fee’s work is formally over within the coming days, Jenkins plans to formally endorse Latimer.)

Jenkins responded by mentioning that the association was authorized. “Our attorneys did their due diligence and determined” that his service on the fee was not an unlawful battle of curiosity, he stated.

Jenkins additionally famous that he forged simply one of many votes for the map, which the 10-person, bipartisan fee adopted by a 9 to 1 margin.

Even that a part of Jenkins’ enter can be restricted. The map now heads to the Democrat-controlled state legislature for approval, the place it’s anticipated to be rejected following U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-N.Y.) indignant response to it.

Jeffries, a Brooklynite, claimed the map violated the state structure’s ban on partisan gerrymandering, although most observers consider he desires Democrats within the legislature to attract extra favorable strains for Democrats. Since Jeffries’ speakership rides to a substantial extent on a robust exhibiting in New York, he’s more likely to train appreciable affect over the legislature’s redistricting course of.

Of course, Latimer has plenty of shared historical past with Democrats within the state legislature as properly, having served as a state Assembly member from 2004 to 2013, and within the state Senate from 2013 to 2017. His relationships there may spare him a boundary modification that may re-incorporate nonetheless extra Black voters into his district.

Should Democratic lawmakers search to make New York’s GOP-held seventeenth Congressional District to the North extra Democratic, nevertheless, they may haven’t any selection however to shift liberal elements of New York’s sixteenth into the seventeenth. That would virtually actually require them to deliver extra of the Bronx into New York’s sixteenth to backfill the inhabitants deficit, presenting the identical conundrum for Latimer.

But Latimer’s detractors assume he ought to merely get used to having to battle tougher for Black votes.

“Democrats — white candidates and even Black candidates — they take it for granted that they’ve got the Black vote,” Woodson stated. “Now you’re challenging the first African American to hold that position, the incumbent Democrat, and you’ve got these comments being thrown around.”

“Is this the real him all along?” he added. “Those questions are being asked by some voters — not all, by some voters.”