The liberal press is claiming that Jewish money brought down two black House members, Cori Bush (D., Mo.) and Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.), who lost their primaries this year. The New York Times front-page story was titled “In Congresswoman’s Defeat, Israel Lobby Shows Its Clout.” But such money has at most a minor influence. Far more interesting is the Left’s inconsistency when it comes to what it gets angry at.
A FiveThirtyEight-sponsored poll of the Democratic primary race between Bowman and challenger George Latimer, a long-time Westchester County executive, found that, in late March, Bowman trailed Latimer by 17 percentage points. This was three months before the election and before any significant amount of money was spent on the race by AIPAC and other Jewish organizations. And it was the exact margin of Latimer’s eventual victory. As a result, it is hard to see how the support of Latimer’s candidacy (or opposition to Bowman) from groups that promote Jewish interests had any material impact on the result. And the reason should be obvious: Both candidates were well known, so advertising could not create distorted images of unfamiliar candidates.
Comments