NEW YORK: Progressive Jamaal Bowman Set To Oust Powerful Longtime US House Rep. Eliot Engel [VIDEO]

Reuters reports:

Jamaal Bowman, a liberal Black middle-school principal, was ahead in early Democratic primary election results Tuesday in his bid to oust long-time U.S. Representative Eliot Engel from a congressional seat representing part of New York.

Bowman, 44, was leading Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, by 59.48% to 35.31%, the New York state elections board said, with 627 of 732 election precincts reporting. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination is likely to win the seat in November.

Progressive Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren as well as Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Bowman, while Democratic Party stalwarts, such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the party’s 2016 presidential nominee, rallied around Engel.

Final results won’t be official for another week due to the huge number of absentee ballots cast. Engel is considered among the most pro-Israel members of Congress and the race is being closely watched there, particularly since he runs the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Two years after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez first upended Democratic politics, another progressive newcomer, former Bronx middle school teacher Jamaal Bowman, is looking to repeat the feat by ousting longtime New York Rep. Eliot Engel https://t.co/OkoeXTtEtO

— CNN (@CNN) June 23, 2020

At this point, I’d be massively surprised if Jamaal Bowman (D) doesn’t beat #NY16 Rep. Eliot Engel (D).

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) June 24, 2020

#NY16 House Primary Early Results:

Bowman 64%
Engel 34.1%

— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) June 24, 2020