Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) has lost a primary battle to Westchester County Executive George Latimer, becoming the first member of the far-left “Squad” to be unseated by a centrist Democrat.
Latimer leads Bowman 58.4 percent to 41.6 percentage points, with 88 percent reporting. The Associated Press called the race at 9:38 p.m ET.
The two-term congressman is also the first Democratic incumbent to lose their primary this year, capping off a contest that laid bare divisions within the Democratic party that have ruptured over the Israel-Hamas war.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a major pro-Israel group, emerges as another winner from the race after it poured $14 million in ads to boost Latimer, helping to make this primary the most expensive House race ever, according to ad tracker AdImpact.
Latimer said he was proud to be the Democratic nominee for the district and called on the party to unite behind him.
“While this race garnered a lot of headlines, tomorrow we turn a new page. We must come together, united to defend our Democratic values from MAGA extremism,” he wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Mr. Bowman’s District 16, which covers the northern Bronx and Westchester County, is solidly blue, so Mr. Latimer is likely to win the seat in November.
![Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington on June 25, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2F25%2Fid5675361-06252024-DSC07990-Scott-Perry_1-1200x800.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
HOUSE PASSES ‘FALUN GONG PROTECTION ACT’
The House has passed its first bill aimed at addressing the persecution of Falun Gong through legal means.
The bipartisan Falun Gong Protection Act (H.R. 4132), passed by a majority vote on June 25, calls for “an immediate end” to the Chinese regime’s eradicaction campaign targeting the faith group.
“It’s very frightening that in 2024, we’re having this discussion on the floor of the House of Representatives,” said Rep. Scott Perry, who introduced the bill in June last year.
He described the persecution of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline consisting of meditation and teachings based in values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, from “illegal detention, forced labor, torture,” to forced organ harvesting—”a form of mass murder.”
Making Falun Gong the “centerpiece of legislation” is an “action long overdue after 25 years,” he said.
The bill would require the United States to impose sanctions on Chinese officials, military leaders, or others who are “knowingly responsible for or complicit in, or have directly or indirectly engaged in, the involuntary harvesting of organs” in China.
Such a sanction would bar them from entering the United States, engaging in U.S.-based transactions, and revoke their current U.S. visa.
The bill also carries a civil penalty of up to $250,000 and a criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison for offenders.
It would also require U.S. officials to determine whether the persecution of Falun Gong constitutes an “atrocity.”
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) highlighted the “unimaginable suffering” on victims as he spoke in support of the bill.
“Imagine the terror, and despair, of those who are imprisoned for their beliefs, only to have their organs forcibly taken from them,” he said. “This is not just a statistic, or a distant issue. These are real people—people with families, with dreams, who endure unbelievable pain and fear.”
Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) thanked Mr. Perry for introducing the bill.
“The idea that a member of a religious minority could be targeted and killed so that their organs could be harvested is worthy of a horror movie,” he said.
—Eva Fu
BOOKMARKS
The State Department has released its annual human trafficking report. China drew particular attention, with its treatment of Tibetan and Uyghur populations, and reports of forced labor and organ harvesting.
Kenyan citizens took to the streets and set fire to the parliament building on June 25 in protest over a new tax proposal. The wide-ranging change includes new taxes on food, motor vehicles, social security income, and an eco-tax on imported goods.
President Joe Biden’s student loan repayment plan may be in jeopardy after two federal judges halted parts of his Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) program. This is the second setback for President Biden’s plans to expunge student loan debt, following a Supreme Court ruling that overturned a total forgiveness plan last June.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has halted a plan for a Catholic charter school program, saying it was against the state and national Constitution. Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond moved to block the charter, framing it as a separation of church and state issue: “Now Oklahomans can be assured their tax dollars will not fund the teachings of Sharia Law or even Satanism.”
The Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that “ultra-Orthodox” Jews can no longer be exempted from the military draft. The divisive decision is expected to cause increased turbulence within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration, and the country at large.
—Stacy Robinson