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      Two Vulnerable House Democrats Say Biden Will Lose Against Trump

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      Two House Democrats facing challenging re-election races in rural districts said on Tuesday that President Biden would lose in November to former President Donald J. Trump, adding to widespread pessimism within the Democratic Party about its presidential nominee.The two Democrats, Representatives Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, did not call on Mr. Biden to step aside, nor did they indicate that any other Democrat stood a better chance of defeating Mr. Trump in the fall.But Mr. Golden and Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez, who are some of the most vulnerable incumbents in Congress this election cycle, essentially delivered a warning that they were preparing for Mr. Biden to be a critical liability at the top of the ticket. A poor performance by Mr. Biden in the presidential election could doom their own chances for re-election.In an opinion essay in The Bangor Daily News, Mr. Golden, who represents a district that Mr. Trump won in 2020, said that he had assumed Mr. Trump would win for months now and that he had made his peace with that outcome.“Lots of Democrats are panicking about whether President Joe Biden should step down as the party’s nominee,” he wrote. “Biden’s poor performance in the debate was not a surprise.”“It also didn’t rattle me as it has others,” Mr. Golden added, “because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that.”In an interview with a local television station, Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez, a first-term Democrat from a rural red district, also predicted that Mr. Biden would lose, blaming his dismal debate performance.“About 50 million Americans tuned in and watched that debate,” she told KATU News, appearing crestfallen throughout the interview. “I was one of them for five very painful minutes.”After carefully considering her response to a question about whether the president should step aside, Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez said: “The truth, I think, is that Biden will lose to Trump. I know it’s difficult, but I think the damage has been done.”She added that Democratic primary voters had already chosen Mr. Biden and that “a core tenet of democracy is that you accept the results of an election.”“Biden is the nominee,” she said. More

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      Jamaal Bowman’s Election Loss: 5 Takeaways

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      Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York became the first member of the House’s progressive “squad” to lose a seat in Congress on Tuesday, dealing a stinging defeat to the Democratic left after a brutal intraparty fight.The contest on the outskirts of New York City centered on Democrats’ disagreements over Israel’s war in Gaza. Progressive groups raced to try to save Mr. Bowman, a leading voice against the war. Pro-Israel political groups pumped record-shattering sums into defeating him.But by the end, it devolved into a broader spat over race and class that tested the Democratic coalition. Mr. Bowman’s opponent, the Westchester County executive, George Latimer, also benefited from old-fashioned local alliances and a series of embarrassing missteps by the incumbent.Here are five takeaways from the results.AIPAC notched its first big win.George Latimer capitalized on decades-old political alliances and an alliance with pro-Israel groups that spent more than $15 million on the race.Dave Sanders for The New York TimesAfter the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks, political groups aligned with Israel issued a message to its critics like Mr. Bowman: Moderate your views or prepare for stiff political opposition.Tuesday’s result showed that was no idle threat.The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Democratic Majority for Israel and other affiliated organizations ultimately spent more than $16 million to defeat Mr. Bowman, more than any outside group has ever put into a House race.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Bowman Falls to Latimer in House Primary in New York

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      Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York, one of Congress’s most outspoken progressives, suffered a stinging primary defeat on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, unable to overcome a record-shattering campaign from pro-Israel groups and a slate of self-inflicted blunders.Mr. Bowman was defeated by George Latimer, the Westchester County executive, in a race that became the year’s ugliest intraparty brawl and the most expensive House primary in history.It began last fall when Mr. Bowman stepped forward as one of the leading critics of how Israelis carrying out their war with Hamas. But the contest grew into a broader proxy fight around the future of the Democratic Party, exposing painful fractures over race, class and ideology in a diverse district that includes parts of Westchester County and the Bronx.Mr. Bowman, the district’s first Black congressman and a committed democratic socialist, never wavered from his calls for a cease-fire in Gaza or left-wing economic priorities. Down in the polls, he repeatedly accused his white opponent of racism and used expletives in denouncing the pro-Israel groups as a “Zionist regime” trying to buy the election.His positions on the war and economic issues electrified the national progressives, who undertook an 11th-hour rescue mission led by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. But they ultimately did little to win over skeptical voters and only emboldened his adversaries.A super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobby, dumped $15 million into defeating him, more than any outside group has ever spent on a House race.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      John Avlon Defeats Nancy Goroff in Long Island Primary.

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      John Avlon, a former CNN political analyst who helped found the centrist political group No Labels, won the Democratic primary in a House district in eastern Long Island in New York on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.Mr. Avlon only entered the race in February but quickly built up support in the district, which he moved to in 2017.His critics, including his opponent, Nancy Goroff, used his recent move to the area to suggest that he was out of touch with locals, but he won more endorsements from party leaders and local elected officials than did Ms. Goroff, a retired chemistry professor who ran in 2020.Mr. Avlon will now face Representative Nick LaLota, the Republican incumbent, in November. While President Biden eked out a 0.2-point win in the district in 2020, Mr. LaLota cruised to an 11-point victory two years later. The Democratic House Majority PAC has characterized the First Congressional District as “one of the most competitive districts in the country,” while the Cook Political Report has called it “likely Republican.”“Anxieties and emotions hang around this election, but we know that action is the best antidote to anxiety, right?” Mr. Avlon said to his supporters on Tuesday. “The real work — you all know — it starts right now.”Ms. Goroff had seemed to be the presumptive Democratic candidate until Mr. Avlon announced his candidacy. Mr. Avlon said he felt compelled to enter the race because of the partisan division in the country, and referred to the district as a “majority maker.”In the waning weeks of the race, Ms. Goroff and PACs that supported her tried to emphasize Mr. Avlon’s past ties to the Republican Party, particularly Rudolph W. Giuliani, for whom Mr. Avlon worked as a speechwriter and adviser. Mr. Avlon has previously said he worked for Mr. Giuliani “when he was sane.”“We proved that the positive defeats the negative,” Mr. Avlon said in his speech on Tuesday. “We are fighting the good fight together, side by side and unafraid.” More

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      Lauren Boebert Wins Crowded Primary in Colorado After Swapping Districts

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      Representative Lauren Boebert, the MAGA lightning rod who switched districts in Colorado to avoid being ousted from the House, won a crowded Republican primary on Tuesday in a conservative area of the state, all but ensuring that she will serve another two years in Congress.Ms. Boebert, a two-term Republican, overcame multiple challengers in the eastern plains of Colorado, nearly guaranteeing that she will prevail over her Democratic rival in November in the solidly red Fourth Congressional District. The Associated Press called the race for her less than half an hour after polls closed as she led by a wide margin.An outspoken right-wing lawmaker, Ms. Boebert first won her seat in 2020 after upsetting an incumbent Republican in a primary. She made a name for herself with strong pro-gun views, packing a Glock on her hip and encouraging staff at her now closed restaurant to openly carry handguns. In Congress, she has become known for her strident MAGA views and has become entangled in a series of personal scrapes, including being ejected from a Denver theater in a lascivious episode that was caught on closed-circuit camera.Facing a strong Democratic threat in the sprawling western Colorado district where she was first elected, Ms. Boebert chose to relocate to eastern Colorado to give herself a better chance of remaining in the House — and it appears to have worked.The seat was vacated earlier this year by Ken Buck, a Republican who left Congress before the end of his term and will be replaced temporarily by Greg Lopez, a Republican former mayor of Parker who won a separate special election on Tuesday. Ms. Boebert did not run in the special election, since that would have required her giving up her current seat, cutting into the thin Republican majority.Former President Donald J. Trump endorsed her, and her national profile helped her raise significantly more money than her five primary opponents, who split the anti-Boebert vote and enabled her victory despite claims that she was carpetbagging by suddenly changing her residence.Ms. Boebert narrowly won re-election in her original district in 2022 by just over 500 votes and would have again faced a challenge from Adam Frisch, a Democrat who made the race close two years ago with little outside help. This go-round, he was drawing strong financial support from Democrats who saw a chance to oust Ms. Boebert.Now, with Ms. Boebert gone, Democrats are hoping to pick up the seat she now holds in the conservative district, which includes high-end ski resorts as well as energy facilities and working ranches. Democrats boosted a right-wing conservative in a crowded primary there, gambling that a far-right Republican might be easier for Mr. Frisch to defeat in November.But the effort came up short when Jeff Hurd, a Grand Junction lawyer, won the Republican nomination on Tuesday, giving the party establishment the candidate it preferred against Mr. Frisch. More

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      State Senator Wins Swing-District House Primary in Central New York

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      State Senator John W. Mannion won the Democratic primary in New York’s 22nd Congressional District in Central New York on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.Mr. Mannion defeated Sarah Klee Hood, an Air Force veteran and a town councilor in DeWitt. She had drawn upon her experiences as a working mother who has sought abortion care to make her case to voters.The district, currently held by Brandon Williams, a Republican, is widely considered one of the Democrats’ best opportunities for a pickup in the nation.In 2022, Mr. Williams, who has been a vocal champion of former President Donald J. Trump, was narrowly elected by just under one percentage point. Since then, the boundaries of the district have changed to favor Democrats, with the northern part of Herkimer County traded for more of the Finger Lakes region. Cook Political Report labels the seat “leans Democratic.”A former public-school teacher and union representative, Mr. Mannion was elected in 2020 to the State Legislature, where he leads the Senate Committee on Disabilities. His congressional bid was bolstered by the state teachers’ union and the AFL-CIO.The race was colored by 11th-hour accusations from former staff members of Mr. Mannion who claimed that he had created a hostile workplace. Mr. Mannion vehemently denied the claims, which are being investigated by the State Senate. More

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      Rep. Bob Good Seeks Funds for Virginia Primary Recount

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      The Republican primary between Representative Bob Good of Virginia, the chairman of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, and his Trump-backed challenger was still up in the air on Monday almost a week after the balloting, as the two election deniers settled in for a lengthy and ugly fight over who was the true victor.John J. McGuire, a little-known state senator and former Navy SEAL who attended the “Stop the Steal” rally outside the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, held a razor-thin lead of just under 375 votes out of the nearly 63,000 votes cast, according to The Associated Press. He declared victory last Tuesday night before all the votes were counted, and on Monday, former President Donald J. Trump, who endorsed him, declared Mr. McGuire the winner in a social media post.But The A.P. said on Monday that the contest was too close to call, noting that while it would be unusual for a recount to shift the outcome of such a race, it would not be impossible. And Mr. Good has already made it clear he will seek a recount, an option under Virginia law, which allows such a request if the winner of a race is less than one percentage point ahead of his opponent.John J. McGuire, a state senator, speaking to supporters in Lynchburg, Va., last week. He declared victory on election night.Skip Rowland/Associated Press“While not unprecedented, it is rare for a race of this nature to shift by a few hundred votes during a recount,” The A.P. said in explaining its finding that the race was “too close to call.” “However, A.P. research has found that Virginia has a history of making small vote corrections after Election Day and that some past statewide races have shifted by hundreds of votes during a recount.”Mr. Good would have to pay for the recount himself because he trails Mr. McGuire by 0.6 of a percentage point, just above the 0.5 percentage point difference below which the state would finance it.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Bowman and Latimer Use Final Debate to Air Differences on Israel and Race

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      Fighting for his political life ahead of next week’s New York primary, Representative Jamaal Bowman took broad swipes on Tuesday at his opponent in the contest’s final debate, accusing him of failing Black constituents and selling his campaign out to a pro-Israel super PAC.Mr. Bowman, who is Black, charged that George Latimer, his white challenger, had slow-walked desegregation as Westchester County executive and had done too little to close the wealth gap between Black and white families.He repeatedly sought to portray Mr. Latimer as a lackey of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the bipartisan pro-Israel lobby that has spent a record-shattering $14 million trying to defeat Mr. Bowman over his criticisms of Israel.“He claims to be a Democrat, but he is supported by racist MAGA Republicans who support taking your voting rights — gutting your abortion rights,” Mr. Bowman, 48, said, referring to some of the group’s conservative donors.Mr. Latimer, 70, was having none of it. He forcefully denied each claim, saying that Mr. Bowman was “cornering the market on lies” in a desperate attempt to reverse a race that polls indicate he is losing. He trumpeted his own record producing affordable housing and investing in communities of color.“This is an example of using race as a weapon,” Mr. Latimer said at one point. “What we need to do is bring people together.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More