AOC Dragged for Tagging Wrong ‘Jamaal Bowman’ in Tweet — And Making Historical Error About District He Just Lost
Screenshot via @AOC on Twitter.
Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was one of the most vocal supporters of Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), who just lost his primary Tuesday evening, and posted a tweet Wednesday praising him that made multiple factual errors.
Bowman was soundly defeated in the NY-16 primary by challenger George Latimer, the Westchester County executive who previously served in both the New York State Senate and New York State Assembly, cementing his long-time ties to the district.
The unsuccessful incumbent was dragged down by a series of controversies, including being censured by the House for pulling a fire alarm in an alleged attempt to delay a vote in September 2023, posting a 9/11 conspiracy poem on his blog in 2011, and his harsh criticism of Israel’s response to the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack.
On Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez posted a tweet praising Bowman as a “true public servant.” Unfortunately for her, she tagged the wrong “Jamaal Bowman.”
The @JamaalBowman account belongs to a user who lists their location as Germany and hasn’t posted since 2012. The congressman named Jamaal Bowman has two accounts, @RepBowman and @JamaalBowmanNY.
Besides the flood of mockery Bowman’s critics tossed at Ocasio-Cortez over his infamous fire-alarm incident, many pointed out that he wasn’t the first Black representative for the district.
In fact, he wasn’t even the second.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. was a pastor and the first Black member of Congress to be elected from New York. He was first elected in 1944 in New York’s 22nd congressional district and sworn into office in 1945. He represented NY-22 until 1953, then as district lines changed over the years, he represented NY-16 from 1953 to 1963, and NY-18 from 1963 to 1971.
Powell was followed by the district’s second Black congressman, now-retired Rep. Charles Rangel, who held the NY-16 district for a decade in the middle of his long tenure in Congress (1971-2017).
Several commenters sought to defend Ocasio-Cortez by arguing that redistricting meant that Powell and Rangel’s existence didn’t matter, but the current NY-16 does include some parts of the previous district, and it just doesn’t make logical sense to pretend a district emerges brand new when some of its boundaries are redrawn.
