If the November election goes the way June 25's Democratic primary did, as expected, Westchester County Executive George Latimer will be heading to Congress in the new year. The former state lawmaker defeated second-term Congressman Jamaal Bowman after a bitter campaign in the 16th House district. The race attracted national attention and spending as it laid bare sharp divisions in the party over Israel and other issues. With the primary behind him, Latimer spoke with WAMC’s Ian Pickus about the result — and his party’s concerns about President Biden:
Everyone has been trying to put a label on what the race meant. Was it a national referendum? Was it a referendum on a sitting congressman? What lesson did you take from the results?
Well, I think it shows that when you do represent a district, it applies in Congress, but it could apply in any level of legislative body. You have to stay close to what the district expectations are, and how the voters of that district view issues and view attention. I think there is a seductive reality if you go to Washington where you can get wrapped up in having a national persona, you can wind up on national TV and you can be a spokesperson, but you lose the connection back home if you don't spend time physically in the district, physically meeting with people, and then also addressing issues of concern that matter to them, where they're at. And I think that that happened in this race. I'm very rooted locally. I think most people who follow this know that I've been in public office for a while in Westchester County, got strong roots here, and I think that was the contrast between the incumbent and my candidacy. I made a case that I was the guy that was going to pay more attention to what you cared about and less about, you know, what the national imagery might be.
Now there's still November's general election, but the seat is seen as being a safely Democratic seat. Have you had any conversations with Representative Bowman about a transition or continuing the work that he's been doing?
We have not. The nature of the race, I think, is such that it's been not quite a week yet. So we'll see where we are, you know, weeks or months hence. But right now, I'm focused on the November election. I'm certainly planning to run a vigorous fall campaign. Obviously, I know the registration and the past voting history of the district, but I take nothing for granted. I never have in all the races that I've run. So if I'm successful, it'll be because we work hard to make the right case and then in the period of time between now and then, we'll be thinking about the transition, but we'll take active steps if we do win on November 5.
What's your message for people who may have voted against you in the primary?
Well, I think that my public record is clearly a progressive record. The things we've done in managing Westchester County have been cited all across the state as being among the most progressive, if the not most progressive county outside of New York City, and what we've done in terms of repairing recreational facilities in minority populations, being able to have free buses and electrified buses, the things we've done in childcare to reduce costs and environmental initiatives, all of those things together are very close to what most of the people who are Democrats in this district expected. So it may be that I bring a different identity, a different personality to the seat, but my voting record on most things are going to be similar. Where we diverge on some issues of national policy, I think I'm more in the mainstream of where the Democratic and in general, the general population voters are. So I think they'll have a strong representative. Now, you know, people have to come around to those positions on their own. It's going to be tough for some people. And I'm certainly a patient and a respectful person, so I'm going to work hard to try to earn that support.
Have you heard from other members of Congress in the Democratic caucus since your victory?
Since the victory, I've spoken with the leader, Hakeem Jeffries, with Katherine Clark, who I believe is number two in the conference from Massachusetts. And I've also spoken to a number of existing members of Congress, many of whom were colleagues of mine when I served in the state legislature, Tim Kennedy, Joe Morelli, Paul Tonko and others. And so I think if I do win in November and I go on to serve in the House, I'm going to be serving alongside people that I know well, and that includes some of the Republicans as well, Claudia Tenney, Marc Molinaro, these are people that I got to know in Albany. You know, you're in settings, on some bills, and have a cup of coffee with them. And so I think I go into the House granted as a freshman, granted with no particular seniority, but with certainly a lot of background knowledge of government from my service in the county and the state, and with some of the relationships that you want to have in place if you're going to try to advance ideas and issues.
Let me ask you about the statement that Senator Bernie Sanders put out after the primary. He blasted the outside money that was spent in this race, and effectively said, you know, you can buy a race if you put enough money into it. Do you have any response to that?
First of all, the initial public poll in this race showed me having a 17-point lead on the incumbent. That was back with the DMFI poll before dime one was spent in the election. Dime one. So then there was a public poll that came out in June, couple of weeks before the primary, and I had a 17-point lead, and I won the election with a 17-point lead. So I think this is not an example of somebody buying a race. This is an example of somebody who ran with a strong baseline of support that stayed intact all the way through. Now it is certainly true that there was a lot of outside money, independent expenditures that came in on my side of the equation. There's no doubt about that. But what Senator Sanders doesn't want to acknowledge is that there was money and resources on the incumbent’s side. There was Democratic Socialists of America. There was Sunrise Democrats, his Our Revolution network of fundraising is what was put to the task to help raise money for the incumbent. And the incumbent had a fundraising effort with Representative Tlaib, and when I said, you know, out of Dearborn, Michigan, you know, they said, ‘Oh, well, that's a code word.’ It’s a code word for nothing. It's where she's from, where she raises her money from, that was going to benefit the incumbent. So I certainly favor restrictions on campaign financing. But you know, it's pretty disingenuous. When two years ago, the incumbent had a big fundraising advantage on his primary challenges, then I didn't hear him talking about outside money then. And then in this race, because he wasn't on the upside of it. Now it's a big issue, and he got 90% of his money from outside the district. 50% plus of my money came from with inside the district. So yes, there were national issues at play, but anybody who wants to sort of write this off as somebody bought a seat, I think, is trying to weaponize what happened for a political advantage. It's not an accurate read of what actually happened on the ground.
One of the big disagreements in the race was over the Israeli policy, the war and the U.S. role in taking sides there. For people who maybe are just now paying attention to the 16th district, what is your vision for how that war ends?
Well, look, I think you need to have a negotiation that involves both sides at the table, the Israeli side and the Arab side. Hamas is a terrorist organization, so to bring them to the table when they're committed to the destruction of Israel is very difficult to do. But there are Arab countries that that have been willing to have dialogue with the United States. You've seen it in Jordan, in Saudi Arabia, and some of the Arab Emirates, to some degree within Egypt, and I think those are the players that come to the table. You have some players that will never come to the table: Iran, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Hamas. And I think this is the frustration that you have. The difference between myself and the incumbent was that the incumbent took a much more negative attitude toward Israel. And even though October 7 was created by Hamas’ attack on Israel. He immediately was critical of Israel, and he called Israel an apartheid stage. He said they were involved in genocide when they responded back in a warlike setting. Didn't take into account at all that Hamas was putting civilians, their civilians, in between the military and protecting the hostages and the military assets that Hamas had. So I think there was a lot of disingenuousness there. And I would say my position on this is very similar to the majority of Democrats. Hakeem, Jeffries, Grace Meng, Ritchie Torres, Adriano Espaillat, Greg Meeks, all of them are in a similar position to where I am. So I think because of the election and because the incumbent sort of held this Squad position, which is much further to the left, they wanted to make me out into something that I'm not. I'm actually more consistent with what President Biden and the Democrats of the House want on Israel. We want a negotiated settlement, but we also recognize you must release the hostages. Hamas has been unwilling to release hostages. And if I came into your studios and kidnapped some of your employees and then I said, ‘Let's talk peace,’ you'd say, ‘Give me back my kidnapped employees. You kidnapped these people. You took them out of the studio. It's not it's not fair or proper to do that. You must give them back. And then we can talk about the future.’ And only until recently did the incumbent in the race that I was just in talk about the hostage release being essential to this. So I think it's a negotiated settlement, both sides make compromises, but you have to have hostage releases as an immediate part of all this.
Do you agree with Senator Schumer that Netanyahu should no longer be in charge?
Look, I think right now, Joe Biden is negotiating with the Israeli government as it exists, and Netanyahu is the prime minister. I don't think it helps his bargaining position with Netanyahu, for me and a host of other people to chime in. I think Chuck Schumer has made a statement. He's very powerful, a very important guy. Great respect for him. I happen to have met when I was in Israel the last time, a few months ago, six months ago, Yair Lapid, who was one of the opposition leaders, and I found him very flexible and very impressive. But for me to opine that I think that Netanyahu should step out and somebody else should step in, that doesn't help us in the negotiating process. So I've taken the attitude, say less, do more, and let's see if our administration can get us anywhere with the negotiation and the leverage that they with the Israeli government as it is currently
Democrats are having some hard discussions lately about whether President Biden should remain on the ticket. What's your view?
Well, look, I think he had a bad night on Thursday night. There's no denying it. However, the question is, is this who he is, or can he show over the course of the next few weeks that that was an aberration, that he showed poorly that night under pressure. And of course, 50 million Americans saw him then. And I would say, if he's out in the communities and he has a vigorous schedule, I think he has to have one of those to show himself all across the country. And if he shows mental acuity and drive and determination, I think that will help quiet some of the concerns. Obviously, you know, if what happened on Thursday night is indicative of where he's at, then that's much different problem. But, you know, having a bad night, which he had, clearly he had a bad night, that's not the first time that's ever happened in American politics, and there are examples of people bouncing back from a bad night like that, and still being viable. So I think the tale will be told over the next three weeks, four weeks, and as the president goes out into the field, he's out there speaking to people, and he's interacting with people, and they get a sense of his vigor that I think the ship will right itself. That's the hope I have.
What's your estimation, though? I mean, based on all the information you have, was it one bad night, or has he lost his fastball?
Well, there's no way for me to know. I mean, I'm not in his inner circle. I'm sitting outside like you are. I saw the debate. I'll see some clips of him speaking elsewhere. So I'm not in a position to draw that judgment. I assume there are people high up in the government who see him every day, interact with him every day and they have to draw that judgment. But you're not going to hide this over the course of the next six weeks going into the convention. So either he does or he doesn't have it, either that's an aberration or it is the pattern. And as I've just said a second ago, I think as far as I'm concerned, until I see multiple examples of this that say this is, in fact, the circumstances. I treat it as he had a bad performance that night for whatever reason. You know, I've heard things in a cold and he was under some, I don't know, doctor's care, whatever that might be, whatever those reasons are, I want to watch and see. And I think the rush to judgment is really what happens in our media all the time. There's a constant willingness to see some factor, and then in a 24-hour period, make the bold statement I've learned over the years, not just in my public life, but in my private life, in my corporate life, you know, don't rush to judgment. Make sure you have as many facts as you have, and if we have enough facts, then the decision will become apparent one way or the other.
Do you feel comfortable with him leading the fall ticket with you on the ballot? I mean, are you happy to run on whatever the meaning of Joe Biden is by November?
I support Joe Biden. I'm a delegate for him at the convention, and I think he's done, on balance, a good job. There are things that that I might be critical of, but in general, he's done an excellent job as president over the course of three and a half years. The question that's being brought up now isn't, in my judgment, isn't about the quality of his work. It's about the perception of whether or not he has the stamina and the ability to go through a future four years, and that is what's in question. But I think his record is strong, and let me flip it around in the other direction. I think former President Trump had a terrible debate performance. It was assertive. He spoke, but he spoke with an inability to connect with the truth. He had that bombastic style that we were accustomed to seeing. I think he did a poor job the last time he was in office, and I think it'll probably be worse because of his philosophies. He's going to be on the all revenge tour, which I don't think will be good for America. In fact, it could be disastrous for America. So I'm not comparing Joe Biden against a neutral force. I'm comparing Joe Biden against the guy that that I don't think should be President of the United States again. So you have to make those judgments in the real world, not just in a theoretical world, where you could say, well, you know, there's this other person out there who's so much better than the two of them, let's go pick them. That person isn't in the race at this stage of the game. So we're dealing with what we have.
Tell me a political war story before we go. Did you ever have a bad debate or a night in your long political career where you were like, ‘Oh, I did some damage here’?
Yeah, a couple times, and it wasn't necessarily in a debate. It might have been in an appearance before a particular group, because nobody's perfect. And you know, I've run a lot of races, and while I may have won on the final election of them, there were many nights in between where I had some doubt. And sometimes, you don't know until other people tell you, you know, how did I do? And they said you were fine. Don't worry about it, because from your own internal perception, you didn't hit the notes that you wanted to. We're imperfect human beings, every one of us. I certainly am. But on balance, I think that what you learn, and I think he used this line, and I would use it too, you get knocked down, but you get back up again. That's the resiliency, not just the politics, it's the resiliency in sports and relationships and everything. It's not that you get knocked down, it’s that you can get back up again and dust yourself off and continue on.
