By Dan Murphy
Sources in the Yonkers Democratic Party tell YonkersTimes.com that the Chair of the Yonkers Democratic Party, Tom Meier, will announce next month that he is challenging Congressman Jamaal Bowman in a democratic primary this June. Meier has shared the news with several democratic leaders and elected officials in Westchester County, and so while its not official, “it’s going to happen. Tom is going to run,” said one Westchester democratic leader.
Meier, who is the Commissioner of the Yonkers Department of Public Works, will run as the democratic moderate alternative to Bowman, a progressive democrat and member of “the squad” of six ultra-progressive house members, led by Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, (AOC).
Bowman was recently arrested in Washington DC during a protest, but we are told that incident had nothing to do with Meier’s decision. “Tom has been thinking this over for six months now, and has come to the conclusion that democrats in Westchester don’t want a progressive representing them in Washington and that Bowman is too far left to get re-elected.”
Meier, who embraces the label of moderate democrat, has been a Yonkers democrat for 40 years. He is a retired, Army Lt. Colonel, who has served sucessfully as both the Yonkers Democratic Chair, and DPW commissioner during the 10 years of Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano’s adminstration.
Other moderate democrats were considering challenging Bowman, including sources tell us, Mayor Spano in Yonkers. But one Yonkers democratic leader told us, “If Tom Meier is going to run against Bowman, then Mayor Spano won’t run. They will not run against each other.”
Another Westchester democrat told us, “This is a tough race to beat Bowman and Tom knows it. But he will be able to reach out to the other democratic chairs in Westchester and seek their support. He will also have a good chance at getting some support of the unions, and especially the police unions in the county. It’s a longshot but not impossible.”
One unknown in this race is what will the boundaries of the 16th Congressional District in NY be. All of New York’s Congressional districts are being redrawn, with no solution or compromise reached. And with the primary less than six months away, candidates will have to know what the boundaries are in order to collect signatures.
Most politicos believe that the 16th district will run further north into Westchester, and will have less of the Bronx. That is because all of New York’s congressional districts will be running further north, because of the loss of population in upstate New York.
And most observers believe that change in the district, will benefit Meier. “If the district has less of the Bronx and more of Bedford, I would say that the democrats in Bedford are more moderate. But that doesn’t mean that they would vote for Meier over an incumbent, sitting Congressman,” said another Westcheter democrat.
Another likely candidate is Manuel Casanova, a New Rochelle democratic district leader. Casanova must also wait to see if New Rochelle is a part of the 16th District.
Meier will also have to raise significant amounts of money in order to compete with Bowman, and if as expected Meier announced his campaign, it will be his first run for office. Bowman raised $2.9 Million in his 2020 campaign.
“There are two ways to look at this race. If you think that Bowman’s victory in 2020 was a lucky, flash in the pan, then maybe Meier stands a chance. But if you think that the overall trend of Westchester democratic politics is towards more progressive politicians like Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones, then Bowman wins in a blowout,” said a wise, Sound Shore Democrat.
And the election of 2022 has begun.
