Rye resident and current Westchester County Legislator Catherine Parker will challenge incumbent Congressman Jamaal Bowman in the upcoming Democratic primary in the newly drawn 16th Congressional District (NY-16).
Catherine Parker’s entire County Legislative District, which she has represented since 2014, is in the newly-drawn NY-16. Catherine was on the Rye City Council before the County Legislature and lives in Rye with her husband David and children Julia and Aiden.
Parker ran for Congress in the 17th Congressional District in the wake of Nita Lowey’s retirement. A crowded primary, that seat eventually went to Democratic Congressman Mondaire L. Jones.
“I went to bed on Friday night, thinking that Mondaire Jones, who also lives in this new [Congressional] map in district 16, [was going to run]. I spoken with him when the maps were first released, and he had every intention of being in a primary with Congressman Bowman. And I thought I’m on I’m on Team Jones.”
“When he announced on Saturday morning, that’s really what changed everything. Because when he announced that he was actually going to run in the CD 10 district, and my colleague [Westchester County Board of Legislators] Vedat Gashi no longer has a base of voters that live in the district, then I thought, this is more of a call of duty because ultimately, I have been disappointed by our current congressman and I know that I’m not alone.”
Confusing to the layperson, the New York Congressional maps have been part of an extensive gerrymandering fight. Until last Friday, Rye was set to become part of NY-03, a Congressional district that mostly encompassed Long Island as well as parts of Queens and the Bronx. Late Friday, a Judge tossed out the maps that had been forced by the State Democrats, and laid down the new maps, including NY-16. By Saturday, Congressman Jones had decided to run in NY-10, a new district in the City.
The new NY-16 spans Westchester County and has just under 800,000 people. It voted 72% for Biden and 28% for Trump*.
Parker highlights her record of fighting climate change and flood resilience projects. “I have always been passionate about our environment; it was one of my biggest motivators for getting into government. I ran for my local City Council to help make sure my kids had a safe environment to grow up in and got hooked on the opportunity for solutions on a more regional level in the County. Now, with so many critical issues of the environment, safety, health and affordability on the debate stage in Washington, I am eager to help move our federal government in the practical progressive direction needed to address these challenges,” Parker said.
She said Congressman Bowman’s work in his initial term has come up short. “The Congressman is an educator. He understands that the purpose of government is to do the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people but I believe he failed at that when he voted against funding a litany of projects that will make a difference in the not-so-distant future,” said Parker.
The Congressional primary vote is Tuesday, August 23rd.
*This statistic has been updated. It was incorrect as originally posted and we regret the error.
Is Catherine also running for higher office because of any self imposed term limit on the Westchester Board of Legislators? I wish her luck and am very happy to see the District having little NYC content.
I am a constituent of Jamaal Bowman and, responding to Ms. Parker’s comment, i am not disappointed in him in the slightest. He is someone who shows up for his constituents throughout the district, paying attention to local matters while still attending to federal issues. He is personable, dynamic, intelligent and diligent. I look forward to Dr. Bowman being my congressman for a long time.
i am with Oris. Jamaal has done a lot to make the district proud.
When Bowman voted against the bipartisan infrastructure bill, he lost my support forever. That bill was important in so many ways.
Congressman Bowman seems more concerned with aligning himself with AOC than representing his constituents’ needs. Case in point – he supports BDS rather than his many Jewish voters & other supporters of the only Democracy in the Middle East, Israel.
Personally I won’t vote for him because he supports defunding the police, our incredibly important & valued first responders.
Luci, I agree. Bowman is a member of the DSA and the Justice Democrats, groups that would rather vote with the radical right than with mainstream Democrats because their goal is a coup of the party and we all know they would have no chance of winning elections at the state or national level. They are more interested in their own publicity than getting the hard work done. As you say, he is deaf to the concerns of his Jewish constituents because he takes his marching orders from AOC, the DSA and the Justice Democrats.
Bowman is honest and a breath of fresh air in a stale democratic party. The future of the democratic party with young voters will rest on its commitment to fighting climate change; the Green New Deal. At least he is not running around with billionares getting arrested for DUI in northern California.
I agree with Luci – Bowman has done very little – he supports aoc and bds – he has a lot of jewish voters in his ditrict and should be ashamed of himself – also I contact him with an issue a number fo months ago – his staff never contacted me – thats because my home wasn’t located in coop city, did not share his agenda, and my last name wasnt one he supported – there is no room for someone like Bowman in congress – I’m a die hard democrate but if he wins the primary I will vote republican for the first time in my life – what as misery