In late June, George Latimer found himself in a Manhattan green room at CNN, making small talk with superstar politico David Axelrod as he waited to be interviewed about his 16th District Democratic congressional primary election.
It was a surreal moment for Latimer, the Westchester County executive who is the product of a working-class Mount Vernon family and a veteran of nearly four decades in Rye, Westchester, and New York state politics.
How had he ended up with the eyes of the nation upon him, Latimer wondered. Would he stand up well to a live grilling on national television by anchor Kaitlan Collins?
A month after handily defeating incumbent Congressman Jamaal Bowman in that primary (58.7 percent to 41.3 percent), Latimer dared to boast a little about that prime-time exchange.
“I looked like a guy who was comfortable in his own skin,” said Latimer in an interview at The Rye Record’s downtown office. “I wasn’t great. But I didn’t look like an empty suit that AIPAC had dragged over the finish line against a Squad member. I looked like a somebody who knew what the hell he was doing …. And the kicker? The producer from CNN called and said they will want me back. There’s your Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.”
Latimer credited the brand of “personal politics” he developed at the outset of his electoral career in Rye for much of his success in the highest-profile race of his life.
Latimer and his wife, Robin, a Rye High School graduate, moved to Rye in 1985, buying Robin’s late grandmother’s modest home on Wainwright Street from her family at a price that “was within our reach.” There they raised their daughter, Meagan, who now lives in Kentucky with her husband and two children.
Latimer said he and Robin love living in Rye, but it has challenged his family’s budget over the years. (“I’ve never made $200,000 a year” despite managing a $2.4 billion county budget, Latimer pointed out. Robin works at Rye Beach Pharmacy.)
Among the things he most values: Rye’s great schools, seaside beauty, a charming downtown (where he’s a regular at Poppy’s), strong local volunteerism, and even the presence of a strong local newspaper.
Photo Alison Rodilosso
He regrets, however, the town’s lack of diversity, which is the result of its extremely high real estate prices.
Upon moving to Rye, Latimer, a marketing executive, soon volunteered to help the local Democratic party in City Council elections. Recruited to run for the council in 1987, he won a seat in then Republican-dominated Rye by knocking on doors, chatting up commuters at train stations, and meeting shoppers.
“Somebody once said that the spot outside of the A&P (now CVS) should be named after George Latimer, because nobody stood in that spot longer for so many years,” he said.
That personal touch is what made the difference, Latimer said, while noting that his campaign also featured substantial television, online, and other advertising.
Since winning that seat on the Rye City Council (1987 to 1991), Latimer has steadily ascended in Westchester politics by winning elections to the Westchester Board of Legislators (1991 to 2004), where he eventually served as the body’s first Democratic Chairman, the New York State Assembly (2004 to 2012), the New York State Senate (2012 to 2017) and to be the Westchester County Executive (2018 to present).
Term limits would have required Latimer, 70, to step down at the end of 2025.
He had no other plans for elective office, but in March 2023, people unhappy with Congressman Bowman’s performance in office quietly began to urge him to challenge the incumbent.
That whisper grew to a roar after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
Bowman’s harsh criticism of Israel led 26 Westchester rabbis to issue a public letter in mid-October asking Latimer to run because, the letter stated, “since being elected, Bowman has led the effort to erode support for Israel on Capitol Hill and within the Democratic Party.”
Latimer said that letter, and other community outreach, gave him the confidence that he would have strong grassroots and financial support.
Photo Alison Rodilosso
The more he studied the situation, the more certain he became that he could defeat Bowman, who, Latimer said, was more interested in attracting media attention for himself than delivering constituent services.
Latimer said he was disappointed that the extensive national press coverage the race soon started to receive overemphasized the importance of the Middle East to average constituents, painted Latimer as less progressive than his record shows on abortion and gun control, and failed to note Latimer’s strong grassroots support.
“What they also didn’t grasp was that I had a lead on Jamaal before dollar one was spent, which means he had deficiencies and I had advantages that were baked into the cake,” Latimer said. “Something would have to happen during the campaign to make him stronger and make me weaker in order to change that outcome.”
A pair of polls by outside groups released in April and May showed Latimer ahead of Bowman by 17 points. (They proved oddly prescient, as Latimer won the June 25 primary by 17 points. Bowman won 83 percent of the vote in the Bronx.)
The primary would be the most expensive in American history.
Latimer outraised Bowman ($5.7 million to $4.3 million in direct contributions and $21 million from largely pro-Israel groups vs. $3 million from progressive organizations in outside PAC support).
“The money mattered, but the money was not the driving, deciding force,” Latimer said.
“To their own detriment, people underestimate George,” said Joseph Glazer, a political confidant who has worked with Latimer on his campaigns and on the state and county levels for a decade.
Photo Andi Hessekiel
“In counting George as the underdog in this race, and saying it was PAC money that won, one has to choose to ignore that he defeated incumbent (Westchester County Executive) Rob Astorino on his home turf by 14 points, despite being outspent 3-1 (in 2017),” Glazer said. “George has an innate ability to find the right issues and the right tone, and when you add in the tireless work ethic, he is a formidable candidate.”
Latimer put in months of 10-hour days traversing the district from its upscale, primarily white municipalities like Rye, Larchmont, and Scarsdale to more racially-diverse, lower-income communities like Yonkers, Mount Vernon, and the northern Bronx.
Bowman, Latimer said, ran a race that emphasized his service to the southern part of the district and largely ignored issues like climate change, which are of concern to many suburbanites.
“Because someone is wealthy does not mean you ignore them, or you treat them as if they’re not a constituent. They too have issues,” Latimer said.
Bowman went after Latimer with extreme charges.
In a June 12 interview with Politico, he alleged that Latimer was “in the pocket of Republican billionaires who want to take our voting rights, our reproductive rights, affirmative action, and who are racist.
And he also is not just anti-Black racist, he’s anti-Muslim racist.”
Neither Latimer nor his campaign team were surprised by the attacks.
“Before he declared for Congress, those of us who know George… all warned him what kind of race this could be,” Glazer said.
“George has won 18 consecutive elections over what, 35 years, and never before been called a racist,” Glazer said. “He has run against men, women, people of color, Democrats, and Republicans without being called racist or any other stereotyping adjective. He has never been anything but a true progressive. But smear is the tactic they used, and in George’s case, all they had. My advice was consistently ‘Go be George’ and don’t let the attacks knock you off your game.”
Deputy Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins has known Latimer for nearly 30 years and, with a chuckle, described himself as one of the many opponents that Latimer has defeated. (Jenkins unsuccessfully challenged Latimer to be the Democratic candidate for county executive in 2017.)
Recalling that contest, Jenkins, who is Black, said that early on he and Latimer agreed they were not “running against each other” in a “slash and burn” campaign. They didn’t want to damage each other because — whoever prevailed — they both wanted the Democratic candidate to win, he said.
It’s a blueprint for how campaigns should be run, but a model that Bowman never adopted in this primary, Jenkins added.
In the heated congressional primary, Latimer emphatically countered Bowman’s allegations, accused Bowman of being big on rhetoric and short on results, and repeatedly accused the incumbent of being a liar.
Latimer said he worked hard to control his temper so he would not blurt out things that would provide damaging social media sound bites to his opponent.
Even now Latimer is careful about what he will say about Bowman. “It doesn’t benefit me to show my anger,” he said.
Latimer believes his campaign was successful in casting doubt in the minds of voters about Bowman, because it built its criticism on facts.
Latimer attacked Bowman for pulling a fire alarm at the U.S. Capitol to delay a vote (Bowman pleaded guilty to a related misdemeanor charge), voting against the Biden infrastructure bill and a resolution to keep the government open, and for claiming that Israeli women had not been raped during the Oct. 7 attack (a statement caught on video that Bowman later reversed).
“Bowman ultimately lost this race because his challenger did the hard work,” said political analyst Taegan Goddard, the Rye-based publisher of PoliticalWire.com. “It’s why George Latimer has never lost a race in more than 30 years.”
Although Latimer faces token opposition in the heavily Democratic district in the November general election, the color-coded calendar on his phone illustrates the grueling pace he continues to work.
Photo Alison Rodilosso
The day before this interview, Latimer had gone to the Port Chester Chamber of Commerce, a campaign finance meeting, the Ossining Senior Center, a Baptist Church in Greenburgh, a meeting with Wakefield community members, the county offices in Westchester, the Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow Chamber of Commerce, and a Yonkers preservation meeting before ending up at a County Democratic Committee session.
Rye residents marvel at how Latimer remembers their names and life details. But that skill extends beyond the city’s borders.
Latimer said he tries to make a substantive connection with the people he talks to on subjects like sports, music, or careers.
“When somebody talks to me about what they’ve done, that becomes a factor that attaches in my head,” he said.
Assuming he prevails in November, that memory should serve Latimer well as he forges important new relationships when he is sworn into Congress at age 71, which, he quips, will make him Congress’s oldest freshman.
At his age, Latimer said he does not expect to serve many terms nor earn enough seniority to chair a committee.
What does he want most of all?
To be a unifying force in the district, he said, by working hard for those who supported him and those who did not.