Challengers from the left have tapped into the wounded progressive movement’s desire for transformational change.

United States Congressional candidates Amy McGrath and Eliot Engel live hundreds of miles apart in states with dramatically different politics.

Yet they are the preferred candidates of the Democratic Party’s Washington establishment as voters in Kentucky and New York decide their congressional primary elections on Tuesday.

And both may be in trouble.

On the eve of their elections, Engel, a 16-term House incumbent who represents parts of the Bronx and New York City’s wealthy suburbs, and McGrath, a former military officer and fundraising juggernaut running in her first Kentucky Senate campaign, are facing strong challenges from lower-profile Black candidates. The challengers have tapped into the wounded progressive movement’s desire for transformational change suddenly animated by sweeping civil rights protests across America.

Engel’s challenger, 45-year-old former public school principal Jamaal Bowman, and McGrath’s opponent, 35-year-old state Representative Charles Booker, speak openly about their personal experience with police brutality and racism as they promote progressive plans to transform the nation’s healthcare system and economy. And both accuse their white opponents of being absent from the front lines of the civil rights debate.

Bowman and Booker have also won the endorsement of Bernie Sanders. The Vermont senator failed to win the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, but he continues to shape congressional primaries – even if it puts him at odds with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who’s backing Engel, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who helped recruit McGrath.

Only a movement can beat Mitch McConnell.

We are the people he has ignored for decades. Black, Brown, and White Kentuckians, from the hood to the holler, we are rising up.

We were so invisible to him, he never saw us coming.

VOTE this Tues., June 23rd. https://t.co/xVEB9WABf1 pic.twitter.com/bu5ZEJQUED

The story of Bowman and Booker’s rise extends well beyond the years-long tug-of-war between the progressive and pragmatic wings of the Democratic Party. They did not gain traction until after George Floyd’s death last month triggered nationwide outrage about racial inequality.

In New York, the progressive pushback against Engel’s re-election was somewhat surprising given his status as one of the Democratic Party’s most liberal members. He has also drawn overwhelming support from African Americans in Congress and establishment leaders such as Hillary Clinton.

Lost touch

Engel noted in an interview with the Associated Press news agency that he was a founding member of the House Medicare for All Caucus, an original cosponsor of the Green New Deal and the endorsed candidate of the congressional Black and Hispanic caucuses.

“I’ve always believed that Black lives matter. I didn’t have to see a tragedy to know that,” said Engel, 73. “All I can do for people is say, ‘Here’s my record.’ I can’t control outside events.”

Bowman has seized on the perception that Engel has lost touch with the entirety of his diverse district, which features Westchester County’s multimillion-dollar homes and the Bronx’s housing projects. In both communities, Bowman said, there is a growing sense of unity around racial justice.

Progressive @JamaalBowmanNY has all the momentum in his primary for Congress! Join @BernieSanders, @ewarren, @AOC, @MoveOn & more in supporting Jamaal Bowman for Congress.

New Yorkers in the Bronx & Westchester can vote for Jamaal Bowman through June 23.https://t.co/FgiO21FM1D pic.twitter.com/64q1wQ1Eq4

“We’re seeing protests and uprisings in communities that are white and wealthy and stereotypically don’t care about racial justice,” Bowman said. “That’s inspiring and it’s helpful to us because everyone knows we were talking about police brutality. I was sharing my personal story, and we were going after institutional racism from the very beginning of our campaign.”

The winner of the New York House primary Tuesday is expected to win the general election easily given the district’s strong Democratic tilt. Kentucky’s Senate primary will determine which Democrat runs against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is unpopular but a proven political force in a deep-red state.

Washington Democrats helped recruit McGrath, thinking her military history and centrist approach would play well, even in a state that backed Trump by 30 percentage points four years ago. The former Marine fighter pilot reported an eye-popping $19m in the bank at the beginning of the month. Booker reported just $285,000 then, although his campaign said he raised at least $2.4 million more this month.

New poll shows Charles Booker surging past Amy McGrath in Kentucky’s U.S. Senate primary https://t.co/NqgaGyzVSi via @courierjournal

Booker’s recent fundraising surge coincides with the protests, although it is unclear whether the focus on racial inequality will resonate to the same degree in a state where just eight percent of residents are Black and three out of four do not have a bachelor’s degree, according to the US Census Bureau.

“It is real,” Booker said of racism in his state. “I’ve had ancestors lynched in Kentucky.”

Just this month, he says he was tear-gassed by police in the Louisville district he represents while attending a peaceful rally.

“I’m there to make sure people are safe, make sure nothing goes wrong and that people’s voices are heard. And we look up and three canisters are thrown within 10 feet of me,” Booker told the AP. “Everyone starts running. And I just stood there in disbelief – that even though I have done all this work across Kentucky, even though I’m an elected official, they still saw me as a young Black man, and they still felt like it was justified to throw tear gas at me. It hurt.”

Major General Charles Bolden Jr. served as one of my commanding generals and mentor in the Marines—and I’m honored to have his support. pic.twitter.com/PjzzvjoDYi

McGrath’s critics say she has been a less visible presence at protests, though she has attended some. She also has drawn criticism from her party’s far left wing for resisting policy proposals such as Medicare for All. And she’s not willing to call Trump a racist, even if she thinks his words and actions have been.

Still, McGrath has not shied away from questions about race. In an interview, she called on white people to do more to fight systemic racism.

“We need to stand up for what’s right and talk to other white people and call it out when we see it,” she said. “Whatever the solution is, we want to be part of it.”

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