Former Democrat Rep. Mondaire Jones of New York — who riled progressive pals by endorsing a challenger to Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y. — said he has zero regrets for the Squad snub.
In an interview with Politico on Monday, Jones, now seeking a return to Congress, said allies who've turned on him — the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC and the New York Working Families Party — "were never my actual friends."
Jones insisted his own Rockland County district also approves of his support for pro-Israel George Latimer, a long-serving Westchester County executive, over Israel critic and Squad member Bowman in the June 25 Democratic primary.
After losing his House seat in 2022, Jones is now running to unseat GOP Rep. Mike Lawler in their Rockland County swing district — and hopes to create some distance from Bowman that may help win over moderates as well as Jewish voters, the New York Times has reported.
"These people were never my actual friends," Jones told Politico of the snub. "And we saw that in the way they treated me in the summer of 2022 when in spite of a progressive record on issues like healthcare, women's rights, LGBTQ rights, Supreme Court reform and climate action, they either abandoned me or affirmatively worked against me."
"I would not do anything differently," he added.
"The appreciation that people have in these actual communities in the Hudson Valley is what matters to me. That as well as my own sense of morality compelled me to intervene, given how god-awful Mr. Bowman's conduct has been," he said.
To critics on the left who charge Jones isn't a true progressive, Jones clapped back at "trust-fund socialists" telling Politico: "I just have been through so much, growing up the way I did, unlike these trust-fund socialists in Williamsburg and elsewhere suggesting that I'm not progressive enough."
"I do want people who have been criticizing me on the left to understand the existential significance of my race to take back the House," he added.
Jones denies his opposition to Bowman improves his own shot at beating Lawler in November.
"It is extraordinary that while I am calling out the extremes in my own party and outside of the party — because let's be honest, many of the people don't even identify as Democrats on the far left — Mike Lawler has been attacking the criminal conviction of Donald Trump and as of this weekend, reaffirming his support for Donald Trump," he told Politico.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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