Jamaal Bowman pulled fire alarm in Washington. How did Westchester react?

Rep. Jamaal Bowman appears to have suffered little or no political damage back home in Westchester County as a result of the flap in Washington over his pulling a fire alarm in a congressional office building.

The second-term progressive Democrat from Yonkers has said he accidentally yanked the alarm on Saturday while rushing to the Capitol to vote on a budget extension to avert a looming government shutdown. It happened as House members were scrambling to read a unexpected proposal Republican leaders had unveiled for an immediate vote.

Republicans mock Bowman's explanation as implausible and accuse him trying to delay the vote. Some want the House to censure or even expel him, and demand criminal charges against him.

But for all the media attention given to the incident, there were no signs on Monday that Bowman had lost any support from party leaders in New York's heavily Democratic 16th District, which encompasses southern Westchester and a sliver of the Bronx. Supporters took him at his word and discounted the GOP expressions of outrage.

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"I think there was no malintent," Westchester Democratic Chairwoman Suzanne Berger said. "I accept the congressman's statement that he was on his way to a vote and it was a mistake."

Berger said she had fielded mixed reactions so far from fellow party members: Bowman's detractors found a fresh reason to criticize him, but those who supported him still do so. No new primary rivals for Bowman's 2024 race had emerged in the wake of the incident.

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Eileen O'Connor, a Yonkers activist who helps lead a chapter of the progressive group Indivisible for Bowman's district, told the USA Today Network that she viewed Bowman's alarm pulling as an "honest mistake," and dismissed the controversy over it as political "noise" that she hoped would soon blow over.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Staten Island Republican who has blasted Bowman for the incident, introduced a resolution to expel him on Monday. Expulsion of a House member is a rare step that is unlikely because it would require a two-thirds majority in the closely divided House.

"What kind of message does it send our young people that they can pull a fire alarm and there's no consequences?" she said on Fox News.

Another New Yorker came to his defense. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat representing parts of the Bronx and Queens, ripped Republicans on CNN for rushing to punish Bowman while taking no similar step against one of their own: Rep. George Santos, the New York freshman found to have made up much of his life story — and later charged with fraud and money laundering.

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What do we know about why Bowman pulled the fire alarm?

The U.S. Capitol police, who are investigating the incident, announced Monday that security video showed a man "trying to exit the door in the Cannon Building and then pulling the fire alarm that prompted the evacuation." Officers had placed signs at the exit that clearly stated the door was secured and for emergency use only, police said.

Bowman's office told the USA Today Network he was unavailable for an interview on Monday. In a brief interview clip from Washington shown on Fox News, he repeated his defense and said he took responsibility for his mistake.

"You know, I don't know why this has gotten so much attention," Bowman said. "I was literally just going to rush to vote. That's all it was."

Bowman, former school principal, up for reelection in 2024

Bowman, a 47-year-old former Bronx middle school principal, won his seat in 2020 by beating longtime Rep. Eliot Engel in a Democratic primary and coasting to victory that November. Last year, he beat three fellow Democrats — two of them Westchester County legislators — in a primary before another easy general-election win.

Michael Gerald, a Democrat who had already declared his candidacy for Bowman's seat in 2024, went after him for the alarm incident, telling The Journal News/lohud that it showed a "lack of moral judgment."

"He was a school principal," said Gerald, a Tuckahoe resident and deputy commissioner for the Westchester County Department of Corrections. "He should know this is not a laughing matter."

Madeline Brame, a Republican registered to run for the 16th District next year, rebuked Bowman on the social media site X for pulling a "dangerous disgraceful stunt."

David McKay Wilson, the Tax Watch columnist for The Journal News/lohud, contributed to this report.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Did Jamaal Bowman face outcry in Westchester after pulling fire alarm?