Longtime NY Rep. Engel faces primary battle

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel wants a new two-year contract with voters in Westchester and the Bronx.

With campaign booklets touting the 101 reasons to vote for him and having recently been named the most effective Democratic lawmaker in the House by the Center for Effective Lawmaking, the congressman said he is confident he'll get a 16th term representing New York's 16th Congressional District.

Jonathan Lewis is a Scarsdale businessman and one of three primary challengers hoping to unseat Engel in next Tuesday's primary. But it could prove a tall order. Engel ran uncontested in the primary last time around in 2016 and won the general election by 89 points.

Lewis said Engel's reliance on money from political groups over the years is anti-democratic and argued Engel makes decisions to benefit his contributors.

But Engel said that not accepting PAC money would amount to what he describes as unilaterally disarming, putting him at a disadvantage while Lewis utilizes hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money for the campaign.

Now the ranking member of the House Foreign Relations Committee, Engel said his experience in Congress should make voters think twice about voting for someone new.

Lewis said that lawmakers should not serve a lifetime and that Congress needs people with new ideas.

Primary day is June 26.