Veteran New York Rep. Eliot Engel could be setting himself up to be the next Joe Crowley — who was toppled from out of nowhere by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018 — by social distancing from his own coronavirus-stricken district.
Despite facing his fiercest primary challenge in some time and his Bronx-Westchester district being home to New York’s first coronavirus outbreak in New Rochelle, Engel hasn’t set foot in the Empire State since at least March 27, a report said Thursday.
“I’m in both places,” the 73-year-old Democrat, who’s repped three New York districts over a career that began in 1989, recently told The Atlantic when it caught up with him at a home in Potomac, Maryland.
“Sure have,” he added, when asked whether he’d been quarantined in both the Old Line State and New York.
But Engel spokesman Bryant Daniels went on to tell the magazine that the lawmaker had been in Washington “since passage of the CARES Act” relief fund — on March 27.
Engel’s disappearing act left experts scratching their heads — and his challenger, former middle school principal Jamaal Bowman, smelling blood in the water.
“I would not want to be Mr. Engel’s operative in trying to explain why at the very moment his constituents arguably have needed him more than they ever have he’s been safely ensconced,” veteran political strategist Neal Kwatra told The Post.
Kwatra said that Engel’s straying from home left him vulnerable to a potential primary upset not unlike the stunner Ocasio-Cortez pulled off in 2018 over longtime incumbent Crowley — in the Bronx-Queens district that borders on Engel’s.
“She did a lot of things well and built a playbook for a lot of upstart progressive challengers,” said Kwatra of AOC. “This tactic of identifying your local longtime representative as being out of touch is Campaigning 101.”
Bowman did just that, pouncing on the opportunity in a blistering statement.
“In the middle of the worst crisis to hit our community in generations, Eliot Engel is not even in the district,” said Bowman, who is running on a platform emphasizing education. “If that’s not taking us for granted, then I don’t know what is.
“After 31 years in Congress, Eliot Engel has completely lost touch, and it’s time for him to go.”
One Bronx pol, however, came to Engel’s defense, arguing that just because he’s in the Beltway doesn’t mean he’s not bringing home the bacon for his constituents.
“There’s an awful lot of things going on in Washington, D.C.,” said Democratic state Assemblyman Michael Benedetto, whose district overlaps in part with Engel’s. “Eliot has helped deliver billions of dollars for New York.
“I don’t begrudge him for not being here.”