Former Bronx and Westchester Rep. Eliot Engel has died.
The 16-term incumbent was a longtime fixture in New York politics until he narrowly lost a Democratic primary to Jamaal Bowman in 2020.
A Bronx native, Engel served in the state Assembly from 1977 until 1988, when he successfully ran for Congress.
While Engel was particularly outspoken on health care issues, he was also known nationally for arriving early for the State of the Union speech and shaking the president’s hand. That tradition ended when President Donald Trump took office in 2017.
Engel was an advocate for the state of Israel and also strongly supported Kosovo in its war against Serbia, which ended in 1999. A street in Kosovo is named in his honor.
Engel was 79.