Latinx Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Just Beat One of the Most Powerful Democrats in the House

By Paul Blest  |  June 27, 2018 | 2:24am
Elections

Holy shit.

In one of the biggest political upsets of the decade, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year old socialist and former Bernie Sanders organizer from the Bronx, has defeated Joe Crowley—the fourth-most powerful Democrat in the House, one of the most powerful Democrats in New York City, widely seen as a potential successor to Nancy Pelosi—in the primary for New York’s 14th Congressional district.

The AP called, albeit it in an incredibly disrespectful way, at 9:51 p.m.:

This is a heavily Democratic district; the primary is tantamount to the general election, meaning Ocasio-Cortez will be the next member of Congress from New York’s 14th.

Crowley outspent Ocasio-Cortez by millions in the race, but never seemed to take his challenger seriously; when he was scheduled to debate Ocasio-Cortez, he sent a surrogate (whom Ocasio-Cortez noted even looked like her a bit) in his place. His no-show was even called out by the New York Times.

Here’s the moment when Ocasio-Cortez realized how big her lead was:

Crowley conceded around 10 p.m and said he would support Ocasio-Cortez in the general election:

Although Crowley’s political organization was expected to pull it out, however, the race wasn’t even close—with 88 percent of the vote in, Ocasio-Cortez was leading by 15 points.

Of course, there was a Trump tweet:

Ocasio-Cortez’s victory is arguably the biggest win for the left so far in the Trump era, and is indicative of the direction that the Democratic Party needs to go in—forcefully advocating for the working class, people of color, and immigrants, and articulating a clear vision of how this country can change for the better.

This is a developing story. This post will be updated as more information becomes available.

 
Join the discussion...