A progressive, millennial congressional candidate has beaten a top ranking Democrat in the New York primary, a result that could send shocks through the Washington Democratic establishment as it looks ahead to the midterm elections this November.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, beat Rep Joe Crowley on Tuesday in a sign of the growing strength and appetite on the progressive left to insert itself into federal politics and reject a Democratic establishment that has been criticised for its cosy relationship with major industries and reluctance to embrace progressive policies on issues like health care and banking reform.
Mr Crowley is the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, and was widely believed to have had ambitions to become speaker of the House if Democrats regain control of Congress.
But, his opponent appeared to tap into progressive winds that have now blown those ambitions away. The Tuesday results have even been compared to the ouster of former Republican Representative Eric Cantor, who was a top member of Congress with major leadership aspirations when he was defeated in his formerly safe primary in 2014 by a far right candidate as a part of the Tea Party wave.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign managed to rally high levels of grassroots support, an echo of the type of support that went to a presidential candidate she once organized for: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who ran a progressive Democratic primary campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016.
During Ms Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign, she raised more small-dollar donations than any politician serving from New York City. That’s both in terms of the total amount raised, and as a percentage of her overall fundraising haul.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez is running to represent a diverse neighbourhood in Queens on a platform that includes Medicare for all, and abolishing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Before winning the primary, the campaign had already claimed credit for pushing Mr Crowley to the left on issues, and made him the only member of Democratic Congressional leadership to endorse single-payer health care.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez will now head into the general election in a district — New York’s 14th —where Mr Crowley won re-election in 2016 over his Republican challenger with 82.9 per cent of the vote.
