Democratic Rep. Joseph Crowley of New York, , suffered a shocking primary defeat on Tuesday, defeated by a 28-year-old political newcomer, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a former organizer for Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign.
Mr. Crowley, the No. 4 Democrat in the House, had drastically outspent his lesser-known rival to no avail, as Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign was lifted by an aggressive social media presence and fueled by attention from national progressives. She will face Anthony Pappas, the Republican candidate, in the November general election.
Mr. Crowley is the first Democrat in the nation to lose a primary in 2018. His loss is most significant for a congressional incumbent since Eric Cantor, then the No. 2 Republican in the House, fell short in 2014 to a Tea Party activist, David Brat.
“It’s surreal,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said in a live television interview as the votes were being tallied showing her in the lead. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is a native of the Bronx and a Latina in a district — “Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. She ran as a woman, as a young person, as a working-class champion, as an unabashed liberal and as a person of color. In a surprise move, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez had left New York entirely in the final weekend before the election, traveling to Texas to protest the ongoing separation of children from their parents who crossed the border illegally.
Ten days before the primary, Mr. Crowley skipped a debate against Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, and instead sent a surrogate, a Latina former city councilwoman. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez called it “a bizarre twist” on Twitter to be seated across from someone “with slight resemblance to me” instead of her opponent. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez waged a sharp and sometimes personal campaign. She attacked Mr. Crowley for not living in the district and, specifically, sending his children to school in Virginia. When there was tear gas released on protesters in Puerto Rico, she tagged Mr. Crowley on Twitter and wrote, “You are responsible for this.”
For more: MSN