If you could create the ultimate proxy war for the two camps who have been fighting in the Democratic Party since 2016, it would be the primary contest between Rep. Joe Crowley and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York.
Crowley is part of the House Democrats’ leadership team, with close ties to Nancy Pelosi and Wall Street. He’s raised more than $3 million this year. He’s toed the party line on progressive policies, even participating in a recent demonstration on family separation, in which he blocked off an entire street with Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and John Lewis (D-GA), among others.
Ocasio-Cortez is a Latina Bronx native and community organizer who is more or less running on a viral campaign ad produced by a pair of Detroit-based Democratic Socialist for America (DSA) activists. She has raised just $200,000, mainly in small donations. She’s running on a boldly progressive platform, including Medicare-for-all, a federal jobs guarantee, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“This race is about people versus money. We’ve got people. They’ve got money,” Ocasio-Cortez says in the ad.
If this were any other year, it’s likely this race wouldn’t get any attention at all. A candidate with no money — even one with a compelling personal story — against one of the most powerful House Democrats wouldn’t even be a contest. After all, Crowley is a 10-term incumbent who is the fourth most powerful Democrat in House leadership.
But this primary has become a proxy for the debate over establishment Democrats versus democratic socialism that has reared its head in the party since Sen. Bernie Sanders’s blockbuster 2016 candidacy. It’s clear that Ocasio-Cortez’s supporters are hoping to use the fact that Crowley has so much money and power against him. And if she’s successful, it would be a huge upset — one not seen since Eric Cantor lost his primary to David Brat in Virginia in 2014.
My latest Political Crystal Ball... I predict that my home district of NY14 will support 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) & will hand incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley the most stunning primary defeat since Dave Brat knocked off Eric Cantor in 2014. #CheddarLIVE pic.twitter.com/570PIgHirW — J.D. Durkin (@jiveDurkey) June 18, 2018
There’s no polling to speak of, so anything could happen.
Who is Joe Crowley?
Crowley has been in the House of Representatives since 1999. An Irish-American born in New York City, he’s represented the 14th Congressional District, which includes a Latino-heavy portion of the Bronx, since 2013.
But it’s not his longstanding presence in Congress that has brought him under scrutiny — it’s his deep ties to Democratic leadership. Close to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Crowley is the number four Democrat in the House and is widely considered to be positioning himself as her successor should Pelosi step down.
And it’s not an academic question. There are a lot of House Democrats who aren’t happy with Pelosi’s leadership and her firm grip on choices for prized committee seats. In the run-up to 2018, she’s become something of a punching bag on both the right and the left, with an increasing number of promising Democratic candidates running this year saying they wouldn’t support her for speaker if Democrats retake the House.
This could provide Crowley with an opening, but the New York Congress member has made it clear he doesn’t plan to challenge Pelosi if she runs for speaker in 2018 — which she’s made clear she will do.
“We will win. I will run for speaker. I feel confident about it. And my members do, too,” Pelosi said during an editorial meeting with the Boston Globe in May. Part of her rationale? That otherwise the table will be filled with “five white guys,” a nod to the rest of her leadership team and the leadership team of the Republicans. Crowley is, undoubtedly, one of those “white guys.” He also has a disadvantage being from New York, the home state of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
He has stepped up as a Democrat who can fundraise for the party; the Washington Post reports he is spending his spare time “crisscrossing the nation to boost House Democrats in their bid to take back the majority in the November elections.” The price for attending a typical fundraiser with Crowley is $1,000 a head.
Despite his nearly $3 million in fundraising, his 2018 reelection bid has been far from smooth sailing. A Politico story indicated that Crowley was so worried about the Latino presence in his district leaving him open to a primary challenger that he hired lobbyist Brian Meara in 2011, who has close ties to the state assembly, to shore up a prime district when the new maps were drawn.
After this story was published, a Crowley spokeswoman sent Vox the following statement: “Joe is extremely proud to represent the Bronx and has never hired a lobbyist to remove that portion of the district. The lobbyist was hired because of the overall re-districting process. To say otherwise is untrue.”
Some leftists suggested Crowley aimed to get arrested at a recent family separation rally purely because of Ocasio-Cortez’s challenge. Crowley told Vox he had been arrested for protesting at an immigration rally before; he said was just standing up for what he believed in.
“I come from a law enforcement family, but at the same time, I come from a family that taught me to stand up to bullies, to stand up for those who are less fortunate, for the underdogs,” Crowley told Vox.
Crowley also sent a surrogate to a primary debate, which led to a scathing editorial from the New York Times. “This is the second primary debate in which Mr. Crowley was a no-show. A spokeswoman for Mr. Crowley said he had scheduling conflicts that wouldn’t allow him to attend the two debates, inevitably leaving voters to wonder — what are we, chopped liver?” the editorial read.
Who is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?
Ocasio-Cortez couldn’t be a bigger contrast from Crowley. She was born in the Bronx to working-class parents. Her mother is Puerto Rican. Her father is from the South Bronx. She’s a former staffer for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. She’s 28, which would make her one of the youngest members of Congress if she were elected.
She’s certainly portrayed herself as a woman of the people, playing up her working-class roots in her viral campaign ad.
It's time for a New York that works for all of us.
On June 26th, we can make it happen - but only if we have the #CourageToChange.
It's time to get to work. Please retweet this video and sign up to knock doors + more at https://t.co/kacKFI9RtI to bring our movement to Congress. pic.twitter.com/aqKMjovEjZ — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) May 30, 2018
The video, which shows Ocasio-Cortez riding the subway and doing community organizing work, was created by Means of Production, a media production company run by DSA activists Naomi Burton and Nick Hayes. She’s earned endorsements from newer progressive groups like MoveOn and gotten extensive coverage in the Intercept.
But perhaps what’s most exciting for progressives about her campaign is the degree to which she is running to Crowley’s left. As a member of the DSA, her website is a laundry list of every blue-sky lefty policy: Medicare-for-all, housing and jobs guarantees, gun control, ending private prisons, abolishing ICE, and investment in post-hurricane Puerto Rico.
She’s also become something of a media darling, getting coverage in Vogue, BuzzFeed, and the Nation. She wants this New York district to be represented by a bold progressive who doesn’t need to be elected with the help of Wall Street.
What this means for the Democratic Party
If Ocasio-Cortez manages to pull off an upset against Crowley, it would be a story of the complacent establishment taking voters for granted. It would be the story of how the Democratic Party is getting pulled to the left. It would be the story of how it’s not just progressive policies that are reshaping the party, but also people of color.
Though Ocasio-Cortez is decidedly to the left of Crowley, there’s no doubt that Crowley has been a champion of progressive policies. If Crowley were to lose, it would be a shakeup not just of the policies that Democrats support but how they go about getting elected.
Crowley could be in a similar situation to Cantor — a strong fundraiser that suddenly found himself knocked off by an insurgent candidate who is running on someone who isn’t a creature of Washington.
Until now, Democrats have seen big money in politics as simply a deal with the devil that had to be made. Democrats are so often outspent by Republican mega-donors that they viewed courting big-dollar donors and corporations as just part of creating a level playing field.
But if one of Democrats’ top fundraisers and likely successor to Nancy Pelosi can be toppled — and that’s a big if — perhaps Democrats need to rethink that deal.
If Crowley manages to emerge unscathed, well, the message will likely be that those big-dollar donors are just the cost of doing business.
Additional reporting by Ella Nilsen.
Activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated powerful House Democrat Joe Crowley in a stunning primary election upset Tuesday, a result that could shake the foundations of the established party.
The 28-year-old's decisive victory over the fourth-ranking House Democrat in New York's 14th District holds potentially huge implications for the future of the party. Crowley, who has served in Congress for nearly two decades, had possible ambitions to challenge Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for House speaker if Democrats were to take a House majority in November's midterm elections.
“We beat a machine with a movement, and that is what we have done today,” Ocasio-Cortez told supporters Tuesday night. “Working-class Americans want a clear champion and there is nothing radical about moral clarity in 2018.”
In another race seen as defining the Democratic Party's path in 2018, primary voters emphatically backed a young woman who cast herself as a progressive on economic and social issues. Ocasio-Cortez, a community organizer and education advocate, is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America and ran to Crowley's left.
She ran without corporate donors. Crowley's campaign spent spent about 16 times more than his challenger's did. The incumbent had about 10 times more money on hand than Ocasio-Cortez did as of early June.
Ocasio-Cortez promoted proposals such as Medicare for all, a jobs guarantee and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Ocasio-Cortez argued that Crowley — a 56-year-old white man — could not properly connect with the diverse district.
She has earned support from the wing of the political left embodied by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont. In a tweeted statement, the senator congratulated Ocasio-Cortez on an "extraordinary upset victory."
"She took on the entire local Democratic establishment in her district and won a very strong victory. She demonstrated once again what progressive grassroots politics can do," he said.
The 14th District sits mostly in Queens and part of the Bronx, where Ocasio-Cortez was born. Crowley heads the Queens County Democratic Party. He had not faced a primary challenger in 14 years.
"I want to congratulate Ms. Ocasio-Cortez on her victory tonight. I look forward to supporting her and all Democrats this November," Crowley said in a statement Tuesday night. "The Trump administration is a threat to everything we stand for her in Queens and the Bronx, and if we don't win back the House this November, we will lose the nation we love."
Ocasio-Cortez is expected to win the blue district easily in November. She will face Republican Anthony Pappas, who ran unopposed Tuesday.
Crowley's loss raises new questions about who could challenge Pelosi for leadership following November's midterms. He is the only one of the top four House Democrats younger than 77-years-old.
In a statement, Pelosi congratulated Ocasio-Cortez on her victory. The California Democrat said Crowley brought "principled, unifying and forward-looking leadership to the historic challenges of the Trump administration."
President Donald Trump, for his part, cheered Crowley's loss. In a tweet Tuesday night, he called Crowley a "Big Trump Hater" and suggested the representative would have done better if he had supported the president more often.
"Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!" Trump wrote.
Of course, nothing at all indicates Crowley lost the primary in a deep blue district because he criticized Trump. Ocasio-Cortez's proposals to abolish ICE and ensure Medicare for all certainly do not align with the president, who has cracked down on illegal border crossings and railed against too much federal government involvement in health care.
The president also claimed that "the Democrats are in Turmoil!"
President Donald Trump has boasted of celebrating a 'big night' as he relished in a huge Democrat upset that saw 'big hater' and longtime US Rep. Joseph Crowley go down in the primaries to a 28-year-old liberal activist.
Crowley, the number four House Democrat and until Tuesday considered a possible candidate to replace Nancy Pelosi as leader, becomes the first Democratic incumbent to lose this primary season.
The 56-year-old was toppled by underfunded challenger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the daughter of working-class immigrants who caught fire with the party's left wing.
Ocasio-Cortez, who worked briefly years ago as an aide to Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy and is a Sen. Bernie Sanders supporter, has never held elected office.
Trump was thrilled with Crowley's defeat.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders supporter, has upset longtime US Rep. Joseph Crowley in the Democratic congressional primary in New York
Crowley played guitar with a band at his election night gathering on Tuesday and dedicated the first song, Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run,' to his opponent Ocasio-Cortez
Trump was thrilled with Crowley's defeat, tweeting that the 'big hater' should have 'been nicer to his President'
'Wow! Big Trump Hater Congressman Joe Crowley, who many expected was going to take Nancy Pelosi's place, just LOST his primary election. In other words, he's out! That is a big one that nobody saw happening,' Trump tweeted, oddly taking credit for a victory by a candidate more liberal than Crowley.
'Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!'
He added: 'The Democrats are in Turmoil! Open Borders and unchecked Crime a certain way to lose elections. Republicans are for Strong Borders, NO Crime! A BIG NIGHT!'
Meanwhile, Crowley told his supporters: 'It's not about me. It's about America. I want nothing but the best for Ms Ocasio-Cortez. I want her to be victorious.'
He later played guitar with a band at his election night gathering and dedicated the first song, Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run,' to Ocasio-Cortez.
Crowley's loss echoed across the political world, sending the unmistakable message that lingering divisions between the Democratic Party's pragmatic and more liberal wings may be widening heading into the high-stakes November midterm elections.
It also exposed a generational divide among Democrats still debating their identity in the Trump era.
All in all, Trump had reason to celebrate Tuesday night as all three of his endorsed candidates survived primary challenges that could have embarrassed him and the party.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was joined by New York gubenatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon at her victory party in the Bronx on Tuesday night after upsetting incumbent Joseph Crowly
Those included former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who once branded Trump 'a fraud' but has warmed to the president in the past two years.
None of the day's contests mattered more to Trump than the one in South Carolina. Gov. Henry McMaster, one of the president's earliest and strongest supporters, survived an unusually tough challenge from a political newcomer, self-made Republican millionaire John Warren.
The White House went all-in for the governor in recent days, dispatching the president and the vice president to the state in an effort to prevent a political debacle.
Trump has a mixed track record when campaigning for other candidates: His preferred candidates have suffered stinging losses in Alabama and western Pennsylvania in recent months.
Voters cast ballots across seven states on Tuesday as the 2018 midterm battlefield continues to take shape: South Carolina, New York, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Maryland, Colorado and Utah.
With the November general election a little more than four months away, more than half the states had selected their candidates after the day's final votes were counted.
History suggests that Trump's Republican Party, like the parties of virtually every first-term president dating back to Ronald Reagan in 1982, will suffer losses this fall.
Trump had reason to celebrate Tuesday night as all three of his endorsed candidates survived primary challenges, including Mitt Romney. He is pictured above with wife Ann and their grandson Dane in Utah
Yet Crowley's loss suggests that Democrats must overcome intraparty divisions if they hope to take control of Congress and key governors' offices nationwide.
In New York, Ocasio-Cortez ran as a working-class daughter of an immigrant, casting Crowley as an elitist out of touch with the community.
'This race is about people versus money. We've got people, they've got money,' Ocasio-Cortez said in biographical web ad. 'Women like me aren't supposed to run for office.'
Trump got more good news elsewhere in New York City as convicted felon Michael Grimm lost his political comeback attempt against the Trump-backed incumbent Rep. Dan Donovan.
'Tremendous win for Congressman Dan Donovan. You showed great courage in a tough race! New York, and my many friends on Staten Island, have elected someone they have always been very proud of. Congratulations!' Trump tweeted.
Grimm had held the Staten Island seat until 2015 when he pleaded guilty to knowingly hiring immigrants who were in the country illegally to work at his Manhattan restaurant and cooking the books to hide income and evade taxes.
Given his political baggage, a Grimm victory would have jeopardized the seat in this fall's general election.
More than 2,000 miles away in deep-red Utah, former Massachusetts Gov. Romney defeated little-known state Rep. Mike Kennedy, who questioned Romney's conservative credentials and ability to work well with the president.
Romney, too, was endorsed by Trump despite his aggressive criticism of Trump before his election.
None of the day's contests mattered more to Trump than the one in South Carolina. Gov. Henry McMaster survived an unusually tough challenge from a political newcomer. McMaster is pictured above celebrating with wife Patty
Trump got more good news elsewhere in New York City as convicted felon Michael Grimm lost his political comeback attempt against the Trump-backed incumbent Rep. Dan Donovan (pictured above with his arms raised)
In a weekend op-ed published in The Salt Lake Tribune, Romney wrote that the Trump administration's policies have exceeded his expectations, but he pledged to 'continue to speak out when the president says or does something which is divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions.'
Trump tweeted that he looked forward to working with Romney and said 'a great and loving family will be coming to DC.'
Not to be forgotten: races to determine gubernatorial candidates in Maryland, Colorado and Oklahoma.
Former NAACP President Ben Jealous seized the Democratic governor's nomination in Maryland. He would become the state's first African-American governor if he beats Republican incumbent Gov. Larry Hogan this fall.
Former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson beat former state Sen. Connie Johnson to win the Democratic nomination in the race to be the state's next governor. Oklahoma voters also backed the medicinal use of marijuana despite opposition from law enforcement and business, faith and political leaders.
Democratic US Rep. Jared Polis and Republican state Treasurer Walker Stapleton won their respective party primaries for the Colorado governor's race, setting up a left-versus-Trump showdown as Republicans seek a seat they haven't held in more than a decade.
In Maryland, the State Board of Elections was contacting as many as 80,000 voters whose registration information had not been updated, the result of a computer problem. Voters affected by the problem were asked to cast provisional ballots, which would not be counted until July 5, officials said. They added that the problem was related to a programming error, not infiltration from an outside source.
US Rep Jared Polis waves to the crowd before accepting the Democratic nomination for the Colorado Governor's race
Maryland Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous won the nomination for governor in Maryland, setting up a battle against popular incumbent Republican Gov. Larry Hogan
The most telling test of Trump's influence was in South Carolina, where McMaster -elevated to the state's top office last year when Nikki Haley became U.N. ambassador - had seemed in jeopardy. Two weeks ago, the governor failed to win the GOP primary outright, requiring a runoff election with Warren.
McMaster shocked even his closest advisers when, as lieutenant governor in early 2016, he became the first statewide-elected official in the country to back Trump's White House bid.
And while Trump cheered Crowley's downfall, so did liberal leaders who backed Ocasio-Cortez.
'These results are also a shot across the bow of the Democratic establishment in Washington: a young, diverse, and boldly progressive Resistance Movement isn't waiting to be anointed by the powers that be,' said Matt Blizek, of MoveOn.
Ocasio-Cortez ran a low-budget campaign and was outspent by an 18-1 margin but won the endorsement of some influential groups on the party's far left, including MoveOn.
Born in the Bronx, Ocasio-Cortez said she decided to challenge Crowley to push a more progressive stance on economic and other issues.
She attended Boston University, where she earned degrees in economics and international relations, and also spent time working in the office of the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.
After graduating, she returned to the Bronx where she became a community organizer. In the 2016 presidential campaign she worked for Sanders.
Among her issues is expanding the Medicare program to people of all ages and abolishing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. She recently went to Tornillo, Texas, to protest against policies that have separated parents from their children at the southern US border.
