Two years ago, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shook the Democratic establishment when she beat New York U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley, a 56-year-old, 14-year incumbent in his primary for his Bronx and Queens district. Since then, AOC’s been one of Congress’s fiercest and most visible leftist voices, and there’s a pretty good chance that voice’ll get another two years in office.
On Tuesday, AOC trounced Democratic primary challenger Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, a former CNBC television anchor who raised $2 million from Wall Street executives, which is, uh, not exactly AOC’s thing. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also backed Caruso-Cabrera, even though they tend to support Republicans, which is pretty much all you need to know.
As of midnight on Wednesday, AOC had 72.9 percent of the vote, compared with Caruso-Cabrera’s 19.7 percent. That was with only about 75 percent of precincts reporting, but it’s safe to say that that $2 million—along with $1 million of Caruso-Cabrera’s own money—didn’t do shit.
AOC’s district is heavily blue, so it’s likely, if not certain she’ll keep her seat in the fall. Meanwhile, “the next AOC”—middle school principal Jamaal Bowman, touted as much because he’s a leftist challenge to establishment Rep. Eliot Engel—was doing extremely well around midnight, with 60.5 percent of the vote to Engel’s 35 percent. That was with 75 percent of precincts reporting, though it might be some time until the results are final, since so many people voted using absentee ballots.
Still, it’s almost as if mass societal collapse reminds voters that social safety nets—and not establishment power-hoarding—are good???