Nov. 6, 2018 By Christian Murray
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has just been elected to U.S. Congress, making her the youngest woman to win a Congressional seat in the country’s history.
Ocasio-Cortez, 29, will represent the 14th District of New York , which covers northwest Queens and a southern portion of Bronx, in the House of Representatives beginning in January.
Her victory, with roughly 80 percent of the vote and 72 percent of scanners reporting as of press time, comes on the heels of her stunning victory over longtime Rep. Joseph Crowley in the June primary that rocked the political establishment. Her Republican opponent, Anthony Pappas, received roughly 13 percent of the vote in tonight’s election.
Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic Socialist who ran on a platform of Medicare-for-all, free public college and abolishing ICE, beat Crowley by nearly 15 points—57.1 percent to 42.5– in the primary. She railed against the Democratic machine and refused to take corporate money, and set herself apart from Crowley, claiming he was the embodiment of the machine and special interests as head of the Queens County Democratic Party.
Despite Crowley’s defeat in the primary, his name remained on ballot—listed under the Working Families line. Some supporters, additionally, were campaigning for him, despite his numerous announcements that he wasn’t running.
A map showing Congressional District 14
Last week, ads were placed in the Woodside Herald, Queens Gazette and elsewhere telling residents to cast their votes for him.
Supporters were also handing out flyers in Sunnyside and were urging people to support him on Facebook.
But the likelihood of Ocasio-Cortez, a resident of Parkchester in the Bronx, winning the Nov. 6 midterm election was already high, given her astounding triumph in the Democratic primary.
Indeed, Crowley received 6 percent of the vote as of press time, with roughly 6,450 votes counted so far.
The first-time candidate, who had roughly 82,000 votes in tonight’s election, came with little political experience when she started her campaign at the beginning of the year. At the time she was working as a waitress in a Manhattan restaurant.
She had helped Bernie Sanders with his 2016 presidential run, and also worked for the National Hispanic Institute. She also handled constituent issues for Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts while attending college in Boston, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and international relations from Boston University.
Her progressive agenda, dislike of the political machine and humble beginnings, however, resonated strongly with constituents. Her campaign, while steadily gaining traction, was elevated to the spotlight shortly after releasing an online video that went viral, with the opening line being– “Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office.”
Two other area women who beat incumbents in the Democratic primaries also won resounding victories tonight.
Jessica Ramos and her son celebrating her victory in the September primary(Photo: Monica Klein/Twitter)
Jessica Ramos was elected state senator for the 13th District, which covers sections of Jackson Heights, Corona, Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, Woodside and Astoria. She generated 86 percent of the vote as of press time, with 86 percent of precincts reporting.
Her victory was a mere formality after her hard-fought primary against party-backed Jose Peralta in September. Peralta, however, was also on the ballot, but received a mere 10 percent of the vote.
Meanwhile, Catalina Cruz was elected to represent the 39th Assembly District–which covers Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and Corona–with 87 percent of the vote as of press time and 86 percent of precincts reporting. She is the first Dreamer to hold office in New York.
She won the September primary against party-backed Aridia Espinal, who received 10 percent of the vote tonight.
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16 Comments
She promised people lots of free stuff and idiots believe it’s possible to get it. That’s what happens when morons vote. Where will the money come from? I guarantee Alexandria’s pockets will be full while nobody will get anything
The worst news is that We are not rid of Crowley and his corrupt Machine and family yet! A Crowley crony was bragging that we , (Queens taxpayers), have to foot the bill for life, for Crowley’s pension (140,000 a year and comprehensive private health care) , due to his “service” to Queens and the Bronx?? Crowley “inherited” his seat in Congress, and then his Queens Machine forced all viable opposition off the ballot for the last 20 years. He is an autocrat, who lost dismally once he had a viable challenger, (80 percent Ocasio-Cortez to 5 percent Crowley this past Tuesday), she destroyed him in the debates, as he never had to do one before, and was clueless on the issues, and now we are stuck supporting him and his family?
He should borrow from the multi-millions his lobbyist brother , or attorney family, friends earned unethically from Queens courts? Why should we pay?
Crowley will be a burden on this District forever!
Ocasio-Cortez
rolls on.
Being far left helps
move others to
the middle.
… that’s where
the work starts.
Fresh ideas and
the courage to
stand firm sets
this Woman apart.
Alexandria needs
our support now
and on a go forward
basis.
We expect great
things from
our Congresswoman
Richie V
The Rabid Activist
of Jackson Hts
The last thing we needed was a socialist democrat.. someone who can’t even explain her “FREE” health care plan.. “you just pay for it.” With what money? Her ideas are destructive. Socialism sounds good on paper but does not work. This is what happens when voters are just as uninformed as their candidate. To know people actually voted for her is appalling. It’s just as sad that Cuomo got re-elected.
#latinosforTrump#Trump2020
Ocasio-Cortez is a
warning shot to allllll
plug and play
Democrats that are all to
happy to continue things as Usual.
Pushing to the far Left
tends to bring more
of us to the middle,
away from Politics
as Usual.
Go Alexandria Go !
Never Surrender
Captured Ground
Richie V
The Rabid Activist
of Jackson Hts
I’m ready to run against her in two years. Here is my platform:
– Build the wall and fight illegal immigration
– Free market economics and less regulation
– End the Fed
– Eliminate the welfare-warfare state.
Stay tuned people…MAGA
you should run!
It’ll be a pleasure to watch you MAGAcrash and
MAGAburn!!!
A pleasure to watch Maga crash and burn? Are you stupid ? Dont you want the country to return to greatness?
yours is a false premise.
Not only would it be a pleasure, but MAGAs crash and burn is –not only inevitable–but NECESSARY to restore the greatness that is America.
so, I ask:
#1-name the era where it would “return to greatness”
2- what “greatness” of the era you detail would be great for people like AOC? Or me, or YOU?
I’ll tell you when: when we restore free market capitalism, and abolish the welfare-warfare state also known as socialism…God save America from Socialism.
Silly comment from a silly person Rico Suave.
Ooh can’t wait to hear all about it! (Rolls eyes)
Crowley was pretending to be unaware of his supporters running a “mysterious” campaign on his behalf in Queens for the past few months, but-despite all of the underground efforts of the Crowley camp to beat Ocasio-Cortez last night, and Crowley refusing to remove his name from the ballot, she still beat him again, overwhelmingly. People in his District barely knew him He was never legitimately elected here, he was like an autocrat.
Finally democracy reigns in Queens/Bronx. King Crowley and his corrupt Queens Machine are dying out – let democracy finally reign.
A breath of fresh air is sweeping through Queens and the Bronx with the election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Her inspiring victory is great for NY, but we also gets rid of Joe Crowley and the Queens Machine, bringing democracy back to the District. Crowley never got elected to Congress legitimately, he “inherited” his seat 20 years ago in backroom deal in Queens, and his Machine intimidated all viable opposition off the ballot against him for the next 20 years!, so he was like an autocrat who never won based on his own talent or ability, and he planned to stay in Congress for life, undemocratically. He also abused his power to enrich cronies and family members, and control the courts. Good riddance to Crowley corruption. Ocasio-Cortez won her seat in Congress legitimately last night – Crowley never did that.
It’s a good day for democracy in our District.
She may play well in this district, it suits the demo she is appealing to but if the democrats run candidates like her in 2020 outside super liberal districts they will lose the house and senate and give Trump another four yrs.
Learn from history. It was the mistake Hillary made. Instead of running a moderate progressive race stressing the issues the majority of the country could agree upon like universal health coverage, she ran an identity obsessed campaign that not only ticked off white men but also white women.
She help serve up the ego maniac, bigot, demagogue Trump on a silver platter.
Anything is better than corrupt Crowley ? He never even won his seat in Congress democratically ? His family and friends became millionaires due to his abuse of power and control of courts – he lied about living in Virginia – and still arrogantly forced local pols to re-elect him as boss of Queens Dems?
She did everyone in NY a great service by getting rid of Crowley corruption.