New York: US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has defeated her challengers in the Democratic primary for New York’s 14th Congressional District, in her first defense of the seat she claimed in a shocking victory two years ago.
“When I won in 2018, many dismissed our victory as a “fluke.” Our win was treated as an aberration, or my opponent “didn’t try.” So from the start, tonight’s race was important to me. Tonight we are proving that the people’s movement in NY isn’t an accident. It’s a mandate,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
Her chief challenger in the primary was Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, a former CNBC anchor who barely managed 20 percent of the ballots after a very intense campaign in which both candidates traded criticism, both political and personal, Efe news reported.
The final result of the election will be known only on June 30, when the votes by mail are counted.
The 30-year-old Ocasio-Cortez has been one of the most well-known voices of the American political left since her 2018 victory.
With the victory in the primary, Ocasio-Cortez is virtually guaranteed to be re-elected in the November general elections given the overwhelming majority of Democratic voters in her constituency, which covers areas of the working class and the immigrant neighborhoods of Bronx and Queens.
Her primary victory in 2018 against 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley, then the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, had surprised many.
A graduate of Boston University, Ocasio-Cortez was working behind the bar in a restaurant in New York’s Union Square when she launched her run.
She took office at 29 years old, making her the youngest woman to ever serve in Congress.
