AOC Win, Fellow Insurgent’s Lead in US Congress Races Point to Democratic Progressive Gains

A resounding win by U.S. Representative 👤Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a fellow liberal’s lead over a longtime New York congressman signaled fresh momentum for progressive politics amid growing calls for economic and racial justice in the United States.

Tuesday’s nominating contests in New York, Kentucky and several other states pitted establishment Democrats against challengers pushing for sweeping change after the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in Minneapolis police custody.

Early election results showed Black and other minority candidates putting up strong performances in several key contests.

“It may be that the recent focus on Black Lives Matter and racial inequities in policing opened Democratic voters’ eyes even more to Black candidates,” said Kyle Kondik, an elections analyst at the University of Virginia.

Jamaal Bowman, a Black middle school principal backed by Ocasio-Cortez and other leading progressives, looked poised to defeat U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, the chairman of the House of Representatives foreign relations committee who has been in Congress more than three decades, with about 60% of the vote to 34%.

Whoever wins the Democratic nomination is likely to win the seat encompassing parts of the Bronx and Westchester County in November.

“I’m a Black man raised by a single mother in a housing project. That story doesn’t usually end in Congress,” Bowman tweeted on Wednesday as he declared victory. “But today, that 11-year-old boy beaten by police is about to be your Representative. I can’t wait to get to DC and cause problems for those maintaining the status quo.”

In a neighboring district, Ocasio-Cortez secured about 70% of the vote reported on Tuesday against centrist challenger Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, who got less than 20%, New York state election results showed.

“We are proving that the people’s movement in NY isn’t an accident,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “It’s a mandate.”