As another morning article indicates, Ms. Ocasio is not just some Bronx Puerto Rican political “spitfire.” Rather she is an young suburban-educated woman who engaged in all the right and “au courante” political tactics and strategies in a district that is overwhelmingly minority and in which Mr. Crowley was no longer “one of us.” The fact that the Democratic political machine is also stultified with career politicians who have lost the fervor of their party demonstrates why even some minority incumbents are threatened.
As for Nancy Pelosi, when do senior politicians graciously and wisely acknowledge the necessity to pass on the torch to younger activists? She was a great House Leader. Her time has passed. Yes, Republicans created the "monster" image that she now has, one of the misfortunes of a successful political career. Why hasn’t she groomed someone else to succeed her?
2
The Democrats are so out of touch with the voices of progressives and youth that they really thought a 56 year old white man who is part of the Democratic machine would represent "generational change?" Millions of young people and people of color are seeing their futures existentially threatened by trump, et al. They are going to work for and vote for candidates who are presenting a new vision.
I canvassed for Bernie Sanders in 2016- time and again, people sent a similar message: we are ready for a real change. If we are going to survive the swing toward authoritarianism and fascism represented by the current administration, it will only be by energizing the next generation. In large numbers, the young people of America support the economic, environmental, and social issues of a truly progressive agenda. Time to be brave and leave the past behind if we want to bend the curve toward a dark and terrifying future.
Wow! A young Latina whips an old white pol! How did the NYT and all its political pundits fail to predict this? Too busy bashing Trump, I guess.
Given her overtly socialist platform (Medicare for all, universal jobs guarantee, tax Wall Street to support tuition-free universities and trade schools, paid family/sick leave, end war on drugs, demilitarize police, abolish for-profit prisons, protect DREAMERs and TPS recipients, simplify paths to citizenship, abolish ICE, invest in 100% renewable green industry, end corporate finance in public elections), I would probably not vote for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez.
However, I sincerely hope her victory over Mr. Crowley will shake up the ossified Democratic establishment, which has obsessively been banging on Trump instead of focusing on the mid-terms.
We already know which way the Democrats and the Trumpers will vote, so we really need to focus on the undecided, who will likely decide most of the November elections.
Calling Ivanka Trump a vile name, saying that Barron Trump should be locked up with pedophiles, and tossing a senior White House staffer out of a restaurant because she works for Trump can only convince the undecided to vote for Trump and Republicans because the Democrats are wacky and disgusting.
No need to slide into the muck with the Trumpers; we can prevail in November (and 2020) if we present strong candidates and a positive platform that meets the needs of the many voters who felt they were ignored in 2016.
Great stuff! Crowley looks older and even deader than Pelosi; how anyone could call him a "generational replacement" is beyond me; at least she occasionally wakes up and fires off a rocket or two. (OK, OK -- very occasionally!)
Who knows what Ocasio-Cortez will end up being? As long as she stays some kind of college-journalist-liberal-hero type though, Trump has nothing to fear; no more than from Bernie "Everything's-For-Free" and "Hey-I'm-From-Vermont-So-Who-Cares?" Sanders. Nice to see the Democrats knifing each other in the back though; today's been a wonderful day, hasn't it?!
The steady rise in income inequality since the Reagan era with no hope in sight, coupled with the threat to our civil rights under the Trump regime shows that conditions are ripe for the
authoritarian tide to destroy our republic. The doublespeak, the GOP = gaslight, obstruct, project, and the Trump regime's appalling verbal violence as well as abuse of immigrant infants and children are disturbing yet daily occurrences. Our only hope to survive as the nation we know is at the ballot box. I hope candidates like Ms. Ocasio-Cortez are a sign that survival is possible.
By not offering a united front against Trump and Company, the Democrats have given them lots of ammunition. The Trump PR machine attack can easily attack them as left-wing socialists, soft on immigration, against tax cuts, threatening gun ownership and having poor leadership. In order to win a striking victory in November, the Democrats have to appeal to the vast center of the political spectrum and attract all of the 55% of those voters who the polls indicate are not happy with Trump. Appealing mainly to the left-wing of the party and constant in-fighting will be a gift to the Republicans.
1
You forgot the main takeaway: three-fourths of eligible voters did not bother to show up at the polls. This is what dooms us to whatever happens, a la 2016. Do we really deserve the right to vote?
The biggest shocker about Mitt Romney's primary race is that the election went contested. You have to wonder why Mike Kennedy even bothered. The only county he carried was Piute with a population somewhere under 2,000. Less if you only count eligible voters. I can only figure he was using the Senate publicity to make friends at higher levels and raise funds for his next state run.
The seat was always Mitt's for the taking. Don't ask me why. I suppose anything is better than Orrin Hatch. At least Romney is under 80 and not originally from Utah. That makes him down right progressive for Republicans in Utah.
I wouldn't hold my breath for any Trump opposition though. Romney is the great LDS hope for Trump redemption. In reality though, Romney is going to hold his nose, placate the masses, and take whatever he can get. I'm sure the deal is quite lucrative for him and his family. If he can manage to hold the dissatisfied Mormons and Utah's electoral gerrymander together through 2020, he's a Republican golden child. That's his purpose here.
It'll be interesting to see the public's reaction when Trump humiliates Romney again. Watch: Romney will sit there and take it just like a dog tied to a roof.
I hate to take the focus off of New York exclusively (and the city at that) but there were other moments on Tuesday. Take, as one example, Ben Jealous' win of the (crowded) Maryland Democratic Gubernatorial primary. The question now is can he beat the incumbent republican - in this very liberal state, that shouldn't even be a question, let alone a serious one.
Female and POC. We don't need to know anything else about the candidate. She's who we need.
“The next Congress seems likely to have fewer notable Republican critics of Mr. Trump.” What was the fringe 15 to 29 years ago, is not merely the mainstream of the Republican party today but the entirety of the Republican Party today. Amid a general silence from the Mueller “investigation.”
The United States of America, 1776-2018. R.I.P.
Why do we keep turning these local races into national referendums? One candidate spoke to the needs of a local group of voters, the other didn't. Period. That doesn't imply a dramatic shift to the left. In fact, the Times ran an article just a day ago on how the few candidates who secured the Sanders endorsement hadn't fared particularly well overall, winning fewer than half of their primaries.
8
Thank you! I was just about to write this post. I was really surprised by the breathless response from the NYT editorial board -- "voters delivered a message to Democrats and Republicans across the country . . . the liberal base may be ignored at great political risk," and "Politicians across the country should take note." That has hardly been borne out by the evidence across the country to date, as you point out. (I can tell you that, here in Bama, if Doug Jones had been one millimeter less moderate in his race against a horrendously flawed candidate, there might now be a Sen. Roy Moore.) Of course, Ocasio-Cortez's election has significance. But if there's a lesson to be learned, it's that these congressional and gubernatorial elections will be played out across a diverse tapestry of local electorates, with diverse leanings, visions and normative boundaries. And that's wonderful -- that's a big-tent Dem Party.
I think Ms Osorio-Cortez brings real energy and ideas to the table and I'm happy for her win. But I wouldn't generalize too far beyond her local district (a 4,000 vote margin is pretty small). Every candidate has to appeal to their local constituents and local set of issues. There's no cookie cutter solution here beyond ongoing and genuine engagement with your voters and messages that resonate.
As far as a threat to Nancy Pelosi, we'll see. She'll easily be re-elected in San Francisco. Whether she's the head of her caucus in 2019 remains to be seen but it's more likely than not.
Her job as leader is not necessarily to speak for the Democratic Party but to represent and lead her fellow members in the House. She also has to play hardball with the other side, the leadership in the Senate, and the White House. The new Democratic congress will decide its leadership, not Republicans using smears and propaganda.
4
Unfortunately Nancy is way past her prime and fails to grasp the fundamentals of the political scene. She is doing more damage each and every day she doesn't step down. She among others in the old gauard are why I am an Independent. Now I will have a to vote Democrat to get rid of this cancer in our government while we still can turn things around. Make no mistake, the Democratic Party needs new leadership to advance forward.
Apologies to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. I mis-wrote her surname. I've met many Osarios on the west coast but no Ocasio's to date.
I have never been a fan of either party but have usually voted Democrat as the lesser of two evils. In my lifetime I have seen our country go from one where a person working 40 hours per week at any job could make a living and usually had benefits such as health care to one where the middle class has almost disappeared, replaced by the mega rich and those struggling to survive with no health care, meagre pay and no hope. Education was supposed to be the way to climb out of poverty in the U.S. but the price of college has become insanely high. The Democratic Party made a few feeble efforts to help the middle and working class folks, but didn't fight nearly hard enough for them. I paid for my children to go to college and continue to pay for their doctoral-level studies, but I'd be more than happy to pay more taxes so that other people's children can go for free. I have healthcare but would love to pay more taxes for others to have it as well. America could be so much better if we had leaders who were not afraid to be called "socialists."
31
If the Dems had done as they promised in 2008 and stopped the War in Afghanistan, we could have paid for healthcare and college.
The Democratic party needs to stay together and be as progressive as possible. We need new blood to correct the problems of the past which caused Democrats to vote for President Trump in the 2016 election and ultimately get elected. The fact that 25 Republicans in the House are retiring is not necessarily good news for Democrats. We must run on issues and not assume that those vacant seats will be filled by Democrats. There is a good chance they will be filled by Trump supporters which would be a disaster. The 2018 midterms are about taking back the House. The election of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez in the Democratic primary is a good start. She is a progressive activist and young enough to be around awhile. We must support people like her in all states. Remember that we must push issues and the welfare of the Country even harder with the impending retirement of Justice Kennedy.
10
Some of the Democrats who have won races in other states earlier this year have not been the most progressive. Not being so progressive may be how they were able to win. They appealed to their constituencies and earned their votes. I'm not opposed to progressives (and may well support them) but I care more about Democrats winning elections. If you want to win elections, be pragmatic, not dogmatic.
15
Democrats didn’t vote for Trump; they didn’t vote.
Earlier this week Charles Blow wrote a wonderful and insightful column on the topic of "white extinction anxiety."
To him this was a Republican affliction, but I think it actually impacts the left too. It's probably what drove many white blue collar Democrats towards Trump.
I wonder if it's going to start hitting more plugged-in parts of the coalition, too. For instance, perhaps the Bernie-Bros were an early case of this. And as the Republican Party becomes more like the White People's Party, I wonder what white people - particularly white men - in the Democratic Party will do when they see that the party (rightfully in my opinion) now belongs to people like Ocasio-Cortez and Stacey Abrams.
If they can no longer have leadership positions or the prospect of even getting them, will they still support reparations, higher taxes, and open borders?
Put another way, if they're put in their place, and they don't have a chance to even virtue signal their way towards status, will they still stand by us as we fight for the rights of minorities?
I suspect they won't. I suspect white suburban women, and young white men, won't stand by us as it becomes clearer and clearer that the party and its positions of power are no longer as open to them as they once were.
If this is the case, it will become even more important to make this country more diverse, through immigration, amnesty. and family and pay policies that make it easier for minority women to have more children.
6
In the Ocasio-Cortez - Crowley contest, there's another take-away: Kristen Gillibrand, in endorsing Crowley and ignoring Ocasio-Cortez, showed that she's not a Bernie Sanders progressive, but a centrist, corporate Democrat just like Crowley.
In the 2020 presidential primaries, when Gillibrand pretends to be a Bernie Sanders progressive to lure progressive votes, we need to remember what her actual preference was in 2018 when she shunned a true Bernie Sanders progressive. Gillibrand doesn't deserve progressive support.
19
The heck with Sanders. He may win in ultra liberal New York but his candidates have failed in many other states.
Not much of a takeaway. I am not sure there is anything to celebrate in the Democratic camp. The establishment will rally against the new challengers. What the challengers represent is not going to play well on the national scale. Occasio-Cortez is not a progressive. She is a self-confessed and card carrying Democratic Socialist. If there is anything that American people are going to reject, it is socialism. Not a chance! So, what's the bottom line? In the end we have the Democratic Party badly split between the ossified but still strong establishment and socialist challengers. This is not a winning combination for the coming elections.
2
I used to think this too. Heck, not that long ago, the word "liberal" was considered a dirty word if you wanted to get elected. However, since the GOP is hugging one communist country after another and the younger generation has no awful memories of socialism gone awry, I'm not sure this is true anymore. They call *all* dems socialists anyway. At least it would be true for her.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez understood the issues in her community more than Joe Crowley. Pretty simple, really. I think Crowley's national ambition may have clouded his judgement.
10
Past time for the old guard to walk away and let the youngsters run things....they already know far more about getting along than we did at their age, and they can quickly learn how to get done what needs to be done! No more 70-year-old lawmakers, and definitely not presidents! Term limits, or age limits would do the trick! (I am 73, so don't give me nonsense about ageism, either!) Other than the Supremes, most judicial appointments even have upper age limits.
9
I notice nobody is talking about the turnout, the number of people who actually voted was embarrassingly small. This wasn't decided along ideology, it was decided by race. Don't make it any more than that.
6
Hopefully, this will not cede the seat to the R's. Another Sanders-Trump win.
The Times needs to include the turnout percentage before interpreting the “meaning” of these elections.
In a year which has been called critical for the survival of democracy (see Tom Friedman’s recent piece), turnout was abysmally, astonishingly low. In the 14th CD, turnout was 13% of registered voters, per the NY Board of Elections.
But even in districts viewed as “flippable”- the 11th, 19th, 22nd, and 24th - turnout was abysmal.
Journalists need to spend a few moments looking at turnout of registered voters, (and the high number of unregistered voters) before opining on the meaning of elections in which the vast majority of eligible voters were AWOL.
If the era of Trump did not push these voters to the polls, nothing will. When three quarters of eligible voters refuse to particpate, aube we don’t deserve democracy.
Turnout percentage should be reported in every story reporting results since the vast majority did not vote.
10
The turnout is also a bad sign. If her people didn't come out in any more strength than that, what's to stop them in November?
Left unmentioned was that cannabis won - BIG.
Dem Jared Polis, a big supporter of his state's fastest growing industry, took the Colorado governor's race with a margin twice that of the closest competitor. He's most likely the next leader of his state.
Then there's Oklahoma. Medical marijuana was approved by the conservative voters there by a 57% to 43% margin.
This even factors into the NY governor race. Yes, Ms. Nixon was gifted with some solid momentum by other results in NY state. But the victories just mentioned mean that her solid stance in favor of rational public policy on cannabis stands in stark contrast to Cuomo's rather feeble Johnny-Come-Lately shifts in his position. Too little, too late, along with a host of other issues that show voters are weary of the same old Cuomo.
Roll on Big Cannabis, roll on.
6
And if Trump wants to get reelected in 2020, all he has to do is to embrace legalization of marijuana nationally. I work in the industry and I would rather see it illegal everywhere than face that prospect.
The article fails to mention that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a great campaigner. She can whip up a crowd, and she knows how to grab a headline. Her opponent appeared to be more concerned about his political career than his constituents. I would have voted for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez over him any day. She'll be outstanding in congress. I wish her the best!
8
Georgia's Governors race is next - Elect a true Progressive - Stacey Abrams -- the heart of the south - a great state moving forward not backward.
6
Even Republicans are offended by the likes of Grimm.. what a shock I didn’t think anything was beneath them. It certainly is obvious nothing is beneath Trump.He is the foulest of all. Both republicans “endorsed”by Trump were a given. He did nothing about Grimm and McMaster was a definite..
1
Watching the 3 stooges, Schumer, Pelosi & Feinstein, repeatedly lose elections is disturbing in normal times. But with psychopath Trump in power, the planet can no longer suffer their lackluster campaign skills and pathetically weak message. Cortez actually stands for something and intends to shake up the status quo. Given that Trump believes he can pardon himself, that he completely above the law, it's time for all hands on deck to remove this cancer from the white house. Based on past performance, the stooges simply don't have the skills to get it done. Let's hope the young people, like Cortez, come fwd and take over the dem leadership.
5
You’ve omitted the significant victory of Liuba Gretchen Shirley over party supported candidate. She will represent a clear choice against Peter King.
3
I am glad this young lady beat the incumbent. we the people are tired of the filthy lobbying.
1
We - Democrats - need new blood. Literally. Let the GOP be the party of the charlatans and dinosaurs. WE must be the Party for Families, for fairness, and decency. Seriously.
13
The "answer" for democrats, libertarians, progressives, conservatives and middle of the road sane people who know that we are all an amalgam of each of those titles and no honest person is all one of any of them is to speak about the solutions and not speak about how bad the other guys are.
Those who care already know and those who support them do not know or do not care. It, pointing out how bad the other is, is a pointless self pleasuring endeavor that actually backfires on the person doing it.
We need maturity and solutions. It doesn't matter what beliefs a person has at home we all have to get along and that means we leave those beliefs out of it when discussing public business.
The answer is rational solutions that have been worked out in detail. Nothing else will do. Not mendacious bragging and use of senseless grammar and not self righteous declarations of what should be. Otherwise as bright as Ms. Ocasio-Cortez or anyone else may be we will continue to have more of the same GOP lead hamstringing of our government to prevent it from governing so they can keep robbing the taxpayers blind for their mostly anonymous masters.
4
I had to laugh about Lee Zeldin's take on the Democratic race in his district: like Trump he gave his new Democratic opponent a nickname, Park Avenue Perry (Gershon). Trouble is, Zeldin is a Mercer-appointee and Trump sycophant. If only he were a real boy!
A fifth takeaway: It's not just NY. The same thing is happening in Chicago. The white European Democratic machine is crumbling as the Hispanic politicians they shut out for so long fight back.
3
And other cities all over the country. In Maryland, Ben Jealous beat out a bunch of other primary candidates to become the second person of color ever nominated in this 'liberal' state.
I think the odds are that this is a stepping stone to something. If Romney is positioning himself for a 2024 run, then we can expect him to be 100% behind Trump "on the record" while attempting behind the scenes to moderate the administration's policies just enough to smooth the path for Trump's reelection in 2020. I doubt Romney wants to fight uphill in 2024 against a Democratic incumbent.
However, in 2024, Romney will be 77. So, is 2024 what he is after? If not that, what? Secretary of State?
"With the upcoming retirements of Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona and Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, and the recent Republican primary loss for Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina, the next Congress seems likely to have fewer notable skeptics of Mr. Trump in the Republican ranks. Barring a major surprise before November, Mr. Romney will have the opportunity to fill the void, if he is so inclined."
Let's see -- 51 current Republican Senators and 235 current Republican House members. Exactly 0 have filled that void. I'd say, statistically speaking, the likelihood of Romney "filling the void" is exactly equal to that of Merrick Garland being nominated to fill Anthony Kennedy's seat on SCOTUS. It's simple math, really.
5
I admire Ms. Ocasio-Cortez passion and her intelligence in seeing that Crowley, while a big shot nationally, was vulnerable in a district that had changed demographically.
But Ocasio-Cortez won in a very blue district. I hope democratic candidates in swing districts will embrace her passion and strategic thinking but not her positions or reliance on identity politics. They will not prove successful nationally like they do in the heart of New York City.
6
I see the Democratic Primary Elections in 2018, is like the Republican Primary Elections in 2010. In 2010, Republican voters replaced moderate Republicans with "reactionary conservatives" united in opposition to President Obama. The win of Dave Bratt over Eric Cantor is but one example. The result was a "objectionist" agenda against the ACA. The Republican Party became "The Party of NO". President Obama was forced to use the power of Exceutive Orders to further the Democratic agenda. It was the beginning of the Tribalism of Congress and the Senate, that we live with now. Which lead to the Republican geryymandering of Congressional Districts across the country. As a former moderate Republican I was dismayed by these results. Because it goes against my belief that both parties need to work together to reach reasonable compromses on the issues facing America. Now I see no other way to achieve that goal, other than to have a "Blue Wave" crash the Republican control of the House of Representatives. They have shown their true agenda; 1) Support their wealthy donors. 2) Pay for it at the expense of the middle class, the poor and the environment. 3) Now, with Mr. Trump, at the helm, the agenda has expanded to include; A) Make America White at the expense of Civil and Human Rights. B) Support Russia, at the expense of our Allies, in return for their support to keep Republicans in power.
4
I will be satisfied if this just makes Democrats in office a trifle more accessible.
4
Ocasio-Cortez' victory was a stark repudiation of Democratic Party centrism - but the Times analysis focuses on how this will affect centrist Pelosi's hold on the speakership.
The Democratic party elite and their loyal media partners are determined to "stay the course", but a Wall Street favorite with a $3 million campaign war chest was upset by an outsider armed only with $200k in campaign funds - but more importantly, with new ideas.
The level of democracy in the US is debatable, but you still need votes to win elections, and despite the odds against us, we still might be able to reform the once-great Democratic Party.
9
I guess you still haven't noticed the irreparable damage Trump has done to human rights, the environment and the rule of law? Your biggest concern is reforming the Democratic Party? Really?
Please wake up! Ideological purity is a luxury no affected by Trump - and by the way, that's the whole world - can afford.
4
"Ocasio-Cortez' victory was a stark repudiation of Democratic Party centrism."
This is nonsense. To take a highly urban, minority-majority district in the heart of the nation's largest city and extrapolate to the country at large is the kind of thinking that keeps democrats in the minority.
6
I guess you still haven't realized that it was the Democratic party's abandonment of working people that fueled Trump's rise.
Re: "Ideological purity is a luxury..."
Tell that to the DNC which demand pure centrism from its candidates.
The biggest takeaway is the low turnout. How soon people forget that is how Hillary Clinton lost, a lack of turnout in urban areas.
It seems most voters didn't like Crowley or Cortez. On a national level that has become a bigger problem for the democrats, a lack of sensible candidates who can appeal to and unite various groups. Democrats use to be good at that.
1
Hellen,
I think Hillary lost because she is a bad campaigner and her wishy-washy positions on issues is what hurt her. The democratic party machine is as a rotten as the GOP machine and people are just fed up!!.
It is about time to disrupt the democratic party
3
I count on Romney to do what's easiest. Another Trump lackey.
29
He’s already licking Trump’s boots; did we expect any less?
The upending of entrenchment in the Dems is a very good thing. I see it as a continuation of what got both Obama and Trump elected (audaciousness) and a rejection of what Obama came to embody (aloofness) and depend on (machine politics).
3
Doesnt the NY Times have that phrase backwards? The Republicans always fall in line.
11
Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line.
You are correct.
John
Does the NYTimes really wonder whether or not Romney will be a “loyal foot soldier” for Trump? What elected, non-lame-duck Republican these days isn’t?
When did this paper’s political analysis skills deteriorate so badly?
21
So the Hispanic voters voted for the Hispanic; what a surprise.
When white voters vote race, it’s called racism.
11
It looks like having a Latina in the House of "Representatives" is not a bad idea. Most of the government is middle-aged or older white males
even though that is not proportional to what the country looks like.
3
Charlerf.
what a dumb comment. what is your point anyway.
2
Two things here - first off, most Latinx people find being called a "Hispanic" offensive. It carries the same connotation as referring to "the blacks". Second, as Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said repeatedly on the trail, you cannot separate race from class, as the two are inextricably linked. The overwhelming majority of her district has been left behind by neoliberal development policies in the city, which have prioritized wealthier, whiter populations at the expense of poorer people of color. She won because she made these sorts of economic concerns the thrust of her candidacy. If you insist on seeing her win solely as an issue of racial identification then you haven't been paying attention in the slightest.
So called 'moderate' democrats like Crowley are DINOs -- democrats in name only. They take millions from Wall Street, they quiver in fear of Trump's tweets, and they quash progressive proposals with broad public support ($15 minimum wage, Medicare for All, gun control, etc). They are so concerned with winning over wealthy southern white suburbanites -- those mythical swing voters who are supposedly going to defect from the GOP -- that they forget the blue districts they actually represent. Democrats are better off without these DINOsaurs!
5
I will take a centrist Democrat over any Republican any day.
1
Some takeaways: the NYT needs to give fair share coverage to the "left" wing of the Democratic Party, they are invisible in this paper (speaking of partisanship in the media?). It even belatedly opened up the Readers' Comment section on the news of Ocasio-Cortez' win and closed it quickly. I barely had time to react. The NYT (and pro-Democratic media) can uphold its old guard stance of the DP, but it should give fair coverage to the other side, not dismiss it or ignore it. The NYT will not help the DP win with obsessive coverage and criticism of Trump the villain and his tweets and gaffes. It is preaching to the choir, and white washing the real issues that most Democrats at the base are talking about. Just cover in an intra party friendly way other views and,basically, the whole DP playing field. How many upsets will it take?And dropped subscriptions to the paper?
25
Also worth noting is progressive Dana Balter's 62-37% win in the 24th Congressional District primary against a more conservative candidate supported by the DCCC. She will oppose Republican incumbent John Katko in November.
6
She ran on eliminating ICE and providing Medicare for all. I was an easy bet she would win.
15
I am not a supporter of a lot of things the Democratic party brings but I believe this is good for the party. I believe the old guard is holding the democratic party back and new blood with bring a more effective message for the Democrats. We win when we have strong political discourse. Right now I don't think the democrats can being that effective message and workable solutions to the table. Perhaps the new group can. Time to cast off the old views much like the View of the World from 9th Avenue..
8
When the Republicans won't even let you in the room to debate legislation, it's hard to bring solutions to the table.
Bernie Sanders 2016 run for the presidential position destroyed the Democratic Party.
His supporters didn’t vote in 2016 and that helped Trump get elected.
Bernie supporters don’t like admitting that fact or being reminded of that fact.
Everything about Bernie Sanders was wrong and his supporters are misguided.
He isn’t even a Democrat.
9
True, but that Hillary Clinton as not loved and basically "imposed" by the DNC is lso true !
Don't blame Bernie, blame Hillary (even though I voted for her) Ask her why didnt she showed up in Wisconsin?
1
I voted for Bernie and resigned as Democratic precinct officer right after the election.
The reason Donald Trump won is because Hillary Clinton ran...and deleted emails, and had secret Wall Street speeches, and had her husband meet with Loretta on a tarmac, and she sabotaged Bernie rather than embrace the whole party, and because she was so arrogant she couldn't be bothered with Michigan, Wisconsin, or Pennsylvania. Don't blame it on me!
1
The Clinton era is over (thank goodness.) the Pelosi era is soon to follow.
13
We democrats lost to someone like Trump because of the old democratic machine which is morally twisted like a pretzel when it comes to Bernie Sanders.
1
If Hillary Clinton is alive and kicking in 2020, you can bet the house that she will run again. Another full year of hearing, "Back in the 70's when I worked for the Children's Defense Fund..."
1
Maryland, a bluer than blue state, saw it's own Democratic changing of the guard.
The candidate backed by the old guard and virtually every major democratic player for Governor of Maryland Rushern Baker got trounced by Ben Jealous.
In the Montgomery County Executive race "Marxist Mark " Erlich from the "Peoples Democratic Republic of Takoma Park'' may have bested businessman and Washington Post endorsed David Blair in a field of six.
About 500 votes separate them.
That election won't be decided for a week due to an election glitch with 80,000 (yes 80 thousand ) provisional ballots to be counted due to an election glitch.
Our own Motor Vehicle authority fouled up a voter registration program royally without Putin's help, as far as is known today.
Maybe it is a payback for the seizure of the Russian Dachas on the eastern shore?
2
Voted in MD.
Received two ballots in the mail.
Go Ben.
The biggest threat to democracy is the indifference of citizens. Only 58% of eligible voters bothered to show up at the polls in 2016.
The worst voter turn-out is the 18-29 age group who show up at only half the rate of their parents.
The Republicans dominate all three branches of government because younger, progressive leaning citizens have better things to do on November 6th than stand in a boring line to vote.
The next time you read how older citizens are always the problem, just remember that they, at least, are in the game. Like the Lotto slogan goes, "Ya gotta play to win".
43
The older generations had similar levels of turnout when they were young. The difference then was that there were more older voters who were not trying to rob the future through low pay, student loans, and a destruction of the environment for short term gains. It says a lot to blame the youth for the destruction that the people in power engage in, instead of demanding that all representatives work towards a sustainable future for the benefit of all Americans whether they vote or not. But that was never the “me generation” was it?
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This assumes that millenials have an inspiring choice each time they punch their name for Democratic candidates. Realize that it's not the responsibility of young people to save milquetoast candidates who take corporate money and give lip service to working class and POC issues. It's the responsibility of the Democratic party to put forth candidates that make them actually want to go to the polls at all. Don't assume that not being Republican is enough. Hillary did.
You stereotype the "me generation" (a conservative put-down) as being all of one piece. The Republicans are responsible for the vices you target, and gerrymandering and the electoral college denied the liberal majority of their rightful victories.
Had younger voters shown up in proportions comparable to their parents then Trump would not be president.
So much for the establishment's race-based narrative...the Left can take over the entire country:
"But the Ocasio-Cortez agenda didn’t just win in the Bronx and Queens, with their favorable demographics. Dana Balter, running on Medicare-for-all and universal pre-K, prevailed in the New York 24th District — 87 percent white, central New York — over Juanita Perez Williams, the establishment’s handpicked choice in the Democratic primary."
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Ms. Williams didn't jump into the race until early April. She tried to steal an election she barely participated in. It's not a good example.
The real test will be in November to see if Balter can turn a red district blue. If so, it will certainly be a bigger achievement in my mind than turning a blue district even bluer.
I think people are reading the wrong thing into the win by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. From what I have read, Crowley wasn't particularly moderate, he could be labeled more as a practical progressive. He supported Bernie's medicare for all and called ICE fascists. But disagreed on the practicality of trying to abolish ICE. However, I read that the turnout was low. He arrogantly didn't show up for a debate, didn't campaign much, and basically didn't get his supporters to the polls. She did. You have to get your people to the polls if you want to win. If what I read is correct, that's the lesson here.
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Dire threats to democracy, to America's shrinking middle class, to the poor and to minorities require a drastic response. We need candidates who can effectively deliver that message.
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I’m glad Ms. Ocasio-Cortez won. I wonder how long it will take the Democratic hierarchy, and the money guys, to set about trying to co-opt her. Obama was a community organizer too. He caved in to Wall St. fast and often.
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"And one of the very methods New York’s Democratic establishment uses to maintain its grip — separating federal and state primaries to better control the electorate"
And we wonder why "DID NOT VOTE" would have won the 2016 Election in a landslide. It is in the powerful's interest to disenfranchise voters.
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If ossified Democrats can't see the wave of discontent and voter angst for any in Congress to "get something done" rather than obstructionist policies, they can expect more upsets.
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Democrats have not had an effective majority since a few weeks in 2009 (between seating Al Franken and Kennedy's illness and death).
Please stop labeling blaming victims for what Republicans have done. Look at people's voting records, not at what the latest social media attack support group has substituted for what actually happened.
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Get something done? Like universal health care? Like better education? Then Republicans must be crushed at the polls.
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Looks like the Democrats are leaning further and further to the left while Republicans are promoting main-stream, centrist candidates. The center is where elections can be won.
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Out of curiosity, who would you consider a right-wing candidate or a right-wing elected official?
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But then, thr Center is NOT where the elections were won in 2016.
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Huh?
The betrayal of the working class is going to cost the DNC dearly.
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And maybe lead the way out of the darkness.
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I cannot see where Democrats have betrayed the working class at all. You might make that statement and substitute RNC. VOTE!
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It already has; take a look at Washington.
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I suppose it's too much to expect the punditocracy to step back and look at the bigger picture, and make it about reality rather than generalizations into the past and the future.
There are a range of "camps" eager to overinterpret each of these events as "evidence".
Across the nation, what is emerging is that committed candidates are talking to people and about issues, and whether they are centrist (Doug Jones), working class (Conor Lamb), or social democrats (not communists, no matter the insult comic republican talk). Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a wonderful candidate and she deserved to win.
Berniebusters and centrists, stick to the important message. Get your friends and allies in office; realize that you all agree on the basics, whether you call it affordable health care for all or Medicare for all, whether it's $15/hour or a living wage. We need to get rid of cheating in elections, and that means a Democratic majority in 2020, and no more conservatives in the Supreme Court. We need to deal with climate change, and that means not one single current Republican who denies reality and science and wants to defund it for tax cuts for the rich or more fancy weaponry rather than public service and infrastructure.
The list goes on and on, but cut it out with the infighting! It might be easier to argue with people who can hear you and largely agree with you, but there are serious enemies about.
They don't care. Do U?
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Conservation is conservative. I realized I used "conservative" for the radical legislators from the bench like Gorsuch who are hardly honest conservatives. Merrick Garland was a true conservative. "The Conservative Pipeline to the Supreme Court: With the Federalist Society, Leonard Leo has reared a generation of originalist élites. The selection of Neil Gorsuch is just his latest achievement."
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/17/the-conservative-pipeline-...
I see The New Yorker shares my confusion as to what to call these radical reinterpreters of the intentions of the framers of our Constitution.
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I cannot like this enough. Well said and thanks!
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"no more conservatives in the Supreme Court"
That is not going to happen for the next 50 years at least. There was only one Supreme Court justice ever impeached and that was in 1804. The biggest disservice the Obama presidency did to the nation was not to shove the supreme court nomination process ahead when they could. I admire Obama but the consequences of the overconfidence in Hillary's capacity to win will be long lasting for the nation.
I’m not a New Yorker, but congratulations to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. There are so many things about her that the Democratic Party needs. The old guard is leaving the stage, and it is time for a fresh new generation to take over.
Yes, let’s advance bold new ideas that can benefit our nation, like Medicare for All. But here is a caution and a plea from a midwestern Democrat. Look very, very carefully at the issues that got Donald Trump elected. Democrats should establish policy positions that reject the bad parts of what Trump represents (racism, misogyny and greed, among others). But please realize there were reasons the electorate rejected the Democratic candidate, and LEARN THE LESSONS. Ask Bill Clinton what we missed seeing, because he probably can tell you. The immigration issue, for example, is not as black-and-white (pun intended) as many progressives try to make it. Could we insert some nuance into the discussion?
Democrats should try really listening to everyone, for a change, instead of just lecturing flyover country about inferior we are.
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I really hope Crowley's defeat is a wake up call or at least a red flag to the Democratic party. They refuse to accept that they lost the last election through, in large part, their own over confidence and transparent shenanigans to keep 'undesirable' candidates out. So many life long democrats were disgusted and simply did not turn up to vote. If the Republicans are in trouble for this coming election, so are the democrats. I will be voting against republican candidates but I cannot go so far as to say that I am impressed or happy with the leadership in the DNC
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