It should be noted that in a part of this congressional district a young new faced city councilor ran against a veteran progressive state senator who like Mike Capuano was really liked in her district. New face got crushed.
12
No, because the upset of an out-of-touch white-guy by a Latina with better optics in a solidly-blue district is only shocking to New Yorkers and their belly-button-studying local journalists.
20
Ms. Pressley is a legitimate experience politician she has the bonafides to be considered seriously.
In this time we need experienced people to fight the fight not someone who has to learn on the job.
Good Luck to her!
11
Pressley has been a horrible Council Woman. She has done absolutely nothing for the City other than try to gain publicity for herself. Capuano, on the other hand is a superb Congressman whom we all love. I only hope Pressley has to give up her Council seat to run the campaign.
10
Defunding ICE and several of the other positions these candidates have taken may be a winning proposition in the districts mentioned but not throughout most of the country including most of upstate NY; let alone the midwest, south, etc.
13
I am a committed democrat who is really concerned that democrats are about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by swinging too thoughtlessly to the left. That said I don't see how this victory was a "shock". Demographics were strongly on Ocasio-Cortez's side. Why should Crowley's support from the party bureaucracy have changed that. There is a certain question of competence when you count on that kind of support to carry you through a great tide of demographic change. Beyond that, as much as Ocasio-Cortez might be a little too much for some part of the voting public, a congressperson is supposed to represent their district and if their consistuency swings left they should represent that. Crowley really should have noticed and he should have run a better campaign.
13
Bill--Well, he didn't notice. He was too busy soliciting Republicans, and big donors, for" funds." No door knocking for him. He's too important for that.
10
Ripple effect? GAWD, I certainly hope so. I'd love to try to get some sleep, maybe after November 8th.
8
Pressley has done nothing for the City during her tenure on the Council. She is probably the worst Candidate they could put up. Capuano on the other hand is excellent, hard working without ambition and extremely responsive to his Constituents. Both Pressley and Capuano represent me.
10
Why is the assumption that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez won because she is a female, or because she is a person of color? Why not first assume that she won because her progressive ideas are appealing to voters, or that she ran a skilled campaign?
45
Matthew--AND, she appears to have political chops, as well.
12
"Another challenge for Ms. Pressley is creating ideological separation, because Mr. Capuano has an established progressive voting record in Congress."
This is Pressley's biggest challenge. It is hard to earn votes when a newcomer holds similar policy positions to the incumbent.
Pressley asks people to vote for her mostly because of her identity. That is a big difference from the NY primary where there were substantial differences between the candidates. They are two different cases.
25
New York was just the start of what you call the "shock wave".
Finally Socially Conscious Women are stepping up across America - and the world - getting out and meeting voters to explain why they are running and what they will do for 99% of us. Socially Conscious women must take one-half the power in every segment of American life to bring OUR country and world back into balance.
WE THE PEOPLE want elected officials who are given the honor to help manage OUR United States to work for 99% of us and OUR votes will make it so. NOW.
8
“One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy.”
― Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics
Unfortunately perhaps.
5
Remember the guy who beat Erik Cantor in the primary a few years back. Neither do I.
14
This primary result is one of a few that are essentially one-off dog bites man newspaper stories (note: I am not calling the candidate a canine, just using an analogy). There is no major trend other than a few 20 year olds know they are getting a terrible deal and are challenging the status quo. For lack of a better name call it a minor trend. If there is a major trend IMO that has already started is that a lot of former military men and women that were in the service during our Middle East adventures of recent years are running, with the skills and knowledge that they can do a better job of what is already in DC. They are more likely to change the landscape if lokking out a few years. They bring leadership and at least initially, likely less tolerance for partisanship. My expectation is they will be more likely to work across the aisle than recent inhabitants. In a place that could corrupt Mother Theresa, hopefully they stay that way.
6
More identity politics. It's like the siren song of the left now. Look how well it served us in 2016. It will serve us just as well in 2020. This "shocker" had nothing to do with electoral politics and everything to do with gerrymandering. If NY14 were a competitive district, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wouldn't have won the primary, and if she had, she would get creamed in November.
This "shocker" is about everything that's wrong with our politics today. It shouldn't be a competition about who can be the most extreme.
11
The Democrats and democracy are both badly losing. The $2,000,000,000,000 tax cut, the hollowing out of the affordable care act, the reckless trade wars, the loss of collective-bargaining, the asymmetrical two party system, engaged in asymmetrical politics, outspent, out advertised, we are losing badly.
5
Please, let's not reduce a major upset to the NYC political establishment to a male-female, black-white or some other self-destructive, divisional issue. The whole "I'm with Her" thing caused us to back a very losing horse (of historic proportion). If the clearly, more popular and respected progressive candidate, Bernie, got the nomination Trump wouldn't be in Washington.
15
“We don’t have millions of dollars to buy visibility,” Ms. Amatul-Wadud said.”
Ah, but you do have the front page of The NY Times.
9
I don't think identity politics serves democrats well. Appeals to vote for a candidate because they share your gender, skin color, sexual orientation, etc. are the low hanging fruit of electoral politics.
The hypocrisy of the Republicans claiming they are for the "forgotten man" while giving huge tax cuts to the wealthy, trying to gut the Affordable Care Act and crushing workers' rights at every turn needs to be pointed out to voters simply and repeatedly.
Identity politics is by its nature divisive, and ultimately a losing strategy. Let's focus on turning the House blue this fall.
37
A Democratic seat that has been secure is now in jeopardy. Sorry, but I just don't see this as great news.
2
The upset was all about demographics of the 2913 redistricting of the old 7th to the 14th which now contained 82 minority with 49% Hispanic according to Wikipedia. Crowley was just the odd man out. Nothing to see here.
12
Why do I have the uneasy feeling that this is an assault on the Democratic Party? Going after long-time Democratic legislators means that we lose powerful seats and expertise. I don't see this movement as a win, but another successful attempt to make the Democrats weak and divided. Bernie Sanders all over again. A lot of angry rhetoric with no true purpose. The focus should be on the "other" party and not destroying those who have been able to fight back in Congress. Changing the body in the Democratic seat is not as important as taking a seat from the Republicans. Democrats in Congress are not the enemy. Gerrymandering, lies and ruthlessness are.
16
I've already written in the comments for another article about Rep. Crowley losing, but here's another take. One advantage the insurgents have is they have nothing else to do. I believe that being in Congress has to take up time. I imagine you do have to show up a few days a week in Washington and be out of the district. It seems like Crowley's opponent was running for close to 2 years. I am not aware that she had a full time job for most of that time, other than bartending (I know that is work). So incumbents have to beware of what is going on while they are in D.C.
3
How about returning to your roots, NEW YORK Times? That seems to have been your problem most recently, as you have become the Global/National Times. Years ago, I used to grab the Times every morning to read your NY Metro section ... the articles were fabulous, and future journalistic stars were made covering NYC and NYS. Not anymore. That's why you got caught with your pants down in the Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez story. No surprise there. So here's a hint for a story: in Upstate New York, in the N.Y. 24th Congressional District, there is a woman running, S.U. Professor Dana Balter, who just handily beat the late-arriving, DCCC-backed female candidate (Juanita Perez-Williams, a lawyer and Navy veteran) in the Dem primary (according to Slate, only the second non-incumbent DCCC-backed candidate to lose this year). Dem turnout for the primary was heavy. The current Congressman here, John Katko, refuses to ever meet with his constituents in any meaningful way, and is regularly given a "pass" by Paul Ryan on House conservative votes. The NYT even identified the NY 24th as a potential "swing district" in an article by your Nate Cohn on June 26, 2017! So why not keep your head OUT of Massachusetts and write a NEW YORK story about a potential swing district right here in your own back yard?
15
Democratic Party: Change or be left behind
10
Latinos now make up about 48.8 percent of New York’s 14th Congressional District while non-Hispanic whites make up about 22.6 percent. Non-Hispanic whites still make up 32.3 percent of New York City’s population, but non-Hispanic white Democrat politicians are on New York City’s endangered species list. New York City is a multicultural city in which Latinos are about to become the dominant culture. As a result, New York City politics will become more like Latin American politics.
8
If you want to know who she's running against, skip to paragraph EIGHT!
3
Another reason Democrats lose. They devour themselves.
You are taking a single win in a single district and overplaying your hand by twisting it into some kind of harbinger. You are gluing it together with identity politics, throwing whites and males into the same cave of dragons that must be slain--even if they are Democrats.
Times readers are supposed to be intelligent. But few of you have figured out yet that this is the sort of behavior that got you Trump in the first place.
21
The democratic party in its present form is spineless and in now way can go against the fascists destroying this democracy. Time to clean out the closet and get people in there with a spine and some fire in them.
13
I've been a moderate for decades. I don't like either party and I like the "far" left and right even less. I rarely vote for anyone in either party (I know, I know. Some of you think I'm "wasting my vote" or am personally responsible for whatever election you didn't like b/c I should have to vote for one of the disreputable candidates running - I disagree). But, if votes come up between a "socialist" (is this the same party engaging in brown shirt tactics by harassing conservatives in public places?) and any Republican who does not seem deranged or similarly extreme, I will vote for the Republican, even if I have to grit my teeth. It's not that I think that socialists are akin to Soviets or Communists, but, eventually, it has to amount to the same thing, b/c if you think we are spending too much now, just wait until these people get in power. I'd rather prevent it.
11
How much did the GOP tax cut cost? How much did it add to the deficit? How many hundreds of billions did the billionaires get in tax breaks? Who helps the little guy get an education so that they can get a better job and contribute meaningfully to the economy? The pure dishonesty of today's GOP should be enough to vote for any Democratic candidate.
10
If Abe Lincoln was alive today - which party do you think he would. Teddy Roosevelt would sound like Steve Schmidt on steroids!
2
I read your comment, Mark. I know from experience that I could not convince you that your side is just as bad and just as dishonest.
2
Jahana Hayes, a political newcomer, is primarying the Democratic party endorsed candidate in CD5.
Ms. Hayes won the endorsement at the party convention's 1st ballot but the party machine played games and re-opened the delegate voting, and held it open, until deals were made with 2 town delegations and their votes were switched to the party favorite Mary Glassman. Ms. Hayes is primarying Ms. Glassman.
Ms. Hayes is a young, African American former "National Teacher of the Year" and has progressive views.
The Democratic Party in CT is terrified that Ms. Hayes will win the primary and further upset the status quo.
6
The rules of the convention allow delegates to change their votes. Both groups of supporters accused the other of holding the session open too long. Time to move on.
The 5th District is the most conservative district in CT. Unaffiliated voters are ~45% of eligible voters. So it takes a smart and astute politician to appeal to this moderate plurality in order to win.
Although Esty and Murphy were both Dems both were elected several times by appealing and knowing how to talk to moderate constituencies.
Also, in 2002 Nancy Johnson beat Jim Maloney because she was able to portray herself as the moderate alternative to an urban machine politician who did not represent the entire district but only certain constituencies.
The two candidates agree on most policy issues.
It has been whispered, however, that those who are not supporting Ms. Hayes (supporters of Ms. Glassman) are against people of color being at the top of the ticket. I hope this is not true. As a Glassman supporter, I am supporting Eva Bermudez Zimmerman for Lt Governor, a Hispanic who has political experience. I am supporting her because she is the best qualified for the job both technically and politically.
I am interested in retaining this seat based on what the politics and composition of the district, it calls for a qualified and experienced candidate.
CT-5 is not NY-14, trust me I have lived in both places.
Our party needs to unite behind the winner. We don't want a 2016 replay in the 5th.
2
The promotion of the far left candidates can only help in areas outside of N.Y. and Cal., Conservatives have written off those states and other states (except for portions western NY or parts of Northern CA. ) long ago. The gap will only grown deeper with the election of these folks, no compromises, a separate country red and blue, on its way to division e.g. Quebec along with a great deal of mistrust and bitterness.
9
The question for the voters in this District will ask is why replace one of the hardest working and most progressive members in Congress who has tons of experience in countering the Trump Republicans with a novice whose political views are very similar.
17
The new redistricted 14th is 49% Hispanic and only 18% white. She ran her campaign to those demographics. I don’t see what is so surprising.
3
I agree. Total disruption and gain for Republicans and probably funded by them. Bernie Sanders/Jill Stein - smoke and mirrors, divide and conquer.
4
It is heartening to see new faces entering into the political arena. It promises that change is possible within the hidebound political system.
But as for its national implications, electing new Democrats to already existing Democratic seats doesn’t come across as a game changer. New York or Massachusetts, these are not going to be bellringers. What happens in the heart of the Red states would signal a change in the political environment.
And even if Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez win seats, they will succumb to the political racket that their predecessors did—raise money. Once in Congress, a major demand for every official is to raise money. They will find themselves on the phone with big contributors and their staff flooding the internet with appeals to past supporters or anyone who made a contribution to any Democratic candidate.
Without significant gains, policies they champion will not get through a House or Senate that is under Republican control. It will not reverse SCOTUS support for Republican stands. It will not eliminate voter registration barriers nor alter gerrymandering.
It will give the worst curse that came out of Pandora’s Box—Hope. As the oppressive Republican agenda eats away more of the social network and its impact is felt, disappointment will arise and result in greater disenchantment with our democracy.
6
No offense to Ms. Pressley, as I think her work in Boston has been great, but Capuano has been a great representative. She has admitted that there is very little light between the two of them on the issues but the fact that she is a woman of color should matter more than his experience. Capuano is no long time pol ala Crowley so your analysis is way off the mark. Ms. Pressley should have kept her cards close to her vest and waited for a different opportunity to run for office. I feel that her campaign against Capuano is similar to all the Democrats trying--and apparently failing as they fall like flies--to run against our very popular Republican governor, Charlie Baker. Sometimes party does not matter, sometimes it isn't your time to run.
Would not the distinctions between the old guard and the new be something to report on?
3
Will there be a ripple effect? I hope so, but I will curb my enthusiasm until I see the turnout of minority and lower-income voters in this off-year election. Obama did not, and did not seriously try, to make sure he held onto a Coingressional majority, and once he lost it, to regain it. While Democrats thankfully will never do the collective mind meld that Republicans do, making them act like an insect swarm, they cannot lose sight of the need to vote in every election for their people who will represent their interests. Schumer and Pelosi are too comfortable being in the minority. Maybe if they got the smallest office spaces available to their sides of their branches rather than the largest, they would have some energy too.
Behold the Age of the Populist. One person's populist is another's grassroots democrat. But we are too angry to notice.
9
While I'm no math whiz, can someone please explain how replacing one safe-seat Democrat with another will lead to what I thought was the prize: making the House Democratic in November.
17
Because (a) it will change what the Democrats champion and fight for should they win the majority, and (b) it's the hypocrisy of too many Democrats in Congress -- who campaign like they are 1970s liberals but raise money from corporate interests and then legislate and are compromised accordingly -- that has led to historic electoral defeats.
If you want to keep the same status-quo, center-right, embracing-corporate-PACs-and-lobbyists Democrats in power, and see little change for working families, immigrants, students, and so on, then don't support the primary challengers.
In my view it's never been more important to make sure the "safe" Democrats are *real* Democrats, not the poseurs who have collaborated with the GOP to deregulate Wall Street and undermine fairness and stick it to working people for decades.
In MA-1, Rep. Richard Neal has in recent years co-sponsored some of the worst GOP tax ideas ever proposed. He relies exclusively on corporate PAC and lobbyist money. And if the D's win the House, he'll be chair of Ways & Means. What's that going to look like? He hasn't co-sponsored any of the bills that progressive Democrats have introduced this year to close some of the new egregious loopholes created by the Trump/GOP tax plan, and hasn't even committed to working to repeal it if he becomes chairman. That's because he's funded by the interests that benefit from it, and they reward him handsomely. He's trying to fool the voters yet again in 2018, but we're onto him.
2
Progressive running on providing single payer universal healthcare, quality education, and a strong but fair civil society is great idea, but advocating for the abolition of ICE and opening our borders is what no reasonable person wants, especially if you are a U.S. citizen wants.
I also know that there are billions of the people suffering from violence, domestic abuse, terror, starvation, drought and war all over the world. However, the United States can't even take care of the citizen's we have here (especially minorities, disabled, and poor whites) and to advocate that we should open the border and take in 100s of millions of people from Latin America, Asia and Africa and say we'll somehow give them jobs, housing, a free education and healthcare is irrational and a recipe for disaster, both politically and financially. Its also environmentally unsustainable.
What America needs are rational and compassionate leaders and thinkers who want to move the progress forward for the greater good of our citizens. Advocating saving the entire world from overpopulation, climate change and oppression by taking them all in is both foolish and unsustainable.
12
Upending the establishment to become the establishment. I think I'll wait for the next generation of "revolutionaries." Hopefully it'll be the moderates.
11
Moderates change nothing and the few democratic socialists that might get elected will have the effect of only changing the establishment a little. If you want to change the establishment to be more moderate then elect a few more "extreme" leftists because they will be grains of sand that shift the scales slightly more towards the middle
Amazing things happen when people actually go out and vote. There is so much room to elect progressives. Let's start with getting the 18-25 year old crowd to vote in massive numbers. Forget polls. They are meaningless in today's world. Just get folks out to the actual polls to fill in the right circles!
5
This type of candidate can win in traditionally blue districts but if if the Democrats put up this type of candidate in competitive, purple districts, the Democrats can look forward to many more years of being the minority party in Congress.
12
Anywhere you find a high concentration of society's takers, those who invariably vote with their palms up, those who hate the prospect of having to strive to succeed, those who vote "heritage" over substance and character, however radical and ignorant that candidate may be, there is a chance for hard left socialists like this Cuba-Venezuela-inspired bartender to win. To America's detriment.
7
The NYTimes is not helping. Very little coverage of the grassroots opposition to Trump. Where, for instance, are the news on the 600 people arrested (including actress Susan Sarandon) in the Washington protest against Trump's immigration policy? It is #1 read article in The Guardian. Is the even going to cover the anti family separation and immigration nationwide protests on Saturday? Meanwhile we get bombarded with every step Trump makes and every trivial and provocative tweet he sends out. Focus on citizens' actions too: politics is made below, not just by politicians at the top. There will be more upsets and jolts because the press is simply not looking and listening.
72
Trump's Tweets are the lazy secret sauce of the media.
Repeat his Tweet and get everyone crazy, every day.
5
A typical "Berkeley " response who's "grassroots "try that message in Bakersfield or parts of the rust belt, areas Berkeley folks hate, disparage. Trump was create by you and Berkeley with politics of the " elite ' intellectual snobs.
6
It is never good to support someone based on their gender or race. Qualifications, moral decisions and honesty are just a few attributes that are more important.
20
It seems to be too early to come to any definite
conclusion in the matter !
3
The Democrats desperately need an infusion of new brain cells at the party level. Their losses in 2016 were on a staggering scale, the most embarrassing defeat in the history of the United States. To win, you have to outsmart your opponent, and that means thinking several steps ahead of them, not trying to run as if it's 2106 again. 2016 is over. Sweeping away deadwood incumbents and bringing in young people with new ideas is a good first step. Young minds have a perspective that older generations cannot see.
7
The discredited political philosophy of Democratic Socialism is certainly nothing new. The only thing new is the Progressives belief that they can do it better than the Venezuela's of the world. They promise a classless society along with "income equality", but all it ever provides is misery and ruling class dictators who rob the people of WAY more than money.
8
Although I'm in agreement with this article, I'm dismayed at the sexist tone against men that's clearly implied in the title. While female minorities of color might have some of the greatest propensity to understand woman's rights and health issues, let's not overlook the fact that there are men, who are not of a minority, and not of color who are just as passionate in standing up for the very same issues. To disregard this would be judgemental and shortsighted.
Thanks to Bernie Sanders creating the foundation for a new generation of political leaders for both male and female and for all ethinicities and orientations, his younger followers are in more agreement than ever before about addressing social issues, healthcare, immigration, and minimizing warfare. This has not been the case leading up to today, when minorities and non-minorities were more segmented than united around these issues.
Thus, we need to continue "politically grooming" ALL younger polictical visionaries including white, black, Asian, Muslim, gay, and Hispanic males, just as much as we do younger Latina females for the today and the future.
I strongly believe Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would feel the same, given the type of dynamic and intelligent person she is.
35
The politics of divide and conquer. Rainbows SEPARATE the colors. "White", is not a color, its the combination of all colors. E Pluribus Unum.
4
"Grooming" as Dan Bray calls it was once carried by our public and private schools and the parties themselves. We have become so indifferent to how US politics works, that most Americans have allowed the subject-in classes taught at public schools on "citizenship"to wither.
Maybe it would serve the nation better to teach incoming grade school kids how and why our political system works, so they will be ready to participate when they turn eighteen.
Current systems of letting young people figure out the system for themselves , lead to results like 2001 when Nader helped elect Bush and 2016 when Socialist Sanders aided in electing Trump.
1
I appreciate your point and agree on a socially abstract level, but as to the context of this conversation, I was speaking of "white" "being a member of a group or race characterized by light pigmentation of the skin"... as defined by Merriam-Webster. The article spoke of a Latina female, so I was responding in that context as a white male.
Cortez's win shouldn't be considered a shockwave.
It’s pretty difficult for me to comprehend how providing healthcare, world-class education, decent standard of living and promoting overall well being in exchange for taxes is a debatable thing. Then again, the US is literally a place where the reality of climate change is considered up in the air.
53
Abolish ICE...I guess that means she is for open borders. Why not just say that so people know where you stand on immigration.
23
Bill, Des Moines
You guess wrong. No one supports open borders.
Were it not for immigration pretty much none of us would be here. A lot of Americans are acting like those in the 1800s who did not want Irish, Italians, Chinese, etc. It is contrary to the ideals we are supposed to exemplify.
4
Open borders for hispanics only.....If a russian crosses an open internet border.....its a war crime.
1
““Neither of us are accepting corporate PAC money,” Ms. Pressley said. “We both have taken a position to defund and to abolish ICE. We both support health care and Medicare for all. So there are many similarities — our convictions, our values, our positions, and the kind of campaigns we’re running and how we hope to govern.”
Running as unapologetic FDR style Democrats and not Republican-lite is refreshing. In the last decade the Democrats have lost over 1000 seats as they have abandoned workers for Wall Street. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Shumer are leaders because they raise the most money from Wall Street and give it to their members. Today 27% are Republicans and 29% are Democrats leaving a lot of people not being served by the parties. Great that candidates are adopting the most popular politician Bernie Sanders message, even though the Democratic Party is not.
19
Interesting that both conservatives and now progressives are using the word "refreshing" to describe those on the fringes of their parties. Refreshment should come from beverages, not politicians.
Far-left ideas like free college or free health care for all didn't do us any good in the last election, and they won't in the next. The Democratic party needs to retake the center, not try to pull the country to the far left. And for those who voted for Bernie or Jill: Gee, thanks so much for handing Trump the election. YOU bear some responsibility for that.
12
Indeed, elections are won from the middle.