Primary bombshell: Challenger beats 10-term Democrat congressman

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old activist who ran on abolishing ICE and making Medicare a universal programme, defeated Congressman Joe Crowley in an upset.

The fourth-ranking Democrat in the US House has lost his bid for another term in a New York primary.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old activist who ran on abolishing ICE and making Medicare a universal programme, defeated Congressman Joe Crowley in an upset.

Crowley is the first incumbent Democrat to lose renomination since 2014, when a Massachusetts Democrat was brought down by scandal.

U.S. Congress member Joe Crowley. Photo / Getty Images

Crowley, who was first elected in 1998, had grown his profile inside the party and faced no personal controversies.

But Ocasio-Cortez argued that the increasingly non-white district, which stretches from the Bronx to Queens, had been represented too long by a figure from the local political machine.

Crowley, who chaired the Queens Democratic Party while serving in Congress, had played a major role in determining candidates for local offices.

Ocasio-Cortez said that Crowley had grown too distant — he enrolled his children in a Northern Virginia school — and too dependent on donations from corporate PACs.

Crowley took the challenge seriously, spending US$1.5 million in his first primary since 2004.

He was the first member of Democratic leadership to endorse the House's universal Medicare bill, and he joined protests against the Trump Administration's travel ban and its immigration control policies.

Ocasio-Cortez told voters that they could do better — she refused corporate PAC money, emphasising that most of the US$300,709 she'd raised for the campaign came from small donors, most of them from in and around the district.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, challenged Joe Crowley on ideological and racial grounds, arguing that the 10-term congressman was not in step with his majority-minority district and was too cozy with corporate donorshttps://t.co/K0wwYn6frN

— POLITICO (@politico) June 27, 2018

It's time for a New York that works for all of us.

On June 26th, we can make it happen - but only if we have the #CourageToChange.

It's time to get to work. Please retweet this video and sign up to knock doors + more at https://t.co/kacKFI9RtI to bring our movement to Congress. pic.twitter.com/aqKMjovEjZ

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 30, 2018

Joe Crowley concedes and immediately endorses @Ocasio2018 pic.twitter.com/mR9Bum7Z1n

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) June 27, 2018

There’s a bright opportunity in politics today. A new generation of Democrats is standing for action, rather than serving Mr. Trump’s agenda with a civil smile. https://t.co/UWBoEO6bsH

— Tom Steyer (@TomSteyer) June 26, 2018