When 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated incumbent Congressman Joe Crowley in a Democratic primary recently the political world stood up and took note. As well it should have. It's not often that congressional incumbents get beaten—in fact, Crowley was only the third incumbent to go down to defeat in this cycle. It's not often that a member of Congress in leadership is defeated. And it's not often that a member of the Democratic establishment gets beaten by someone they outspent 18 to one.
Thus the Democratic primary in New York's 14th congressional district, along with some other races on June 26 (the last day of congressional primaries until August), was widely interpreted as a show of strength for the left wing of the Democratic party.
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