On Tuesday, millions of people in five states across the United States (including New York and Kentucky) voted in the primary ahead of November’s looming presidential election. In New York, registered members of political parties in every borough waited in often long, distanced lines to cast their ballots. The equally important, if not more, election date determines who will fill a number of significant roles and seats in congress and state legislature.
A few races took center stage in The Big Apple, including that of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s first reelection primary. As you know, AOC unseated 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in 2018, and has been a voice for her district (NY-14 in Queens and the Bronx) since. In her short tenure thus far, AOC has continually applied pressure as promised, prioritized the environment (concocting the Green New Deal with Former Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders), centered marginalized communities and more.
Despite Michelle Caruso-Cabrera’s attempt to tarnish AOC’s name with a half-baked pitch in the form of a cable commercial that attempted to position AOC as hypocritical whilst providing not a lick of information on her own intents and purposes going in, AOC got over 70% of votes. As she alluded to in her video on election night, Caruso Cabrera was reportedly backed by Wall Street executives and banks in an attempt to combat her notoriously grassroots campaign.
Despite many efforts, AOC won by a landslide. AOC’s win was never in doubt for any and all who have followed her trajectory and track record in the community she calls home—but you wouldn’t know that from looking at how hard she and her team campaigned leading up to Tuesday night.
“No amount of money can buy a movement,” she said to her Twitter followers, visibly moved last night. “There is no price tag for having people who are animated by the courage of their convictions and by a desire for a better world.”
In her thank you video to volunteers who carried her to this moment, the 30-year-old congresswoman reiterated her priorities—all of which can be encapsulated in one word: people. Specifically, people who have continuously been overlooked, underrepresented and abused by systemic issues. Her primary focuses have been consistent from 2018 to now: an end to mass incarceration, attainment of healthcare for all, prioritization of climate change as the destabilizing monster that it is, and everything that affects her constituents and those who look like them. For context, her district is at least 75% people of color.
Sanders—who received 20% of the NY primary vote despite the fact that former Vice President Joe Biden is the party’s presumptive nominee—congratulated AOC on her win, to which she responded with a hearty “gracias tio!”
Looking forward, Ocasio-Cortez said: “It’s an honor to work shoulder-to-shoulder alongside each and every one of you in a movement for a better world.”