Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Squad” suffers several losses in New York’s Tuesday primary as centrist Democrats gain
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her “Squad” may prove unable to expand in congress after Tuesday’s primary election in New York state.
Across the nation, “Squad” hopefuls and AOC-backed candidates have struggled to clear primaries–and New York is no different. AOC herself, who represents New York’s 14th District, coasted through her primary uncontested, but the same can not be said about fellow progressive candidates in the Empire State.
Incumbent congressman Mondaire Jones, who currently represents the 17th District in New York, opted to run in the 10th District instead to avoid a clash with Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. The latter decided to run in the 17th District as well. Jones, who is one of America’s first openly gay black congressmen and a noted progressive, only managed to finish third in his primary despite an endorsement record including such prominent Democrats as AOC and Nancy Pelosi.
AOC also endorsed Maloney’s challenger in the 17th District, Alessandra Biaggi, who was crushed in the primary.
Elsewhere in New York, Brittany Ramos DeBarros, a self-described socialist and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, lost to the centrist Democrat Max Rose in New York’s 11th District.
These elections show that most Americans, even in progressive New York City, do not prefer radical-left candidates.
Additionally, many of the “Squad’s” goals and demands have been ignored by the Democratic establishment, who have passed, at best watered, down versions of their requests–such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the announcement of student loan forgiveness. This proves that the Democratic Party, radical as it may already be, is not beholden to AOC and her goons.
On the one hand, this means that perhaps the most radical proposals (such as the Green New Deal) will never entirely pass. Still, on the other, it reveals that the bulk of the Democratic Party has become radicalized in their own right and does not even need the “Squad” to destroy American values.
