While Ocasio-Cortez easily mounted to victory in her uncontested primary, many of the progressive firebrands contesting for the Democratic Party's nod were edged out by more centrist candidates in races across the country during Tuesday's primary night.
Most apparently, incumbent Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) lost his reelection bid for New York’s 10th Congressional District, finishing third. Jones had hopped districts after Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who helms the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, opted to run in the 17th Congressional District, which Jones currently represents.
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Seeking to dodge a hit course with a powerful House Democrat, Jones vied for a second term in the 10th District, but he was overwhelmed by Daniel Goldman. Jones had been one of the first openly gay black men elected to Congress. Ocasio-Cortez had previously endorsed Jones in 2020.
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Before Tuesday's showdown, she tossed her support behind Maloney's progressive challenger, Alessandra Biaggi, in the 17th District race, who was subsequently trounced.
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Elsewhere in the Empire State, progressive contender Brittany Ramos DeBarros, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, lost to the more centrist Democrat Max Rose for New York’s 11th Congressional District.
The "Squad" managed to catch at least one notable primary victory, with Kristen Gonzalez nabbing the party nod for her state Senate race in New York City.
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Progressives may have faced some significant reversals, but the Democratic Party pointed to Tuesday night's election as an indication that the prophesized red wave may be waning. The party managed to claim victory in New York's 19th Congressional District special election, in which Democrat Pat Ryan edged out Republican Marc Molinaro.
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The district had previously opted for former President Donald Trump in 2016 and has a 1-percentage-point partisan advantage for Republicans, according to FiveThirtyEight. Outweighing much of the showdown between Ryan and Molinaro was the hot-button concern of abortion, which some analysts accept may have helped Ryan win.
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Molinaro will face off against former congressional aide Josh Riley in November.
Over recent weeks, Democrats have been empowered by a series of victories, such as the assassination of al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri, reducing gas prices, the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act, and the announcement of student loan forgiveness.
Many of those policy triumphs represented significantly watered-down iterations of what progressive members of the "Squad" had sought.
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