Winners And Losers From Tuesday’s Primaries

Voters in seven states headed to the polls on Tuesday, deciding on candidates to represent their party in the 2018 midterms. Primary ballots cast across New York, Mississippi, Colorado, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah would upend politics as usual and provide early cues into how the general elections might unfold come November.

As the nation still processes results from last night, here are some early takeaways on what went down.

Winner: The Progressive Movement

A ten-term New York incumbent Joe Crowley, whose 14th congressional district includes the eastern Bronx and part of north-central Queens, lost his seat to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The results are sending shivers down the spine of Democratic establishment – Crowley, after all, has been one of the most powerful congressmen and was in consideration for House Speaker.

Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old political novice, is a born and bred New Yorker and an active member of the Democratic Socialists of America. After working for Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and community organizing for Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential season, Ocasio-Cortez launched her own campaign in 2017 – using single-payer healthcare system, federal job guarantees, and greater working class protections as the rallying cry.

The Maryland gubernatorial primary only fomented the strong progressive showing by putting the Democratic nomination in the hands of Ben Jealous, former NAACP President and the state’s first would-be black governor. While Jealous’s election is by no means as unusual as that of Ocasio-Cortez, the fact that his commitment to a slate of progressive policies – Medicare For All, tuition-free colleges, and legalization of recreational marijuana – was potent enough to triumph over a more centrist Rushern Baker has not gone unnoticed by the moderate wing of the Democratic Party. Jealous’s candidacy won the endorsement of some of the nation’s most outspoken progressive activists: from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont via businessman Ben Cohen to comedian Dave Chappelle.

Loser: The Democratic Establishment

Politics, as members of the Democratic establishment would once again come to realize, is a zero-sum game. A progressive candidate’s victory is a moderate candidate’s loss, and vice versa.  

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s viral campaign ad, revolving around the notion that not all democrats are equal and those benefiting from corporate donations do not have the voters’ best interest in mind, embodies the newly-enlivened tension between the progressive and moderate factions.

The progressive movement, which saw the fresh light of day with the rise of Bernie Sanders and boasts the most energetic base of young voters in modern times, sent the Democratic leadership into a reflective trance. Questions remain whether moderate Democratic officeholders – their political experience, fundraising advantage, and access to the party coffers notwithstanding – would be able to hold onto power.

If Ocasio-Cortes could emerge victorious with about $600,000 in fundraising dollars compared to Crowley’s $3 million, and Jealous’s lack of political experience proved far from enough to put off voters, there is a credible fear that progressive candidates across the country would be ever emboldened to take their fight with the moderates to the ballot box.  

Winner: Donald Trump

The Tuesday primaries sealed two major victories for President Trump: in South Carolina and his home turf of New York.

Governor Henry McMaster of South Carolina, who was one of the first politicians in the nation to get behind Trump’s candidacy in 2016, won the Republican primary ticket by defeating businessman John Warren. Although primary race was unlikely to factor into South Carolina’s partisan balance of power come November, Trump chose to return the favor anyway by campaigning for McMaster – elevating the fierce loyalist by more than 10 percentage points in the opinion polls.

The McMaster victory confirms that Trump’s word goes a long way in South Carolina. Earlier this year, Rep. Mark Sanford of the state’s 1st congressional district lost his nomination to the House after accusations of being “very unhelpful” and “nothing but trouble” by the president.

Trump’s impact could be felt in New York as well, where Rep. Dan Donovan – securing endorsement via president’s Twitter account – triumphed over Michael Grimm.

Even Mitt Romney, who once described then-candidate Trump as a “phony” and a “fraud”, saw it fit to loosen his rhetoric to cruise to the GOP nomination in Utah.  

Featured Image Via Flickr/Anthony Scutro