Rep. Joe Crowley was unseated Tuesday night by primary challenger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in his New York City district, an astonishing fall for the powerful chairman of the House Democratic Caucus just as talk was building in Washington that he was a potential future speaker of the House.

Crowley became the highest-profile Democrat to lose a primary this year and the highest-ranking House member to lose an intraparty fight since Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost in 2014. Crowley, the longtime Democratic Party boss in Queens, had not faced a primary challenger in over a decade. But Ocasio-Cortez’s activist campaign overran Crowley’'s old-guard support and cast more uncertainty on the future of Democrats’ leadership in the House.


Ocasio-Cortez, 28, challenged Crowley on ideological, generational and racial grounds, arguing that the 10-term congressman was not in step with his majority-minority district and was too cozy with corporate donors. A former organizer for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Ocasio-Cortez campaigned on abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and pushing the Medicare-for-all bill championed by Sanders.

Born in the Bronx to a Puerto Rican mother, she also made the district’s diversity a central message of her campaign.

“We meet a machine with a movement, and that is what we have done today,” Ocasio-Cortez told NY1 before the race was called. “I think what we’ve seen is that working class Americans want a clear champion and there is nothing radical about moral clarity in 2018.”

Ocasio-Cortez took 57 percent of the Democratic primary vote to 43 percent for Crowley.

In a statement conceding defeat, Crowley said he was “proud of the race we ran” and congratulated Ocasio-Cortez, pledging to support her in the fall.

“The Trump administration is a threat to everything we stand for here in Queens and the Bronx, and if we don’t win back the House this November, we will lose the nation we love. This is why we must come together,” Crowley said.

Crowley was one of several veteran New York Democrats facing unexpectedly tough tests from insurgent candidates. Rep. Yvette Clarke narrowly defeated Adem Bunkeddeko 52 percent to 48 percent with more than 99 percent of precincts reporting, while Rep. Carolyn Maloney won a close primary 59 percent to 41 percent over challenger Suraj Patel.

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Meanwhile, two Trump-endorsed Republican incumbents held off primary challenges Tuesday night in New York and South Carolina.

Rep. Dan Donovan defeated former Rep. Michael Grimm in their Republican primary Tuesday night, thwarting Grimm’s comeback attempt following a federal prison sentence.

Donovan had 64 percent of the vote in New York’s 11th District to Grimm’s 36 percent when The Associated Press called the race with 92 percent of precincts reporting.

Donovan had support from a number of Republican outside groups and, critically, Trump, who tweeted that the GOP could not afford to nominate Grimm in a potential swing district. Donovan will face Democrat Max Rose, who also won his primary tonight, in November.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster held off businessman John Warren in a Republican primary runoff Tuesday night. The win came after a full court press from Trump and his team to protect McMaster. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both rallied in the state in the days leading up to the primary, and the president consistently tweeted his support for the governor. McMaster was one of the earliest elected officials to support Trump in the 2016 presidential primaries.

McMaster had 54 percent of the vote when the Associated Press called the race with 84 percent of precincts reporting, while businessman John Warren had 46 percent.

McMaster will face state Rep. James Smith, the Democratic nominee, in November.

Here’s a state-by-state look at the other races on the ballot:

New York

In the Hudson Valley, Attorney Antonio Delgado won a narrow primary victory to take on Republican Rep. John Faso in the state's biggest bellwether district, which Trump carried in 2016 after it twice went for Barack Obama. Delgado defeated veteran Pat Ryan and five other candidates, earning 22 percent of the vote with 98 percent of precincts reporting.

Further upstate, the Democratic primary for a Syracuse-based district pitted the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee against local activists. The DCCC backed former mayoral candidate Juanita Perez Williams over Dana Balter, a college professor, but Balter won the nomination in a rout. She will face GOP Rep. John Katko, who represents a district that has generally been difficult for Republicans in the past — but where Katko has consistently run ahead of the ticket in the past.

Democratic state legislative leader Joe Morelle also won the Democratic nomination to replace the late Rep. Louise Slaughter in the 25th District.



South Carolina

The race between McMaster and Warren was a major test of Trump’s influence among Republican primary voters. McMaster, one of Trump’s earliest backers in 2016, led Warren by nearly 15 percentage points in the primary, but failed to win a majority and avoid a runoff.

Hoping to push the governor over the finish line, Trump held an election eve rally in South Carolina on Monday night, imploring his supporters to back McMaster and acknowledging his own reputation was on the line.

“They will say Donald Trump suffered a major, major defeat in the great state of South Carolina, it was a humiliating defeat for Donald Trump, so please get your asses out tomorrow and vote,” he said at the rally. Trump tweeted congratulations to McMaster on Tuesday night.

Republican voters in the 4th Congressional District picked state Sen. William Timmons over Lee Bright, a fiery former state legislator known for his support for displaying the Confederate flag, in the race to replace retiring Rep. Trey Gowdy. Timmons led 54 percent to 46 percent with three-quarters of precincts reporting.

Colorado

Big money has dominated the conversation in the open governor’s race in Colorado, where Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper is term-limited. Millionaire Rep. Jared Polis has spent freely to win the Democratic nomination, while state Treasurer Walker Stapleton had to fend off self-funding state Rep. Victor Mitchell to win the Republican primary.

Democrats also picked veteran Jason Crow as their nominee to face swing-seat GOP Rep. Mike Coffman. The DCCC lined up early behind Crow, though former Obama administration official Levi Tillemann tried to channel anti-establishment sentiment against him in the 6th District. Democrat Joe Neguse won the 2nd District Democratic primary to replace Polis in the House, while GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn fended off primary challengers in his Colorado Springs-based seat.

Maryland

Maryland Democrats chose former NAACP President Ben Jealous out of a crowded field of contenders to take on popular Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in the fall.

Jealous and Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker separated themselves as the top contenders in the nine-candidate field. Jealous had 39 percent of the vote compared to 31 percent for Baker with nearly two-thirds of precincts reporting.

The race drew parallels to the 2016 Democratic primary, with Baker touting his economic record and Jealous running as a progressive insurgent, campaigning with Sens. Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris ahead of the primary.

Jealous has a chance to make history as the first African-American governor of Maryland. But he will face an uphill battle against Hogan, who has consistently polled as one of the most popular governors in the country despite being a Republican in a blue state. A Washington Post poll in early June showed Hogan leading Jealous 51 percent to 39 percent in a hypothetical matchup.

Sen. Ben Cardin easily won his primary against a crowd of opponents, including Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who was convicted of leaking classified intelligence in 2010 but had her sentence commuted by President Barack Obama. Still, the race has been quiet and Cardin won more than 80 percent of the vote.

In Maryland’s 6th District, Democrat David Trone is making his second attempt to self-fund his way to a seat in Congress. Trone lost a primary in 2016 after spending $13.4 million of his own money. He’s trying again in a new district, and has spent $11.5 million so far this year. He faces a crowded slate of candidates, including state Del. Aruna Miller, who was endorsed by EMILY’s List.

Mississippi

Republican Michael Guest, a district attorney, won the Republican nomination to replace retiring Rep. Gregg Harper on Tuesday.

Guest was the favorite after receiving 45 percent of the vote in the early June primary, compared with 22 percent for Whit Hughes, his opponent in the runoff.

Oklahoma

A crowded field of Republicans — including Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, state Auditor Gary Jones, former Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, and self-funding businessman Kevin Stitt — are all competing for the governorship, with Gov. Mary Fallin term-limited. But Oklahoma’s majority primary rules mean the top two contenders could go to a runoff in late August if no one gets more than 50 percent of the vote Tuesday night. Democrat Drew Edmondson, a former state attorney general, won his party's nomination.

Another crowded GOP field could also yield a runoff in the 1st Congressional District, left open since former Rep. Jim Bridenstine was confirmed as the administrator of NASA. A number of House Freedom Caucus members have supported Andy Coleman, a veteran and attorney, but Coleman has tangled with Kevin Hern, a businessman supported by the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership.

Utah

Mitt Romney cruised to victory in the Senate primary Tuesday night, continuing his march forward in the race to replace retiring Sen. Orrin Hatch.

Romney’s opponent, state Rep. Mike Kennedy, has repeatedly attacked him for criticizing Trump during the 2016 campaign. But voters selected the two-time presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor anyway.

Despite being one of the president’s toughest Republican critics in 2016, Romney accepted Trump’s endorsement in his Senate race, and the president even labeled him a “straight shooter” after Romney said Trump would win reelection in 2020.

But Romney has also promised to continue to speak out against Trump where he sees fit, which would add a potential critic into the Republican Conference even as Sens. Jeff Flake and Bob Corker retire. “I have and will continue to speak out when the president says or does something which is divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions,” Romney wrote in an election-eve op-ed in The Salt Lake Tribune.