Joe Crowley campaign sources maintain that despite the district’s diversity, it's white voters — including many older ones — who hold sway in the primary. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Eyeing promotion in D.C., Queens boss faces rare challenge back home

NEW YORK — Joe Crowley is eyeing bigger things — but heading into an all-but-certain victory in Tuesday’s New York primary, the New York congressman is trying to swat away charges that he’s out of step with his district amid demographic shifts that are boosting women and minority candidates.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Crowley’s primary challenger, has tried to turn Crowley’s influence as Queens party boss against him, and argues that a 50-something white man with close ties to the real estate and pharmaceutical lobbies should no longer be representing one of America’s most ethnically diverse congressional districts.


Crowley remains on track to secure reelection as he positions himself for a possible run to lead the House Democratic caucus if House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi leaves Congress in 2019. But the 28-year-old Ocasio-Cortez, his first primary challenger in years, has managed to land some punches against the 56-year-old Crowley, a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, who hasn’t been helped by recent media reports on his ties to the real estate and pharmaceutical industries.

“There is a profound mismatch between the community and its representation,” she tells POLITICO. “What is new about candidates that are not people of color, that are not women, that aren’t working-class, that don’t advocate for progressive policies?”

The No. 4 House Democrat’s longtime colleagues in the New York delegation say they’re not worried about his primary — and brushed aside any idea that the race could hurt Crowley’s ambitions to become Speaker one day.

“Everybody is supportive of Joe and how he’s running the race,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, who represents parts of Queens and Nassau County. “The fact that Joe is the chair of the Queens Democratic Party and how he’s held that organization together — he’s got Democrats working together — works in his favor of his leadership as chair of the Democratic Caucus.”

Democrat insiders in New York are reticent to talk about Crowley’s race — a nod to his influence and his popularity. But they say that times are changing.

“Once there is an initial threat, a challenge in his dominance, it changes people’s perception on the Hill about his power,” one Democratic operative told POLITICO. “Even in the most perfect of worlds, he would have a challenge making the case for leadership beyond the fact that it’s just his turn. So members in the conference are going to see this race, and ask why take a risk with Crowley when he might not be in office in a few cycles.”

The race has been mostly ignored beyond the New York delegation, but fits into a pattern of liberal insurgents challenging longtime Democratic incumbents — and got an unexpected bit of national attention when California Rep. Ro Khanna, a freshman lawmaker who is little known outside of liberal circles, initially endorsed Crowley before backtracking a week later and offering his support for Ocasio-Cortez’s “bold progressive positions,” describing her to POLITICO as a “formidable candidate.” Khanna said the liberal scorn he was subjected to on Twitter caused him to rethink his position.

Crowley has also made a handful of unforced errors, including skipping out on a June 18 debate in the Bronx and sending a surrogate — former City Council Member Annabel Palma — in his place. It was hardly an unusual move for a longtime incumbent, but it got the attention of The New York Times’ editorial board. “His seat is not his entitlement. He’d better hope that voters don’t react to his snubs by sending someone else to do the job,” the Times wrote. The Ocasio-Cortez campaign even suggested that Crowley had sent a Latina surrogate in his place in an effort to confuse voters.

Crowley has been crisscrossing the country fundraising and helping to elect national Democrats, and the idea of Crowley as the next speaker or House minority leader — however unlikely right now — is appealing to supporters who point to his experience, support and a proven record of delivering for his constituents.

“I think for us as New Yorkers it would be a big deal and a win to have a Congressional leader to be from one of our neighborhoods,” state Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, chairman of the Bronx County Democratic Organization, told POLITICO. “The borough of Queens is known as a middle class, working class community and that’s supposedly the community that the Democratic party failed to reach out to.”

Ocasio-Cortez, on the other hand, is casting the Irish-American Crowley as a white man who can no longer connect to the diverse district, who is too close to the real estate industry that threatens affordable housing in the area and whose power over the local political machine has prevented a gender and racially diverse bench of candidates from running in the past.

Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign points to Crowley’s lack of young supporters, the low voter turnout since he’s been in office and the fact that he’s never truly had to compete for his seat.

"The Queens of today is not the Queens of 20 years ago and Joe Crowley has lived in Virginia that entire time, he raises his children out there, his home is out there, he’s not a member of this community,” she says, charging that Crowley employs an “old school boss model.”

New York’s 14th district, which straddles Queens and the Bronx, is a melting pot of Latino, South Asian and other minority voters.

According to 2016 census data, out of an estimated total population of 691,715 people, the district was 50 percent Hispanic, 22 percent white, 12 percent Asian and 9 percent black.

Campaign sources maintain that despite the district’s diversity, it's white voters — including many older ones — who hold sway in the primary. They say the typical voter in the 14th district is “an older non-Hispanic white lady in Queens” and that the majority of voters who turn out in even year primaries are senior citizens — not exactly the constituency Ocasio-Cortez has been targeting.

Crowley declined to be interviewed for this story, but his campaign manager, Vijay Chaudhuri, said in an email that “the people of Queens and the Bronx have elected Joe Crowley to represent them in Congress by an overwhelming majority each and every time his name has appeared on the ballot. This year will be no different.”

In recent days, the Crowley campaign released an ad which appeared to respond to several of his challenger’s criticisms. A three-minute video shows Crowley driving through his district, praising its diversity, chomping down a corn on the cob.

Despite their unwillingness to criticize him on the record, allies of Crowley in New York have acknowledged that Ocasio-Cortez is raising relatable points and connecting with the electorate. They don’t expect she’ll go away once the race is over.

“She presents incredibly well, she’s not just a talker. She has a narrative and cohesive vision that is compelling. Her rap about working in the back of the house? She is using her life experience as an asset instead of a liability. Contrast that with Joe who literally was handed this seat,” a Democratic operative said.

Crowley’s dominance over the Queens machine — formally known as the Queens County Democratic Organization — remains unchallenged. He’s been in charge since 2006, shortly after former Rep. Tom Manton, who had molded Crowley as his political protege, died of cancer. Since then, both supporters and detractors say Crowley has run a well-oiled operation that controls everything from the Queens judicial system to who wins local city and state elections, who gets on the ballot and who can tap into the resources available at the disposal of the operation.

Still, interviews with several Democratic operatives, elected officials and political advisers show the Queens County operation’s bark may be worse than its bite. The county has power, but it has a nearly non-existent ground operation; it does not deliver votes or ensure that people hit the polls on election day. Rather, it offers candidates a friendly “how-to” map for running for office in Queens which includes everything from who to hire for consulting to ensuring a specific ballot line.

“The Ocasio-Cortez campaign is the canary in the coal mine and it’s the beginning of the end for the Queens machine,” one Democratic operative who would only speak on background told POLITICO. “It has operated in the shadows for a long time, and now everyone is asking what the hell are they actually doing.”

Still, his affable “get sh-t done” reputation, as one local elected official put it, has kept Crowley in power and ensured that he’s widely respected.

Crowley's control over the Queens organization has helped pave the way for some candidates of color, including a number of history-making seats. Crowley was instrumental in helping to elect Francisco Moya — the first Ecuadorian-American elected to the state Assembly, who now serves in the City Council.

But despite his support of candidates of color, Queens' political bench remains made up mostly of men and continues to lack representatives from some of the borough's biggest ethnic communities including the South Asian neighborhoods.

The gender and ethnic imbalance across the Queens' organization has been a key criticism of the Ocasio-Cortez campaign.

When criticized on his diversity record, those close to Crowley are quick to point to his support of Queens Rep. Grace Meng — the first Asian American woman elected to Congress in the East Coast. Meng ran against Crowley’s own cousin, Elizabeth Crowley, who at the time served as a city councilwoman in Queens.

It was all in the spirit of diversifying his ranks, an effort those watching the race say he’s become increasingly aware of.

“Crowley is adept at turning former foes into allies and forgiving grudges. He is a good backslapper, a master of the inside game. He has forged a close relationship with the state's dominant real estate lobby,” Ross Barkan, a former journalist who has chronicled the inner workings of the Queens machine, told POLITICO.

Barkan, who has taken leave from reporting to run for office in Brooklyn, pointed to Crowley’s age — the fact that Crowley is only in his mid-fifties almost guarantees he’ll be around for years to come and that New York officials will continue to view him as a powerful player in Washington — whether he becomes the speaker or not.

“Since he is not term-limited and not yet 60, he has the ability to remain a force on the political scene for decades to come. No one wants to be on the wrong side of an influential politician who is not going anywhere anytime soon,” Barkan said.