Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the winner of a Democratic Congressional primary in New York, talks to media on June 27. | Mark Lennihan/AP Photo Elections Ocasio-Cortez vs. Crowley feud erupts on Twitter Insurgent victor accuses the incumbent of waging a third-party bid.

NEW YORK — The battle between Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Joe Crowley isn't quite over — and it’s taking a bitter turn.

Just two weeks after the 28-year-old shocked the Democratic establishment with a stunning primary upset of the 10-term incumbent, she engaged in an extraordinary public fight with Crowley on Twitter Thursday, accusing him of planning to mount a third party run against her in November’s general election, despite his public pledge to back her candidacy after his loss. And Crowley's camp pushed back hard, accusing Ocasio-Cortez of deliberately distorting events.


Ocasio Cortez tweeted Thursday morning: “.@repjoecrowley stated on live TV that he would absolutely support my candidacy. Instead, he’s stood me up for all 3 scheduled concession calls. Now, he’s mounting a 3rd party challenge against me and the Democratic Party- and against the will of @NYWFP,” Ocasio-Cortez said, a few hours after the New York Times reported Crowley had actually won a ballot line to run in his own district in November from the Working Families Party, through a quirk in New York’s election law, but declined to vacate it despite a request from the WFP’s state director Bill Lipton.

“You’d think that given the moment we’re in that Democratic leaders would want to help progressive forces to unite,” Lipton told the Times.

Crowley pushed back against Ocasio-Cortez’s accusation on Twitter Thursday morning.

“Alexandria, the race is over and Democrats need to come together. I’ve made my support for you clear and the fact that I’m not running. We’ve scheduled phone calls and your team has not followed through. I’d like to connect but I’m not willing to air grievances on Twitter," Crowley wrote.

Because of New York’s complicated election laws, Crowley can’t simply vacate the ballot line, unless he dies or leaves the state. The Working Families Party would have to nominate him for another elected position on the ballot. Crowley made it clear that wasn’t something he wanted.

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And Crowley’s camp also did behind the scenes damage control on Thursday, blaming Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign for their failure to connect via telephone after her upset win and accusing her of lying to boost herself politically.

A Crowley campaign staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity said three calls that were missed between Crowley and Ocasio-Cortez were due to hang-ups on her end, not the other way around.

“This is not true, she knows it’s not true,” the Crowley aide said. “They’re wrong and she’s just doing it to be politically craven.”

The aide said there are text messages between the two camps showing that Crowley’s team reached out asking for Ocasio Cortez’s phone number, and that her team waited hours to respond.

Furthermore, the staffer says that Corbin Trent, a spokesman for Ocasio-Cortez's campaign, called Crowley’s team Thursday to admit the information she blasted out on twitter was “a mistake."

The Crowley campaign aide declined to share the texts with POLITICO.

A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Fundamentally Alexandria should be as gracious in winning as Joe Crowley was in defeat,” the Crowley aide said.

Crowley added on Twitter: “Lots questions about WFP line. Was honored to have their support. I’m not running. For record you can only be removed from the ballot if 1) you move out of NY; 2) die; 3) be convicted of a crime; 4) accept a nomination for another office (in a place I don’t live)."

“I don’t plan on moving out of New York, have a clean record, hope God’s will is that I don’t die, and won’t commit what I honestly believe to be election fraud," he wrote.