The Democratic Socialists of America is seeing a spike in membership in the wake of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s primary victory this week in New York’s 14th Congressional District.

Old-school Democratic Party operatives who bemoaned Tuesday’s loss of 10-term incumbent Rep. Joseph Crowley have a growing problem on their hands — the membership roll of the Democratic Socialists of America. The organization, which sits at over 40,000 members, added 1,152 new sign-ups on Wednesday.

Lawrence Dreyfuss, a program associate for DSA, told the Daily Beast that an average day nets just over 30 memberships.

“The people of NY-14 demanded more from its representative than empty promises and deep pockets,” Christian Bowe of DSA’s National Political Committee said after Ocasio’s win, the website reported. “We’re proud of this victory, and we know this is only one of many more to come.”

Mr. Crowley’s loss to the 28-year-old political neophyte — his first intraparty challenger in 14 years — has rocked the Democratic Party’s leadership.

“They made a choice in one district,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said after Ms. Ocasio-Cortez victory. “So let’s not get yourself carried away as an expert on demographics and the rest of that. Within the caucus or outside the caucus, we are — again, we have an array of genders, generations, geography, and there is opinion in our caucus, and we’re proud of that. The fact that in a very progressive district in New York, it went more progressive than — Joe Crowley is a progressive, but more she’s left than Joe Crowley, is about that district. It is not to be viewed as something that stands for anything else.”

Blanca Ocasio-Cortez, 55, told the New York Post Thursday that her daughter’s ultimate goal is to occupy the White House.

“Her aspiration is to be the president,” she told the Post. “She has been thinking about politics since she was a teenager. She would read historical and political books old and new. She would engage in political discussions passionately.”

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.