Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sees 'profound tidal change' in primary wins

Progressive congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday that last week's primary results showed New York produced "a profound tidal change" in the Democratic Party after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had dismissed Friday earlier insurgent victories as a fluke and downplayed the so-called blue wave.

Cuomo defeated actress Cynthia Nixon on Thursday, 65 to 35 percent, in the state's Democratic gubernatorial primary. He faces Republican Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro in the Nov. 6 general election.

 “And what I also look forward to moving forward is us rallying behind all Democratic nominees, including the governor, to make sure that he wins in November," Ocasio-Cortez said.

Asked by CNN host Jake Tapper to respond to Cuomo's remarks downplaying the insurgent victories, Ocasio-Cortez, 28, smiled and demurred. She pointed to the success of Democratic insurgents who defeated six of eight former members of the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference, which had allied with the Republican majority for seven years.

"I'm always down to go toe-to-toe sometimes, but I think when you actually look at the numbers that we focused on, every single down-ballot progressive candidate in my district, NY-14, won," she said. "New York had a profound tidal change really in the Democratic Party. One out of every five Democratic senators got replaced on Thursday night and the path to eliminating the IDC was through NY-14 and my district." 

Tapper pointed out that Nixon lost to Cuomo by 30 points in Ocasio-Cortez's district. She responded that her platform emboldened progressive legislative candidates.

Ocasio-Cortez said Nixon "did a phenomenal job" in centering the campaign on key progressive issues, such as criminal justice reform, legalization of marijuana and single-payer health care.

Ocasio-Cortez in June unseated powerful Queens Rep. Joseph Crowley in a Democratic primary.

“As the governor’s resounding victory showed, the voters of New York share his belief that being a progressive is about getting progressive things done, not just talking about them," Lis  Smith, a campaign spokeswoman for Cuomo, said. "In turn, he won every region and every demographic group, and showed that there is a big gap between the chatter on Twitter and real life."

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.