An overconfident Joe Crowley opted against using negative ammunition against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez because he believed that he had the Democratic primary locked up and didn’t want to look weak in a race he was expected to walk away with.
Crowley, a longtime political power broker from Queens, was widely considered to be perfectly situated to become then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s successor before his stunning defeat last June that propelled the former waitress to the halls of Congress.
“It wasn’t just that Crowley didn’t want to go dirty; he thought it would be a sign of weakness in D.C. if he was seen in a tight race against Ocasio-Cortez. He was supposed to be the next Democratic leader, not someone who had to fight for reelection”.
NY Post
He didn’t realize he was up against a star.
AOC of course is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the first-term congresswoman who has exploded like a supernova across the political sky since last summer, when she defeated Joe Crowley, the boss of the Queens County Democratic Party and someone widely thought to be the next speaker of the House. And when she lands back in her district, her reception is no different.
Politico
“It’s like if Camelot came to Queens,” said one onlooker. On this day, Ocasio-Cortez is the star upon which the whole room seems to revolve. Politicians who have been working in the trenches since before she was born come by to pay tribute (and of course to grab the quick selfie).
It is hard to not pick up a faint air of resentment in some corners.
“I send a tweet when I see something I think is cool, and it gets, like, six likes,” John Liu, a state senator, former city comptroller, former city councilman and one-time candidate for mayor told the crowd. “AOC sneezes and it gets a half-million retweets!”