AOC Holds Onto Congress Seat Following A Multimillion-Dollar Race

QUEENS, NY — U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has won a second term in Congress, trouncing her Republican challenger's multimillion-dollar effort to oust her from office, the Associated Press reported Tuesday night.

Early results from the NYC Board of Elections showed Ocasio-Cortez with about 69 percent of the vote as she faced off against two challengers.

"Serving NY-14 and fighting for working class families in Congress has been the greatest honor, privilege, & responsibility of my life," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted late Tuesday, using the abbreviation for the district she represents.

John Cummings, a first-time candidate who mounted a Republican challenge against the freshman congresswoman, had raised more than $10 million from donors around the country to fund his efforts, the New York Times reported.

Former CNBC anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera had raked in more than $2 million in a bid to defeat Ocasio-Cortez for the Democratic nomination in June, then lodged a third-party challenge in the general election after suffering defeat in the primary race.

Serving NY-14 and fighting for working class families in Congress has been the greatest honor, privilege, & responsibility of my life.

Thank you to the Bronx & Queens for re-electing me to the House despite the millions spent against us, & trusting me to represent you once more. https://t.co/MXG2Z2DV2F
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 4, 2020

Tuesday's results do not include absentee ballots, which the Board of Elections will start counting next week. An estimated 28,000 voters in Ocasio-Cortez's district mailed in ballots, according to unofficial tallies released Tuesday night.

Ocasio-Cortez was elected to Congress in 2018, after defeating Queens County Democratic Party leader and longtime Congressman Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary election. She is a member of the House's financial services committee and oversight and reform committee.

She is being challenged by Republican John Cummings, a former Catholic high school teacher and NYPD officer, and former CNBC anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, who is running on the Serve America Movement Party line after losing the Democratic primary race in June.

The election became the second most expensive House race in the country, according to the New York Times.

In a Patch candidate profile submitted in June, Ocasio-Cortez named the inequities among Americans as the most pressing issue facing her community and the country.

"What I am doing about it is building a movement both locally and nationally to alter the way we address and fight for equality and justice," she said.

"I have introduced a suite of bills that work in concert to address the intersectional problems of climate change and inequities in health, housing, education, our economy, immigration, and legal systems. I use my influence to promote these policies and values locally and nationally, and I lead with moral courage to stand up against policies backed by corporate money that cut against the interest of working class Americans."

Ocasio-Cortez defeated Caruso-Cabrera and two other challengers to win the Democratic nomination for her seat, putting the first-term congresswoman one step closer to winning her first re-election bid in a district spanning Northern Queens and parts of The Bronx.

"When I won in 2018, many dismissed our victory as a 'fluke,'" Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in June, after winning the primary. "Tonight we are proving that the people’s movement in NY isn’t an accident. It‘s a mandate."

Cummings was born and raised in The Bronx and joined the NYPD in 1983, according to his campaign website. He retired in 1991 after getting injured and became a history and government teacher at the Saint Raymond High School for Boys in The Bronx.

He highlighted Amazon pulling out of a deal to move to Queens as one of Ocasio-Cortez's failings.

"Rep. Ocasio-Cortez chased Amazon out of Queens, and that cost us thousands of jobs," he said on his website. "I will fight to bring Amazon back, and make our district appealing for future job creators”

Ocasio-Cortez previously worked in the office of the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, volunteered as an organizer for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign and served as an educational director for the National Hispanic Institute. She received a bachelor's degree in international relations and economics from Boston University.

She lives in Parkchester in The Bronx.