Ocasio-Cortez cruises to victory in New York

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) glided to victory Tuesday in New York’s deep-blue 14th District, Decision Desk HQ projects, beating back a nominal challenge from Republican Tina Forte, a small business owner, to earn a fourth term on Capitol Hill.

Ocasio-Cortez has been a national figure — and a liberal icon — since first arriving in Washington in 2019, and she only built on that reputation in the current Congress. Joining other members of the liberal “squad,” she’s made waves by fighting for more liberal policies on everything from the southern border to the Israel-Palestine conflict, even when it’s meant confronting President Biden and other Democratic allies head on.

Yet there were also signs that Ocasio-Cortez, who ranks among the party’s top fundraisers, is shifting away from at least some of the rebellious positions that defined her earliest years on Capitol Hill.

This cycle marked the first time she paid dues to the Democrats’ campaign arm. And with her own reelection assured, Ocasio-Cortez spent the late campaign season stumping in battleground states on behalf of Vice President Harris, even as one of her closest “squad” allies, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), refused to endorse the Democratic nominee over the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

Forte, on the campaign trail, had leaned heavily into the argument that Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow Democrats are socialists. But in the heavily Democratic 14th District, which encompasses parts of Queens and the Bronx, the message didn’t resonate. And the fundraising contest wasn’t even close.

Ocasio-Cortez hauled in more than $13 million over the cycle, according to Open Secrets, versus just $1.7 million for Forte.