Rep. Crowley's Upset a Warning for Gov. Cuomo

The latest Siena College poll shows Cuomo leading far-left challenger and former “Sex and the City” television star Cynthia Nixon by a margin of 61 to 26 percent. Few, at this point, give her any real shot at the governorship.

But right up until the voting Tuesday, few thought Ocasio-Cortez, 28, had a real chance against Crowley — a top lieutenant of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and chairman of the Queens County Democratic Committee.

But Ocasio-Cortez mobilized fellow leftists by pounding hard on the themes of universal healthcare, a federal jobs guarantee, and abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. The turnout in the Democratic primary was strong among the minority voters and left-of-center activists and enough to defeat Crowley.

“The Democratic Party is galloping leftward,” said David Pietrusza, presidential historian and author who knows all things New York. “Combine that with the changing demographics of Crowley's district — 50 percent Hispanic and only 18 percent white — and that should have been a warning signal to Crowley. Beyond that, while Crowley is the boss of Queens County Democrats, 40 percent of his district is now in the Bronx.”

Pietrusza added, “If I were Andrew Cuomo, I might be a bit nervous tonight.”

Staten Island Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, however, viewed the upset of Crowley as more due to local circumstances.

“Like the Clintons, people were tired of the Crowley family,” Malliotakis told Newsmax. “His cousin lost her city council seat last year and now this. But I'm not sure whether we should be happy that part of the Pelosi establishment is gone or sad that a devout socialist, much further to the left, may be headed to Washington.”

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.