Two years later, the @AOC effect is very real in New York. There's never been an era quite like this one. So many progressive primary challengers are now viable. Her biggest contribution, locally, was this - inspiring many candidates to tackle existing power structures.
Primaries against incumbents are not new to New York City. We've had multiple reform eras that swept politicians out of power. What has seemed to change is how *policy* oriented these challenges now are. They come strictly from the left, grounded in policy.
In the past, primaries were waged usually on ethnic, racial, or generational lines. Eliot Engel had a primary in 2000 from Larry Seabrook, but Seabrook didn't try to get to the left of Engel. It was a primary about unseating a white elected for an African-American elected.
20 years later, Engel has another African-American challenger in @JamaalBowmanNY. But his campaign is seeking to oust Engel on a policy argument. He's made a compelling case. Ocasio-Cortez did something similar with Crowley.
For a chunk of the 20th century, primaries were more common in NY when Democratic club culture was strong. As clubs withered in the 1990s and 2000s, viable primaries were attempted less. 2018, with @AOC's victory and the successes of the anti-IDC movement, jumpstarted a new era.
One point I want to add: you really have to trace this ALL back to the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign, which will go down as one of the most influential losing presidential campaigns in history. AOC worked for Sanders. DSA's explosive growth came out of that campaign.
