Ahead of Tuesday Primary, Progressive Candidates Vow 'to Bust Up Big-Money Politics in New York'

Ahead of a closely watched New York primary on Tuesday, progressive gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon and congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed each other on Monday, and announced they are coming together at a Get Out the Vote event in Queens to "speak of their shared progressive, people-powered campaigns taking on centrist, corporate Democrats."

As the New York primary on Tuesday only applies to federal races, Nixon--like everyone else running for state or local offices--will have until September 13 to continue campaigning. However, voters in the state's 14th District will head to ballot boxes in less than 24 hours to choose between Ocasio-Cortez and Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley, who hasn't faced a primary challenger in 14 years.

Late Monday morning, Nixon turned to Twitter to offer her endorsement and declare that the two women are uniting to "envision a progressive New York that serves the many, not just the wealthy few."

Responding to Nixon's post, Ocasio-Cortez highlighted one of their many shared goals: "to bust up big-money politics in New York."

"Ocasio-Cortez is part of a number of young women of color who are challenging establishment incumbents," Voguenoted Monday, pointing to the belief among a mounting number of progressives that the 28-year-old activist, and candidates like her, "might just be the future of the Democratic Party."

"A third-generation New Yorker whose family is originally from Puerto Rico, Ocasio-Cortez looks a lot more like the constituents in the very diverse 14th District than Crowley, a 56-year-old white man," Vogue explains. "The optics of the race, then, also reflect a battle for the future of party leadership: Who is better equipped to represent the largely working-class and non-white Americans in the 14th, and in places like it all over the country?"

"But Ocasio-Cortez's challenge goes far beyond surface level," Vogue continues, acknowledging her growing list of endorsements. Heralded as "a torchbearer for the progressive movement," her platform has earned her the support of Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), as well as New York City-based organizations.

In a series of tweets on Monday, journalist Jeremy Scahill--who recently spoke with Ocasio-Cortez on his podcast--acknowledged how her "much-needed new voice" terrifies the Democratic Party's D.C. establishment:

Ocasio-Cortez, as Common Dreams has reported, "is campaigning on a long list of progressives stances, including: mobilizing against climate change, improving the federal government's failed response to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, advancing LGBTQIA+ and women's rights, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal agency that has been widely denounced for terrorizing immigrant communities and separating asylum-seeking families at the nation's Southern border."

While Nixon, a longtime education activist and actress known for her role in "Sex and the City," has spoken out on national issues--last week calling ICE "a terrorist organization" that should be abolished--she has largely campaigned on state-focused progressive policies that counter those of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whom she and many others have accused of scheming with New York's Republican lawmakers and "sell[ing] our government off to corporate interests and wealthy donors, while the rest of us suffer."

In addition to New York's federal races, Colorado, Maryland, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah also have primary elections scheduled for Tuesday. Our Revolution maintains a database of candidates across the country that the organization has endorsed while Justice Democrats features a list on the group's website.