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New York's 14th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 23 Democratic primary)

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2022
2018
New York's 14th Congressional District
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Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: April 2, 2020
Primary: June 23, 2020
General: November 3, 2020

Pre-election incumbent:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Democratic)
How to vote
Poll times: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. (general elections); primary times vary by county
Voting in New York
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020
See also
New York's 14th Congressional District
1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th11th12th13th14th15th16th17th18th19th20th21st22nd23rd24th25th26th27th
New York elections, 2020
U.S. Congress elections, 2020
U.S. Senate elections, 2020
U.S. House elections, 2020

Incumbent Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated challengers Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Badrun Khan, and Sam Sloan in the Democratic primary for New York's 14th Congressional District on June 23, 2020. Ocasio-Cortez received 75% of the vote to Caruso-Cabrera's 18%. The two candidates led the field in fundraising and media attention.

Richard Cowan with Reuters said this primary was one of several in New York that was "testing the strength of the Democratic Party's left wing," describing it as a race between "Ocasio-Cortez, the 30-year-old progressive firebrand ... [and] former CNBC television anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, 44, backed by the conservative-leaning U.S. Chamber of Commerce."[1]

According to the June 3 pre-primary campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Ocasio-Cortez and Caruso-Cabrera raised $10.5 and $2.0 million, respectively, a majority of which came from individual donors. For Ocasio-Cortez, 93% of her fundraising receipts ($9.5 million) came from donations smaller than $200. Contributions of that size represented 16% ($317,183) of Caruso-Cabrera's receipt totals. Contributions larger than $2,000 made up 1.5% ($154,000) of Ocasio-Cortez's total and 66% ($1.2 million) of Caruso-Cabrera's.[2] Click here to learn more.

This was Ocasio-Cortez's first re-election campaign after defeating the former chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Joseph Crowley (D), in the district's 2018 primary. Ocasio-Cortez received 57% of the vote to Crowley's 43%. Three major race forecasters rated the 2020 general election as Solid/Safe Democratic. At the time of the election, no Republican had received more than 20% of the vote since the 14th District's lines were redrawn following the 2010 census. Click here to learn more about what's at stake in the general election.

This page focuses on New York's 14th Congressional District Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Election procedure changes in 2020

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

New York modified its primary election process as follows:

  • Election postponements: The presidential preference primary was postponed from April 28 to June 23.
  • Candidate filing procedures: Petition signature requirements for primary candidates was reduced.
  • Voting procedures: All votes were allowed to cast their ballots by mail in the primary election. All eligible voters were sent absentee ballot applications. The absentee ballot submission deadline was extended to June 23.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.


Candidates and election results

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 14

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
 
74.4
 
46,582
Image of Michelle Caruso-Cabrera
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera
 
18.1
 
11,339
Image of Badrun Khan
Badrun Khan
 
5.0
 
3,119
Image of Sam Sloan
Sam Sloan
 
2.2
 
1,406
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.2
 
143

Total votes: 62,589
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles created in one of two ways. Either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey or Ballotpedia staff created a profile after identifying the candidate as noteworthy.[3] Ballotpedia staff compiled profiles based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements.

Image of Michelle Caruso-Cabrera

WebsiteFacebookTwitterYouTube

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Biography:  Caruso-Cabrera received a bachelor's degree in economics and Spanish from Wellesley College in 1991. She worked as a producer at Univision News and as a reporter with WTSP in St. Petersburg, Fla. In 1998, Caruso-Cabrera joined CNBC where she worked as a contributor, anchor, and reporter until 2019.



Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.


"[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] is the ONLY Democrat to vote against funding for COVID testing, against funding for hospitals, and against funding for small businesses here int he Bronx and Queens during the height of the COVID19 crisis."


"This is not an extremely progressive district, actually. [The voters] want someone who is not divisive. Someone who will work with Nancy Pelosi, not against her."


Show sources

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House New York District 14 in 2020.

Image of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

WebsiteFacebookTwitterYouTube

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: Yes

Political Office: 

Biography:  Ocasio-Cortez received a bachelor's degree in international relations and economics from Boston University in 2011. She worked as an organizer on U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2016 presidential campaign and with the National Hispanic Institute as an educational director.



Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.


"I only work as a representative in service to my community, and I will not stop working until I have brought systemic change to improve the lives of my fellow New Yorkers."


"In my first term serving as your representative in Congress, we have: Won Billions of Dollars for NY-14 Families ... Lowered Prescription Drug Costs ... Fought for Immigrant Families ... Introduced the Green New Deal ... [and] Supported Puerto Rico."


Show sources

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House New York District 14 in 2020.


Endorsements

This section lists endorsements issued in this election. If you are aware of endorsements that should be included, please email us.


Click on the links below to view lists of endorsements on candidate websites, as available:

Democratic primary endorsements
Endorsement Caruso-Cabrera Ocasio-Cortez
Newspapers and editorials
New York Post[4]
The New York Times[5]
Organizations
32BJ and 1199 SEIU[6]
New York State AFL-CIO[6]
Brand New Congress[6]
Communications Workers of America[6]
DC37 AFSCME[6]
Democracy for America[6]
Justice Democrats[6]
League of Conservation Voters[6]
MoveOn.org[6]
Democratic Socialists of America[6]
Our Revolution[6]
U.S. Chamber of Commerce[7]
Working Families Party[6]

Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.[8] It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.[9] The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Democratic Party $21,166,404 $17,506,285 $4,025,356 As of December 31, 2020
Badrun Khan Democratic Party $68,498 $68,809 $3,279 As of September 30, 2020
Sam Sloan Democratic Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available***
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera Serve America Movement Party, Democratic Party $3,552,127 $3,421,695 $130,432 As of December 31, 2020

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.
*** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.


Contribution sizes

The pie charts below reflect each candidate's campaign finance receipt totals as of June 3, 2020. The wedges represent the percentage of those totals as they derived from various sizes of donations shown in the legend. At one end, blue represents the percentage of receipts that came from donations smaller than $200. At the other end, yellow shows the percentage of receipts that came from donations greater than $2,000. Hover over a color on the legend or the wedge to view the percentages.



The table below reflects the above information in terms of total dollar amounts:

Primaries in New York

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. New York utilizes a closed primary process, in which the selection of a party's candidates in an election is limited to registered party members.[10][11]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

What's at stake in the general direction?

U.S. House elections were held on November 3, 2020, and coincided with the 2020 presidential election. All 435 House districts were up for election, and the results determined control of the U.S. House in the 117th Congress.

At the time of the election, Democrats had a 232-197 advantage over Republicans. There was one Libertarian member, and there were five vacancies. Republicans needed to gain a net 21 seats to win control of the House. Democrats needed to gain seats or lose fewer than 14 net seats to keep their majority.

In the 2018 midterm election, Democrats had a net gain of 40 seats, winning a 235-200 majority in the House. Heading into the 2018 election, Republicans had a 235-193 majority with seven vacancies.

In the 25 previous House elections that coincided with a presidential election, the president's party had gained House seats in 16 elections and lost seats in nine. In years where the president's party won districts, the average gain was 18. In years where the president's party lost districts, the average loss was 27. Click here for more information on presidential partisanship and down-ballot outcomes.


General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

  • Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
  • Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
  • Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[12]
  • Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[13][14][15]

Race ratings: New York's 14th Congressional District election, 2020
Race trackerRace ratings
November 3, 2020October 27, 2020October 20, 2020October 13, 2020
The Cook Political ReportSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid Democratic
Inside Elections with Nathan L. GonzalesSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal BallSafe DemocraticSafe DemocraticSafe DemocraticSafe Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season.

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index
See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+29, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 29 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made New York's 14th Congressional District the 29th most Democratic nationally.[16]

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 0.73. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 0.73 points toward that party.[17]

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

Eighteen of 62 New York counties—29 percent—are Pivot Counties. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County Trump margin of victory in 2016 Obama margin of victory in 2012 Obama margin of victory in 2008
Broome County, New York 2.01% 5.31% 8.02%
Cayuga County, New York 11.64% 11.40% 8.48%
Cortland County, New York 5.58% 9.11% 9.96%
Essex County, New York 1.14% 18.77% 13.32%
Franklin County, New York 5.45% 26.07% 22.23%
Madison County, New York 14.20% 0.89% 0.87%
Niagara County, New York 17.75% 0.84% 1.00%
Orange County, New York 5.50% 5.65% 4.13%
Oswego County, New York 21.99% 7.93% 2.44%
Otsego County, New York 11.13% 2.72% 5.91%
Rensselaer County, New York 1.41% 12.19% 9.34%
St. Lawrence County, New York 8.82% 16.71% 16.33%
Saratoga County, New York 3.21% 2.44% 3.40%
Seneca County, New York 11.01% 9.08% 2.60%
Suffolk County, New York 6.84% 3.69% 5.99%
Sullivan County, New York 11.23% 9.02% 9.46%
Warren County, New York 8.47% 2.32% 2.64%
Washington County, New York 18.40% 1.90% 0.81%

In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton (D) won New York with 59 percent of the vote. Donald Trump (R) received 36.5 percent. In presidential elections between 1792 and 2016, New York voted Democratic 45.6 percent of the time and Republican 35 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, New York voted Democratic all five times.[18]

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state Assembly districts in New York. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.[19][20]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 114 out of 150 state Assembly districts in New York with an average margin of victory of 46.5 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 99 out of 150 state Assembly districts in New York with an average margin of victory of 50.3 points. Clinton won four districts controlled by Republicans heading into the 2018 elections.
In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 36 out of 150 state Assembly districts in New York with an average margin of victory of 10.5 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 51 out of 150 state Assembly districts in New York with an average margin of victory of 17.6 points. Trump won 13 districts controlled by Democrats heading into the 2018 elections.


District election history

2018

See also: New York's 14th Congressional District election, 2018

General election

General election

General election for U.S. House New York District 14

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D)
 
78.2
 
110,318
Image of Anthony Pappas
Anthony Pappas (R) Candidate Connection
 
13.6
 
19,202
Image of Joseph Crowley
Joseph Crowley (Working Families Party)
 
6.6
 
9,348
Elizabeth Perri (Conservative Party)
 
1.6
 
2,254

Total votes: 141,122
(100.00% precincts reporting)
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 14

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
 
56.7
 
16,898
Image of Joseph Crowley
Joseph Crowley
 
43.3
 
12,880

Total votes: 29,778
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House New York District 14

Candidate
Image of Anthony Pappas
Anthony Pappas Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

See also: New York's 14th Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Democratic. Incumbent Joseph Crowley (D) defeated Frank Spotorno (R) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Neither candidate faced any opposition in the primaries on June 28, 2016.[22][23]

U.S. House, New York District 14 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngJoseph Crowley Incumbent 82.9% 147,587
     Republican Frank Spotorno 17.1% 30,545
Total Votes 178,132
Source: New York Board of Elections

2014

See also: New York's 14th Congressional District elections, 2014

The 14th Congressional District of New York held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Joseph Crowley (D) defeated Elizabeth Perri (Conservative) in the general election.

U.S. House, New York District 14 General Election, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngJoseph Crowley Incumbent 88% 50,352
     Conservative Elizabeth Perri 11.8% 6,735
     N/A Write-in votes 0.2% 117
Total Votes 57,204
Source: New York State Board of Elections, NYS Board of Elections Rep. in Congress Election Returns November 4, 2014," accessed August 30, 2021

State profile

See also: New York and New York elections, 2020
USA New York location map.svg

Partisan data

The information in this section was current as of June 19, 2020.

Presidential voting pattern

Congressional delegation

State executives

State legislature

New York Party Control: 1992-2025
Nine years of Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Governor D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
Senate R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R D D R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D
Assembly D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

New York quick stats

More New York coverage on Ballotpedia:


Demographic data for New York
 New YorkU.S.
Total population:19,747,183316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):47,1263,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:64.6%73.6%
Black/African American:15.6%12.6%
Asian:8%5.1%
Native American:0.4%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0%0.2%
Two or more:2.9%3%
Hispanic/Latino:18.4%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:85.6%86.7%
College graduation rate:34.2%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$59,269$53,889
Persons below poverty level:18.5%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in New York.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.


See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. Reuters, "AOC, other progressive U.S. Democrats fight to expand influence with Tuesday primaries," June 23, 2020
  2. Federal Election Commission, "New York - House District 14," accessed June 23, 2020
  3. Candidate Connection surveys completed before September 26, 2019, were not used to generate candidate profiles. In battleground primaries, Ballotpedia based its selection of noteworthy candidates on polling, fundraising, and noteworthy endorsements. In battleground general elections, all major party candidates and any other candidates with the potential to impact the outcome of the race were included.
  4. [https://nypost.com/2020/06/20/the-posts-endorsements-for-new-yorks-2020-primaries/ New York Post, "The Post's endorsements for New York's 2020 primaries," June 20, 2020
  5. The New York Times, "New York Voters Can Send Some Promising New Faces to Congress," June 12, 2020
  6. 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 Ocasio-Cortez's 2020 campaign website, "Endorsements," accessed June 23, 2020
  7. Politico, "Chamber of Commerce backs AOC's primary challenger," April 8, 2020
  8. Fundraising by primary candidates can be found on the race's respective primary election page. Fundraising by general election candidates can be found on the race's general election page.
  9. Federal Election Commission, "2022 Quarterly Reports," accessed March 2, 2022
  10. National Conference of State Legislatures, "State Primary Election Types," accessed October 8, 2024
  11. New York State Senate, "Consolidated Laws of New York § 17-17-102," accessed October 8, 2024
  12. Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
  13. Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
  14. Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
  15. Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
  16. Cook Political Report, "Introducing the 2017 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index," April 7, 2017
  17. FiveThirtyEight, "Election Update: The Most (And Least) Elastic States And Districts," September 6, 2018
  18. 270towin.com, "New York," accessed June 1, 2017
  19. Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts," July 9, 2013
  20. Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2016 presidential results for congressional and legislative districts," February 6, 2017
  21. Democrats won Assembly District 9 in a special election on May 23, 2017. The seat was previously held by a Republican.
  22. New York State Board of Elections, "Filings received for the 2016 Primary Election," accessed May 15, 2016
  23. Politico, "New York House Races Results," June 28, 2016


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