Trump supporters and progressive Democrats: How the primaries show how two parties will square off in Congress elections

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is likely to become the youngest woman ever elected to congress in November

Progressive Democrats and Republican candidates supported by Donald Trump have both claimed victories in US primary races that offered a night of electoral drama and contained important insights about the direction of both parties ahead of November’s midterm showdown.

As voters cast ballots in seven states – Colorado, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah – the biggest headline of the night was in New York’s 14th congressional district, where 28-year-old activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated 10-term Democratic congressman Joe Crowley. Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who had volunteered for Bernie Sanders in 2016, won despite being outspent ten times by the man she’d ousted.

In a bizarre tweet, Mr Trump, who grew up in the borough of Queens, which makes up part of the 14th district, sought to try and take credit for the result, saying Mr Crowley should have been more “respectful” of the president.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Democratic Socialist Alliance who has supported called for Mr Trump’s impeachment, said she had tapped into the support of people whose voices were rarely heard.

“We had a clear winning message,” the young woman, whose platform included Medicare-for-all, a federal jobs guarantee, tougher regulation of Wall Street and the abolition of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told CNN.

“And we took that to doors that had not been knocked on before.”

Ms Ocasio-Cortez’s success, perhaps the biggest congressional primary upset since Republican House majority leader Eric Cantor lost Virginia’s 7th congressional district in 2014 to Tea Party insurgent David Brat, was shared by other fresh blood among the Democrats in New York. Dana Balter, a progressive activist and Syracuse University professor, won the Democratic nomination the state’s 24th congressional district, defeating the establishment-backed Juanita Perez Williams, a former state prosecutor and Navy veteran.

Elsewhere in the state, two other incumbents – Yvette Clarke and Carolyn Maloney – were able to hold off stiff challenges from more progressive candidates.

Outside of the state, there was more celebration among the wing of the party that supported Bernie Sanders in his 2016 primary challenge to Hillary Clinton.

In Maryland, former NAACP President Ben Jealous, who was endorsed by Mr Sanders, won the Democratic primary in Maryland’s governor race. He will face off against incumbent Republican governor Larry Hogan.

“Ben showed that running a progressive, issue-oriented campaign can bring all working people together in the fight for justice,” Mr Sanders said in a statement.

In Colorado, five-term Democratic congressman Jared Polis won the nomination in the race to replace outgoing Democratic governor John Hickenlooper. In Oklahoma, former state Attorney General Drew Edmondson beat former state senator Connie Johnson to win the Democratic nomination in the race to be the state’s next governor.

Meanwhile, within the GOP, Republican candidates who had spoken of their support for Mr Trump – and who had been endorsed by the president – found themselves winning.

Among them were New York congressman Dan Donovan, who defeated convicted felon Michael Grimm in the city’s only Republican stronghold, the 11th Congressional district high includes a large chunk of Staten Island, and former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who once branded Mr Trump “a fraud” but who has warmed to the president over the past two and won the Republican primary to represent Utah in the senate.

Mr Trump was also delighted to see South Carolina governor Henry McMaster, one of his earliest supporters, survive an surprisingly tough challenge from a political newcomer, self-made Republican millionaire John Warren.

The Associated Press said the White House had thrown its support strongly behind Mr McMaster in recent days, dispatching the president and the vice president to the state in an effort to prevent a political embarrassment.

“Congratulations to Governor Henry McMaster on your BIG election win! South Carolina loves you. We are all proud of you and Peggy,” Mr Trump tweeted.

While many progressives suggested Ms Ocasio-Cortez and her progressive policies now represented the future of the Democratic Party, experts said it was too early to say whether the debate that played out between Mr Sanders and the incrementalist Ms Clinton had really been concluded. “I think it remains unsettled,” Christina Greer, a professor of political science at Fordham University in New York, told The Independent.

She said while Ms Ocasio-Cortez had won a huge victory, in the same city longtime incumbent Yvette Clarke had narrowly defeated challenger Adem Bunkeddeko. “It was only by 1,000 votes, but she still won.”

Democratic House minority leader Nancy Pelosi was among those to play down the significance of the victory of Ms Ocasio-Cortez.

“They made a choice in one district. So let’s not get yourself carried away as an expert on demographics and the rest of that,” Mr Pelosi said at a news conference, according to The Hill.

“Within the caucus or outside the caucus, we are again, we have an array of genders, generations, geography, and there is opinion in our caucus, and we’re proud of that.”

She added: “The fact that in a very progressive district in New York, it went more progressive than….well, Joe Crowley is a progressive, but more she’s left than Joe Crowley, is about that district. It is not to be viewed as something that stands for anything else.”

Ms Pelosi’s comments carried some irony given that Mr Crowley, who had not faced a Democratic primary challenger for 14 years, was widely tipped as possible replacement for her as House Speaker if Democrats retake the House in November. It was noted on Wednesday morning, that Ms Ocasio-Cortez declined to publicly express her support for Mr Pelosi.

“I think it’s far too early to make those kinds of commitments right now,” she said. “[Democrats] need to just focus on winning in November first and then we’ll have the conversation about our leadership.”

Jeanne Zaino, Professor of Political Science at Iona College in New York, said if the Democrats were still struggling to debate between progressivism and more incremental change, Republican incumbents were also continuing to be challenged by firebrand newcomers.

She said a theme of recent years was of both parties choosing House candidates whose extreme positions often enabled them to win the primary, but who frequently failed in the subsequent general election.

Meanwhile, she said Mr Trump – who has frequently supported non-establishment candidates – had underscored the value of his endorsement.

“Trump has had a very good week,” she said. “He’s shown] you do get a bump having his support.”

During the primary campaign, Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who is likely to become the youngest woman elected to congress given she will face little opposition from Republicans in November, had decided not to focus too much on Mr Trump.

“Democrats who spend more time talking about Trump and Russia than this are going to lose,” she had recently Tweeted. “Families are in real crisis. Congress actually has the power to change our lives for the better. If we’re not proposing new and ambitious solutions, then why bother running?”

Just weeks before the vote she visited the Texas camps where children had been separated from their parents – a move that spared international outcry and led Mr Trump to terminate the move.

“The child detention camps are here – I confronted the border officers myself. Using their names, I told them exactly what they are responsible for,” she said.

“One of them made eye contact with me. I spoke directly to him. I saw his sense of guilt. We can dismantle this.”