Tipsheet

Here We Go Again: Far-left Candidate Unseats 10-term Incumbent in Massachusetts Dem Primary

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  September 05, 2018 8:45 AM

In yet another major upset by a far-left candidate, Boston city councilor Ayanna Pressley unseated 10-term incumbent Rep. Michael Capuano in Massachusetts’s Democratic primary Tuesday night.

Video of the moment she found out she defeated Capuano quickly went viral. 

Capuano, who is now the fourth incumbent to lose a primary this year, conceded the race shortly before it was officially called by the Associated Press. 

"We did everything we could do to get this done,” Capuano said Tuesday night, WBZ NewsRadio in Boston reports. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out but this is life, and this is OK. America is going to be OK. Ayanna Pressley is going to be a good Congresswoman and Massachusetts will be well served.”

Pressley told supporters after her win that “change is on the way.”

Recommended

Van Jones Has Been on a One-Man War Against the Dems Matt Vespa
Republicans Celebrate 'Huge Win' for Trump In Congress After Third Spending Bill Passes Sarah Arnold

“These times demanded more from our leaders and from our party. These times demanded an approach to governing that was bold uncompromising and unafraid,” she said. “That with our lives under assault with our freedoms under siege that it’s not just good enough to see the Democrats back in power, but it matters who those Democrats are.”

Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has backed Pressley, who shares similar far-left views, including Medicare-for-all and defunding of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She congratulated Pressley, whom she referred to as her "sister in service," on the historic win Tuesday night. 

Since she is running unopposed in November, Pressley will become the Commonwealth’s first black woman elected to Congress.