In the wake of the Democratic primary victories by progressives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Alessandra Biaggi, the Bronx party establishment has entered into a wary alliance with the forces that helped bring these outside challengers to power.

Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez, representing Norwood, endorsed by every establishment figure from Bronx party boss Marcos Crespo to Governor Andrew Cuomo in her special election run in April, supported Ocasio-Cortez’s opponent Joe Crowley in the June congressional primary. On Sept. 12, Fernandez took onus when Ocasio-Cortez, while campaigning for Biaggi, tweeted “The Bronx has almost NO female elected officials.” Only percent of city, state, and federal positions in the Bronx are held by women, according to an analysis by the Norwood News.

“This comment is disrespectful and discredits the hardworking women who have been advocating for progressive change in the Bronx,” Fernandez tweeted back. “You need to take time to learn about our community.”

Yet, on Oct. 4, Fernandez capitulated to her party’s congressional candidate and appeared with Ocasio-Cortez publicly for the first time at a campaign event at the Parkside Center in Fernandez’s 80th Assembly District. Fernandez spoke in generalities for a few minutes at the beginning of the event, a forum on criminal justice reform. Present at the meeting was state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, a mainline legislator who’s for progressive causes. In an email to the Norwood News, Fernandez spoke more specifically on subject of Ocasio-Cortez.

“In terms of endorsements, I will be supporting my fellow Democratic nominees so that we can maintain unity and move this state forward,” Fernandez wrote. “In these trying times, it is important that we stand together as Democrats and represent progressive values. However, I am not able to speak on Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s behalf, but I hope she feels the same way.”

President of the Black Lives Matter of Greater NY, Hawk Newsome, was also at the Oct. 4 event and was one of six panelists. If Fernandez is a surrogate for the Bronx Democratic Party establishment, Newsome is representative of the opposite extreme – the activist base that helped elect Ocasio-Cortez and still unsatisfied with the current state of Bronx Democrats.

“We were there, and the streets were there when no other Bronx politicians would touch [Ocasio-Cortez],” Newsome said. “There was the same poverty, the same shootings, the same oppression under Democrats and Republicans. The only way you change this is by electing people like [Ocasio-Cortez].”

Groups like Bronx Progressives, which co-hosted the Oct. 4 event, have taken a different tact than Newsome to bringing about change – supporting candidates like Biaggi and attempting to get their members into Bronx Democratic Party positions – but often have an equally antagonistic relationship with party establishment.

The Ben Franklin Democratic Reform Club (BFDRC) in Riverdale, among the more active clubs championed by the Bronx political establishment, held a meeting on Sept. 26 and invited Biaggi to speak. In the primary, the club endorsed Biaggi’s opponent state Sen. Jeff Klein. The BFDRC has a long history of battling the powers-that-be dating back to the sixties, but the club has been intertwined with the Bronx Democratic establishment since the “Rainbow Revolution” against party boss Jose Rivera in 2008. The club also has a close relationship with Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, embedded within Bronx Democratic Party politics. Bronx Democratic Party political director, Daniel Johnson, is a former club president and currently serves as one of three vice presidents.

“It makes no difference if you voted for me or if you voted for my opponent,” Biaggi told the crowd, many of whom had attended an endorsement meeting earlier in the year where both candidates spoke. “What I’m excited to do is unite everybody and talk to you and to hear… what your concerns are.”

The BFDRC leadership had the same message about unity.

“We think she will be an excellent candidate and we are happy to work with her and people who are supporters,” club president Michael Heller told the Norwood News. “Change is something that we are very much used to and wish to be part of. We will not be in opposition to any sort of new group.”

Despite the show of party solidarity, the club meeting still contained some internal bickering over confusion at the Sept. 20 Democratic Party organizational meeting. Eric Dinowitz, 81st Assembly District Leader and the son of Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz, along with Heller promised to run clinics in the future to help inform club members better about party processes and functions.

The younger and elder Dinowitz, have a familiar, if antagonistic relationship with progressive activist and Biaggi field director, Michael Beltzer, in particular. The younger Dinowitz claims it’s all in good fun. “It’s kind of par for the course,” Beltzer said. “When you want to make change, the people who are already there are usually hostile to you.”