Punditry and speculation about winners and losers was rampant nationwide ahead of Tuesday’s election. In the Bronx, however, virtually every race saw the winner of the September Democratic primary come out on top.

Democratic-socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cruised to victory over Republican Anthony Pappas, an economics professor at St. John’s University recently disavowed by the Bronx and Queens Republican parties after party officials learned of domestic violence allegations against Pappas (which he denies). Ocasio-Cortez, at age 28 and representing Congressional District 14, is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She officially beat her opponent, Congressman Joseph Crowley, who ran on the Working Families Party line. Ocasio-Cortez represented the so-called blue wave of Democrats who regained control of the House of Representatives. The wave came short on the U.S. Senate side with more Republicans picking up seats.

Another rising progressive star, Alessandra Biaggi, won the Senate seat for District 34, easily dispatching her opponents on the Republican and Conservative lines, who essentially ran as placeholders. Sitting State Sen. Jeffrey Klein, who has not been seen in public since his Sept. 13 primary loss to Senator-elect Biaggi, was still on the ballot on the Independence Party line and garnered more than 5,000 votes.

Senate District 34 was the only senate seat in the Bronx up for election in 2018, but with victories elsewhere in the city and upstate, Democrats will return in January with a majority in the Senate for only the second time in the last 30 years. All 10 Bronx Assembly Members were re-elected in largely uncontested races to help Speaker Carl Heastie, who represents parts of Williamsbridge and Baychester, preserve a Democratic majority in the Assembly.

Statewide, Governor Andrew Cuomo secured a third term over Republican Duchess County executive Marc Molinaro. Both Cuomo and U.S. Senator Kristen Gillibrand, who beat her Republican challenger with ease, are reportedly considering runs in the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary.

Democrats swept all the statewide offices, including lieutenant governor, attorney general, and comptroller. Letitia James, New York City’s public advocate and now state attorney general-elect, is the first black woman elected to statewide office in New York. The New York attorney general’s race took on increased national significance because whoever won would likely end up clashing with President Donald J. Trump at some point.

“The president of the United States has to worry about three things: Mueller, Cohen, and Tish James,” James said during the primary. James campaigned on promises to pursue and investigate the President for any wrongdoing or misconduct he was involved with before and after he was elected in 2016.

Nationally, Rep. Elliot Engel (CD-16), Rep. Jose Serrano (CD-15), and Rep. Adriano Espaillat (CD-13) will head back to Washington D.C. as part of the first Democratic Congressional majority since 2010. At the time of publication, Republicans are poised to hold onto a slim majority in the Senate.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.