Establishment Democrats were stunned when newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won a major upset victory over incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) in Tuesday night's primary for New York's 14th District. But would-be fellow insurgents were apparently invigorated.
The Democratic Socialists of America said they received a whopping 1,152 new member sign-ups Wednesday, reaching a record 40,000 total members on Thursday, The Daily Beast reported. The political organizing group counts Ocasio-Cortez as one of its members, and the candidate has been unapologetic in her embrace of socialist ideals.
Ocasio-Cortez's vocal advocacy for democratic socialism has apparently inspired plenty of others to join the party; DSA said Wednesday's enrollment was 35 times that of a usual day. The last time the group saw a significant spike was the month after the presidential election in 2016, when they had about six times as many new members as in a normal month.
Since then, the group's total membership has skyrocketed from 5,000 to the current 40,000 members. Read more at The Daily Beast.