Pelosi on Ocasio-Cortez's win: They made a choice in 1 district

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Is the Democrats' blue wave starting to boomerang?

Joe Crowley, who was potentially in line to replace Pelosi, lost his primary to newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Ed Henry has the story for 'Special Report.'

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D- Calif., on Wednesday appeared to downplay the ramifications of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s stunning victory in New York’s 14th Congressional District, saying voters went for the left-of-left candidate in one district and the outcome was not the seismic shift portrayed in the media.

“The fact that in a very progressive district in New York, it went more progressive — and (incumbent Rep.) Joe Crowley is a progressive — but to the left of Joe Crowley is about that district,” Pelosi said. “It is not to be viewed as something that stands for everything else.”

Crowley's loss to a Democratic socialist was considered a shocking defeat. He'd been considered a contender for speaker if Democrats retook the House in the November midterms.

President Trump on Wednesday told a rally in Fargo, N.D., that one of his "biggest critics, a slovenly man, Joe Crowley, got his ass kicked by a young woman who had a lot of energy."

Trump appeared pleased with Tuesday night’s primary results and appeared dead set on promoting Pelosi and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., as the faces of the Democratic Party.

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Pelosi was asked Wednesday about the Republican notion that socialism was afoot in her party and she denied the theory.

“It’s ascendent in that district, perhaps. But I don’t accept any characterization of our party presented by the Republicans. So let me reject that right now. Our party is a big tent, our districts are very different, one from the other,” she said.

The issues that Ocasio-Cortez ran on included expanding the Medicare program to people of all ages and abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“We beat a machine with a movement, and that is what we have done today,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Working-class Americans want a clear champion and there is nothing radical about moral clarity in 2018.”

The New York Times editorial page said that Ocasio-Cortez’s victory was “a vivid sign of the changing of the guard.”

“What remains to be seen, though, is whether Democratic leaders will embrace these newcomers or see them as a threat,” the paper wrote. “That may determine whether Democrats are able to take back the House of Representatives in November.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report