Engel Falls Behind as Insurgent Wave Upends House Primaries in N.Y.

In Jackson Heights, Jessica González-Rojas, a Latina community organizer who drew many parallels to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, was leading a crowded race to defeat Assemblyman Michael DenDekker, a six-term Democrat. In Astoria, Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, was beating Aravella Simotas, an assemblywoman from Astoria since 2011.

In Westchester County, two assemblymen, Steven Otis and Thomas J. Abinanti, were also trailing their opponents.

The big night for progressives was hailed by liberal groups like the Working Families Party and political action committees like Justice Democrats, which had jointly spent more than $700,000 on Mr. Bowman’s behalf. On Wednesday, the two groups were declaring victory, and sending warning signals, to more mainstream Democrats, including the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

“The future of the Democratic Party looks a lot more like A.O.C. and Jamaal than Joe Biden,” said Waleed Shahid, the communications director for the Justice Democrats. “Biden knows that if he enters the White House in 2021, he won’t be governing with the same Congress from 2009.”

Like Mr. Bowman and Mr. Torres, Mr. Jones had campaigned on civil rights and criminal justice issues, seizing on the energy inside the Black Lives Matters movement after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Jones, a lawyer supported by the institutional left and many national progressive leaders, had garnered more than twice the votes of his nearest rival, Adam Schleifer, a former federal prosecutor and the son of a pharmaceutical billionaire who had outspent Mr. Jones by more than five to one. Mr. Jones, however, benefited from some independent expenditures on his behalf, including by the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

If he wins the Democratic nomination and the general election in November, Mr. Jones would fill the seat held by Ms. Lowey, 82, who announced her impending retirement in October in the face of a possible primary challenge from Mr. Jones. A first-time candidate and an avowed science-fiction fan, Mr. Jones likened the race to “a story out of a sci-fi novel,” he said.

Which sci-fi novel, he was asked?

“One that is still being written,” he said.