Mitt Romney wins in Utah primary veteran Democrat falls to newcomer

Mitt Romney poses for photographs during a breakfast campaign stop at Sill's Cafe Tuesday, June 26, 2018, in Layton, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- One of U.S. President Donald Trump's earliest and strongest supporters, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, survived an unusually tough challenge from a political newcomer on Tuesday. But a veteran Democratic House leader wasn't so fortunate.

Rep. Joe Crowley of New York lost to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old former aide to the late Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, in the first defeat of the primary season for a Democratic incumbent.

In Utah, Mitt Romney, the former GOP presidential nominee and one-time face of the "Never Trump" movement, won the Republican nomination to run in November to become a 71-year-old freshman senator.

Crowley is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House and had been considered a possible candidate to replace Nancy Pelosi as the party's leader in the chamber if the Democrats should win control in November and Pelosi should step aside.

Crowley was backed by many unions, while Ocasio-Cortez was endorsed by several liberal groups, including MoveOn.

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