In this Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018, photo, Democratic candidate for governor Cynthia Nixon, right, listens as Democratic New York state Senate candidate Julia Salazar speaks during a joint rally in McCarren Park in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

There has been a boomlet of young(ish) socialist women winning Democrat primaries this year. The leading edge of the trend was when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez knocked off a 20-year veteran of New York City’s Democrat machine. Two days ago, Boston City Councilor, Ayanna Pressley, knocked off another twenty-year Democrat machine apparatchik, Mike Capuano. The most problematic contender for inclusion in this group is Julia Salazar.

Salazar has been endorsed by Ocasio-Cortez, gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, the Democratic Socialists of America, and other fringe-left people and groups, in her primary challenge to state senator Martin Malave Dilan.

Salazar who has packaged herself as a liberal Hispanic who is also Jewish and an immigrant has seen that narrative meltdown in the face of evidence that in college she was an evangelical Christian and that her mother is an American citizen and she was born in Miami. And both of her parents are Roman Catholic.

Now a new scandal had erupted.

Oh, and I got the recordings of her allegedly impersonating Hernandez to the bank. They are embedded in the piece. And that's just the beginning of the insanity. https://t.co/QuveEmJZRs

— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) September 6, 2018

The charges were eventually dismissed and a four-year libel fight between Salazar and Mrs. Hernandez over Salazar allegedly having monkey sex with the “father figure” (no, Julia, calling your paramour a “father figure” doesn’t make it sound innocent, but it does make it sound creepy) who was 38 years her senior (she was 21, he wasn’t) was settled out of court.

The strange thing is that in this primary year, none of that probably matters. These upset victories have a common denominator. The incumbents believe they are bullet-proof because they are loyal machine Democrats. They don’t take the challenge seriously. Their supporters are used to them winning and they just don’t turn out for the primary. The challengers are hungry and motivated and they are selling a socialist/communist message that is very much in sync with what activist Democrats want to hear. Next week Salazar’s future will hinge on how seriously her opponent takes her. If he doesn’t work his ass off, her lies and attempted theft won’t make a bit of difference.