According to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic Party establishment is plotting to take her down in 2020.
“We just got threatened with a serious primary challenge by other Democrats in the House,” Ocasio-Cortez announced in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “I guess we always knew the political establishment would stand in our way. We just didn’t expect them to come after us so hard and fast.”
Ocasio-Cortez against the world
In hopes of fending off any challengers who might threaten her re-election bid, the self-proclaimed democratic socialist has purchased dozens of Facebook advertisements since her Wednesday post, which followed a report from The Hill that alleged that at least one House Democrat is encouraging members of the New York delegation to find a candidate from the Bronx or Queens to challenge the progressive star.
But Ocasio-Cortez may have invited opposition from her own party by backing efforts to take down her Democratic colleagues. A recent Politico report alleged that Ocasio-Cortez and the grassroots group Justice Democrats were considering backing primary challenges to moderate Democrats like fellow New York Democrat and Black Caucus member Hakeem Jeffries, and Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas.
In response, an anonymous House Democrat advised New York’s Democratic Party to “find her a primary opponent and make her a one-term congressperson.”
“You’ve got numerous council people and state legislators who’ve been waiting 20 years for that seat. I’m sure they can find numerous people who want that seat in that district,” the Democratic insider explained.
But Ocasio-Cortez didn’t take kindly to the suggestion that candidates were lining up to replace her. She said that the establishment was “disconnected” and guided by a “broken mentality” if they really believe they can simply wait their turn to occupy a public office.
“You’ve got councilpeople who’ve been waiting 20 yrs for that seat.”
That broken mentality, that public office is something you wait in line for, instead of earning through hard organizing, is exactly what voters want to change.
Shows you how disconnected some folks here are. https://t.co/TMWYkboB7i
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 29, 2019
A star is born
Ocasio-Cortez shocked the world last year when she defeated Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) in what was supposed to be a sleepy Democratic primary. Crowley was a powerful establishment Democrat with aspirations to one day hold the House speaker’s gavel, and his defeat shocked the party’s senior leadership.
Rather than play nice with the Democratic status quo, however, Ocasio-Cortez immediately set about dividing the party with her extremist brand of socialist politics, threatening the united front against President Donald Trump that incumbent Democrats had worked so hard to preserve. Targeting the party’s entrenched elderly leadership, the progressive New Yorker pledged to oppose corporate interests and eschew the machine-politics used to preserve power in Washington.
“There is a need for progressive members in the caucus to raise the bar in terms of what we want and what we’re willing to do to get it,” Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said after Ocasio-Cortez’s upset victory. “And that involves a lot of risk, and that involves stepping on toes.”
But centrist Democrats are less enamored with the freshman congresswoman’s insurgent style of politics.
“Meteors fizz out,” Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) said. “What she will learn in this institution is that it’s glacial to begin with, and therefore no matter how far you rise, that’s just how far you will ultimately get your comeuppance.
“You come up here and you’re going to be buddy-buddy with all the folks or you’re going to make them do certain things?” Hastings went on to ask. “Ain’t happening, okay?”
Multi-front war
Hank Sheinkopf, an experienced New York Democratic consultant, told The Daily Caller on Tuesday that the New York delegation is currently considering three potential challengers to oppose Ocasio-Cortez in 2020: City Councilman James Van Bramer, State Senator Julia Salazar, and State Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz. For her part, Ocasio-Cortez didn’t take too kindly to this report, tweeting late on Tuesday: “Whoever is paying this ‘Veteran NY Dem Strategist’ is getting totally fleeced.”
But finding herself outnumbered in a multi-front political war, Ocasio-Cortez is reaching out for help. She wrote in a sponsored Facebook post on Wednesday: “We need to show how strong our campaign will be when they come after us in 2020… Make a donation right now to help us run a strong campaign in the next primary.”
Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign has dismissed accusations that the New York representative is opposed to the primary process.
“We believe in primaries as an idea. We’re not upset by the idea of being primaried. We are not going to go out there being anti-primary — they are good for party,” a campaign spokesperson told The Hill.
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