Furious’ Democrats Plot to Make Ocasio-Cortez a ‘One-Term
Congressperson’
Spencer Platt/Getty
29 Jan 2019
4:47

Several New
York “furious” Democrats have mulled whether they want to primary challenge
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and make her a “one-term congressperson,”
according to report released on Tuesday.
A report from the Hill released on Tuesday
suggested that several Democrats have considered if they want to primary
challenge Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive freshman Democrat and a rising
figure in Democrat circles.
Reportedly, at least one House Democrat has urged the
New York delegation to recruit a local politician from either the Bronx or
Queens, New York, to challenge the progressive Democrat.
“What I have recommended to the New York delegation is
that you find her a primary opponent and make her a one-term congressperson,”
the Democrat congressman said anonymously to the Hill.
“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 lawmaker added.
Ocasio-Cortez quickly fired back at the report,
suggesting that voters want change and that many Democrats remain disconnected
from the Democrat base.
“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,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet on Tuesday.
“Shows you how disconnected some folks here are”:
"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
Corbin Trent, a campaign spokesman for Ocasio-Cortez
and a co-founder of Justice Democrats, said they would welcome a primary
challenge against her.
“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 the party,” Trent said.
“If voters in the district feel that they can be
better represented, that will be their choice on primary day,” Trent added. “In
the meantime, we’re going to be doing our dead-level best to make sure we are
representing the needs and the will of our constituents.”
Ocasio-Cortez stunned the Democrat establishment and
pundits when she defeated former Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY). Crowley, who was
first elected in 1999, had been considered as a possible future Speaker of the
House.
The progressive Democrat also inflamed controversy
within the Democrat Party after a recent Politico report suggested
that she and the progressive group Justice Democrats considered a primary
challenge against Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), a Congressional Black Caucus
(CBC) member and member of House Democrat leadership.
Ocasio-Cortez and Justice Democrats dispute the Politico report;
however, many Democrats have also said they will target Rep. Henry Cuellar
(D-TX) and other 2020 primary challenges.
Some members of the New York Democrat delegation have
disputed the report about primarying Ocasio-Cortez.
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) said:
We are going to see what happens. Generally for me,
I’m giving folks the benefit of the doubt, the presumption of innocence. You
might say one thing before you get in here, and then after you get to meet
folks, you see what happens and how the body works … things are different, so
we’ll see what happens.
“I can only tell you that the times I’ve spoken to
her, and at the times she’s been at the New York delegation meetings, she’s
been cooperative and wants to be a team player,” Meeks added. “That’s what she
said, so you gotta take her at her word until something changes.”
Jeffries said that no House Democrats have approached
him about primarying Ocasio-Cortez and also suggested that many New York
Democrats pushed to get the progressive Democrat on the House Financial
Services and Oversight and Reform Committee.
“I don’t think that is something the New York
delegation would contemplate. As you can see, we are totally united behind each
other. … The New York delegation sticks together,” Jeffries said.
However, one New York political insider close to
Crowley said that there remain many ambitious politicians who do not like that
Ocasio-Cortez ousted the former congressman.
“She’s pissing off a lot of people and has probably
made a lot of enemies. … A lot of people who are furious with her are Joe’s
allies, including some named Crowley,” said the insider, referring to Elizabeth
Crowley, a former New York City councilwoman. “She is a woman. She’s been
moving more to the left. She would be someone interesting.”
Justice Democrats spokesman Waleed Shahid said that
Ocasio-Cortez could handily defeat any primary challenger who might decide to
run against her.
“Considering she’s more popular and well-known than
some of the Democratic presidential contenders, I think whoever challenges her
will lose by huge margins,” Shahid said. “It’s a quick way for some D.C. and
Wall Street consultants to make some easy money.”
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