Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has shifted away from the confrontational nature of her initial run for Congress in favor of a more conciliatory approach to more moderate members of the Democratic Party, Politico reports.
Although the congresswoman called for many young progressives to challenge moderate Democratic incumbents in 2018, this year she has only endorsed two candidates who are looking to unseat conservative Democrats, and she has yet to throw her support behind multiple candidates backed by Justice Democrats, the group that backed her own election in 2018.
Justice Democrats was co-founded by Ocasio-Cortez's former chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, who left the congresswoman's office last August, as did her communications director and former co-director of Justice Democrats Corbin Trent. Both were outspoken and prone to upsetting the Democratic establishment with their comments, and both went to work for the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and were replaced by aides who previously worked for more moderate Democrats.
"The Democratic Party is the party of coalitions, not a cult," said longtime Democratic strategist James Carville, who has been critical of Sanders during the presidential primary season. "I've observed her. I think she's really talented, that she's really smart. Maybe she is — I don't speak for her — coming to the conclusion that she wants to be part of the coalition."
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Ocasio-Cortez also criticized the Sanders campaign and its followers for "making outreach as conflict-based as possible," saying "conflict is one tool but not the only tool."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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