Just days after the 2020 election, Democrats operatives began suggesting that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) should challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in the 2022 Democratic primary.
However, a top New York Democrat is already warning Ocasio-Cortez from launching such a challenge.
What are the details?
Jay Jacobs, chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, told the New York Post on Saturday that Ocasio-Cortez should slam the brakes on any idea of challenging Schumer for his seat.
“I think it would be a primary driven by ambition more than by need,” Jacobs told the Post.
In fact, Jacobs predicted that Ocasio-Cortez would “absolutely” lose a head-to-head battle against Schumer.
“Chuck Schumer has been a progressive force in the state for decades,” he explained. “She has a constituency that admires her and supports her, and they’re in her community, and I think it would be a loss for them if she were to do that.”
What has AOC said?
When asked about her political aspirations in October, Ocasio-Cortez told Vanity Fair that she does not plan to remain in the House.
“I don’t know if I’m really going to be staying in the House forever,” she said. “I don’t see myself really staying where I’m at for the rest of my life.”
Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept earlier in December that the Democratic Party needs new leadership in Congress, a direct shot at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Schumer.
Pelosi has served in Congress for more than three decades, and Schumer has been in Congress for four decades this January. They have spent a combined three decades in Democratic congressional leadership.
Anything else?
While progressives would love to see Ocasio-Cortez advance their agenda in the Senate, the Democratic Party has become increasingly outspoken against Ocasio-Cortez’s brand of far-left politics.
After the 2020 election, Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), a moderate Democrat, blasted far-left politics, attributing the progressive agenda, which includes items like “defund the police,” to Democrats’ election losses.
“We need to be pretty clear,” Spanberger reportedly said. “It was a failure. It was not a success. We lost incredible members of Congress.”
“We have to commit to not saying the words ‘defund the police’ ever again,” she said. “We need to not ever use the words socialist or socialism ever again.”
“If we run this race again we will get f***ing torn apart again in 2022,” Spanberger predicted.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) agreed, saying that if Democrats “are going to run on Medicare for All, defund the police, socialized medicine, we’re not going to win” future elections.
Meanwhile, House Democrats recently snubbed Ocasio-Cortez from a seat on the prized House Energy and Commerce Committee, which would have allowed her to promote her health care and climate policy goals. Democrats chose Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), a moderate Democrat, for the seat instead.