Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday criticized Democratic leaders who decline to endorse more liberal candidates within the party, calling out the holdouts for “playing a dangerous game with our democracy.”
While speaking at a rally in support of India Walton, Ocasio-Cortex said that a refusal to endorse party nominees is deeply problematic in what she refers to as a “fascist threat” in US politics. “Here’s the deal. There are many primaries where I have stood behind incredible community organizers, and you know what? That moment may not have been the time. That’s ok. We get up and we move on,” she said.
“But when a nominee wins, I do not try to undermine the entire political party. We don’t try to do that. Do you know why? Because in the grander scheme of things, we are facing a very real fascist threat in this country. Let’s talk about the stakes. This isn’t a game,” she added. Ocasia-Cortez also spoke of her frustration at internal divisions within the party.
“We rally behind our nominee,” she said. “That is what we do, whether that candidate is you or the person you’re going for, or the person you’re not going for. Any Democrat right now that is trying to establish a precedent of not uniting behind the party’s nominee is playing a dangerous game with our democracy.”
She emphasized: “I want to send a very direct message to some of those folks. If you as a Democratic elected official try to go out and undermine your party’s nominee, how can you ever turn around and ask people to support you when you’re the party’s nominee?”
Ocasio-Cortez hit out at the senators on Twitter not backing the $3.5 trillion dollar bill, however she stopped short at naming them. “Ah yes, the Conservative Dem position: You can either feed your kid, recover from your C-section, or have childcare so you can go to work – but not all three. All 3 makes you entitled and lazy,” she wrote. “But fossil fuel $, keeping Rx prices high & not taxing Wall St are “non-negotiable.”‘
