OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
“Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat former investment banker Marty Dolan in the Democratic primary on Tuesday night.
The 14th Congressional District in New York covers parts of the Bronx and Queens. Ocasio-Cortez has been the representative for this district since 2019.
Dolan, who is 66 years old, ran as a “progressive” Democrat, not a “radical,” which is what he called Ocasio-Cortez during the race. Dolan told voters that he was the only politician who could fix Ocasio-Cortez’s mistakes that she made while she was in office when it came to cutting taxes and fighting New York City’s “financial cancer.”
“I think people just had enough of radicalism. They’re just completely fed up with it. AOC is absent on community. She’s not around. She’s absent on crime. She’s not around. She’s off doing things that are making her famous,” Dolan said last week.
Ocasio-Cortez is one of the founders of the left-wing “Squad,” a loose group of nine radical Democrats in Congress. She beat 10-term congressman Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary in 2018, when she was only 29 years old. This shook the election cycle. Since then, she has become the Squad’s most important voice, with backing from young people and Democratic Socialist voters.
Wall Street came for us again, and the people prevailed.
Thank you to the Bronx and Queens for choosing me to be your Congresswoman.
It is the honor of my life to fight for working families and everyday people.
To receive this level of support is deeply moving. Pa’lante. 💪🏽💜 pic.twitter.com/L4iuFb6Obz
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 26, 2024
Ocasio-Cortez made an unfounded prediction last week that she believes former President Donald Trump would move to “jail” her if he wins the November election.
“I mean, it sounds nuts, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy threw me in jail,” she told Kara Swisher on her podcast On with Kara Swisher. “He’s out of his mind. I mean, he did his whole first campaign around ‘lock her up.’ This is his motto.”
She didn’t say what charges she would face under a Trump administration or why she believed Trump would bother with her other than to claim, without any basis, that would “round up people.”
“I take him at his word when he says that he’s going to round up people. I take him at his word when he threatens journalists. I take him at his word,” she said, as reported by Breitbart News. “I feel like what we saw in his first presidency was an amuse-bouche to what his intentions are. He has learned from his mistakes of appointing professionals, and he will not make that mistake next time.”
Swisher then asked AOC if she thought Trump had a shot at winning in November.
“Trump does absolutely have a chance to win. That is why I have thrown my support behind Biden early and I support it vociferously,” she responded, before repeating another wild and unsubstantiated claim being echoed by all Democrats this election cycle from President Biden on down.
“It is unequivocal that if Donald Trump wins, we are looking at the potential dissolution of democracy in the United States of America and the question about what would happen to me or the Democratic Party is a joke compared to the question of what is going to happen to our country,” she said.
For the record, in a recent interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump said he absolutely had no intention of seeking “retribution” and that he wanted to try to legitimately unite as much of the country as possible.
“Number one, they’re wrong,” Trump told Hannity. “It has to stop because otherwise, we’re not going to have a country. Look, when this election is over, based on what they’ve done, I would have every right to go after them, and it’s easy because it’s Joe Biden, and you see all the criminality, all of the money that’s going into the family and him, all of this money from China, from Russia, from Ukraine.”
According to a CBS News/YouGov poll released over the weekend, Trump has 50 percent support versus Biden’s 49 percent, despite the former’s felony ‘hush money’ conviction.
Biden and Trump are essentially deadlocked with independent voters, with Biden securing 50 percent and Trump 48 percent. Both candidates are backed by 94 percent of their own party’s supporters and 5 percent from the opposing party.
Trump supporters are more enthusiastic than Biden supporters. Out of Biden backers, 69 percent say their support for him is very strong and have “decided” he is their candidate. In comparison, 78 percent of Trump voters have very strong support for the 45th president and have “decided” they will vote for him.
Approximately 25% of Biden supporters have strong support and are unlikely to switch their allegiance, while an additional 4% say they might still change their minds, and 2% expect to change their minds at some point.
Among Trump supporters who have not yet decided, 18% have strong support for him and are unlikely to change their minds, while 4% have somewhat strong support but might still switch candidates.
