OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez this week filed new paperwork that reveals her future political plans ahead of what is already expected to be a competitive 2024 election cycle.
The New York Democrat wants to represent her Bronx district again, filing paperwork to run for reelection and squelching — for now — rumors she was planning to primary Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer during the next election. For her part, though, AOC, as she is known, is not expected to have much GOP competition: She won her heavily blue district in November handily, beating Republican Tina Forte by a margin of 70.6 percent to 27.5 percent.
“Ocasio-Cortez became a congresswoman in 2018 following her upset defeat of Democratic incumbent Joseph Crowley in the district’s Democratic primary. She went on to win the district’s general election in 2018. While the progressive lawmaker supports progressive policies such as Medicare-for-all, she hasn’t been afraid of bucking President Biden to accomplish those goals. In October 2022, Ocasio-Cortez criticized Biden during an episode of “Pod Save America” for not including illegal immigrants in his pardon for people federally convicted of simple marijuana possession,” Fox News reported.
“I can at least say with Latino voters, we’ve never tried as a party. The Democratic Party has not tried in terms of Latino electorates. And, I mean, where’s our Dream Act, where is our immigration reform. And even recently with President Biden’s marijuana executive order, I very much applaud that he went there, but he exempted people who were convicted if they were convicted while they were undocumented,” she told the liberal podcast.
A report in December suggested she may be facing some serious legal trouble after she was referred to the House Ethics Committee earlier this month, though it isn’t clear whether she is about to face any charges.
“Pursuant to House Rule XI, clause 3(b)(8)(A), and Committee Rules 17A(b)(1)(A),17A(c)(1), and 17A(j), the Acting Chairwoman and Acting Ranking Member of the Committee on Ethics have jointly decided to extend the matter regarding Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which was transmitted to the Committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics on June 23, 2022,” said a press release from the committee on Dec. 7.
“The Committee notes that the mere fact of a referral or an extension, and the mandatory disclosure of such an extension and the name of the subject of the matter, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee. The Committee will announce its course of action in this matter following its organizational meeting and adoption of Committee Rules in the 118th Congress,” the release noted further.
“The Congresswoman has always taken ethics incredibly seriously, refusing any donations from lobbyists, corporations, or other special interests,” a spokesperson for the Congresswoman said. “We are confident that this matter will be dismissed.”
The committee did not provide any further details as to what the complaint was about. But an analysis from the website 1945 said that it is possible she could be in trouble for accepting a gift she should not have taken.
“It has been widely suspected that it was the result of a September 2021 complaint filed by the Americans Accountability Foundation ‘for accepting an impermissible gift’ to attend the Met Gala,” the site noted. “AOC had made considerable waves not for just attending the high-profile Met Gala, where tickets for the social event cost a reported $35,000, but for her choice to wear a designer dress emblazoned with the slogan ‘Tax the Rich.’”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attending the $35,000-a-ticket #MetGala in a Brother Vellies gown blaring "Tax the Rich" is a complicated proposition. pic.twitter.com/prxOojWxwx
— Vanessa Friedman (@VVFriedman) September 14, 2021
The American Accountability Foundation has alleged that Meta-owned Instagram bought access to AOC that ordinary constituents could not do by sponsoring a table for her at the Met.
Meanwhile, a second ethics complaint was filed by the National Legal and Policy Center regarding the dress. The Brother Vellies gown amounted to an impermissible gift because it was “directly related to AOC’s ‘position with the House’ as a highly visible and controversial Member,” the complaint alleges, according to 1945. “If AOC had not been a Member, she would not have been invited to the Gala, and even if she would have been invited as a private citizen, the designer would not have made a special dress for her to wear at the event,” the complaint noted further.
