OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez filed 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 re-election and squelching — for now — rumors she was planning to run for the U.S. Senate. The Democratic socialist also spoke about her plans to be active in the 2024 election cycle.
In a sit-down interview with The Guardian, AOC spoke about the upcoming election and admitted there’s a perennial conflict that exists among leftists.
Ocasio-Cortez, who recently endorsed President Joe Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign, also warned that Biden cannot take progressives for granted in the coming year and called on Democrats to band together to combat “fascism” in the country.
Ocasio-Cortez also bragged about being a self-described socialist.
“I think it means that we have a US political system that’s not parliamentary, to my envy of many other countries. There were so many people who were so up in arms about that comment, which I likely maintain to this day. But I find that parliamentary systems allow for a larger degree of honesty about the political coalitions that we must make. It’s just a reality that we have very different political coalitions that constitute the Democratic party and being able to define that, I actually think grants us much power. It’s to say, listen, I am not defined by nor do I agree with all of the stances of this president, and I’m sure neither does he with mine,” AOC said.
Ocasio-Cortez came under heavy fire this week from the head of New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America, a political organization she has identified with in the past, after remarks following a pro-Palestinian rally in the Big Apple just a day after a deadly attack on Israel killed 1,000 people.
The NYC DSA promoted the rally that came just a day after the attack, with the party claiming to be “in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist 75 years of occupation and apartheid,” per a post on the X platform which has since been deleted.
As reported by Politico Playbook, AOC responded to the rally with remarks that were upsetting to the DSA.
“It should not be hard to shut down hatred and antisemitism where we see it. That is a core tenet of solidarity,” she said.
“The bigotry and callousness expressed in Times Square on Sunday were unacceptable and harmful in this devastating moment. It also did not speak for the thousands of New Yorkers who are capable of rejecting both Hamas’ horrifying attacks against innocent civilians as well as the grave injustices and violence Palestinians face under occupation,” she added.
Nadia Tykulsker, the NYC DSA’s steering committee member, fired back on Monday, telling Politico Playbook that the rally was “at the request of a coalition partner because we believe in equality and justice for all Palestinians and Israelis, and we know that war will take more lives.”
“It is shameful that politicians in our state are exploiting this moment to target a socialist organization and divide the vibrant left in New York — whose sole aim in politics is to grow the power of working people for freedom against exploitation and oppression — instead of focusing our attention where it should be: on the atrocities and tragic loss of life in the region,” she added.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre slammed members of the far-left “Squad” during Tuesday’s briefing. She called what they said about the war between Israel and Hamas “wrong,” “repugnant,” and “disgraceful.”
When asked for the administration’s reaction to comments made by Democrat Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Cori Bush, Jean-Pierre said: “I’ve seen some of those statements this weekend, and we’re going to continue to be very clear. We believe they’re wrong, we believe they’re repugnant, and we believe they’re disgraceful.”
“Our condemnation belongs squarely with terrorists who have brutally murdered, raped, and kidnapped hundreds, hundreds of Israelis. There can be no equivocation about that. There are not two sides here. There are not two sides,” KJP added.
