Ocasio-Cortez says she is not hurting moderate Democrats' 2020 chances

WASHINGTON – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive superstar who has captured an enthusiastic following, disputed charges of moderate Democrats that she is making it harder for them to win re-election in 2020.

Ocasio-Cortez, who represents a deep blue district, told USA TODAY that she has not used her platform to call out individual Democrats for not signing onto the progressive policies she champions.

"New York Democrat said Friday. "We have an opportunity right now to have a national conversation and to move the whole country and raise the consciousness of the country to a better place. I'm speaking to their districts, and I'm trying to talk to the electorate. "

Rifts within parties are nothing new. During their eight years in the majority, Republicans dealt with the rise of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers who pulled legislation to the right. Moderate Republicans who lost their seats in November are still bitter. And there 's President Donald Trump, who – like Ocasio – Cortez uses Twitter to speak directly to his base, often sending members of his party scrambling to keep up.

Democrats have not been immune. Liberals and moderates battled in the early 2000s over how to shape policy – including what became the Affordable Care Act. Then Democrats, many of them moderates, were wiped out in the 2010 election. Now they're back in power, thanks to dozens of Democrats who won in red and purple districts. Those representatives want to take over their seats, but they are fighting to separate themselves from the rest of the world.

USA TODAY Democratic members, helpers and strategists, and the protection of immigrants and combat climate change. But some moderates say that the Ocasio-Cortez approach has been taken seriously by the bipartisan.

They are also irritated at Ocasio-Cortez's willingness to use their personal platform – nearly 3.5 million followers on Twitter and a nationwide following – to go after members of her own party. Even House progressive who like her policies do not know what to make of her approach.

Ocasio-Cortez specifically. Other aides and members asked for anonymity to speak candidly because they did not want to be seen in the party. Some people are nervous about being able to get away from Ocasio-Cortez and her supporters.

Courage looks different

After a group of moderate Democrats House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been shutting down their doors. She urged members to be brave and stick with their party.

Ocasio-Cortez, who represents a deep blue district, took it a step further. She warned the lawmakers that she had left the wing of the United States.

Then Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, a freshman Democrat who represents a red district in New Mexico.

Trump won Torres Small by 10 percentage points in 2016, and the Democrat is listed as a GOP target in 2020. Torres Small office would not elaborate on the meeting other than the account of the remarks, first reported in Politico, was accurate.

The following week, Ocasio-Cortez doubled down on Twitter saying that Democrats who voted with Republicans were making decisions based on "racist + false trope that Latino immigrants are more dangerous than US born citizens."

Ocasio-Cortez told USA TODAY that she did not send specific names to her fans. She did, however, point out that the results of the vote were public. She is said to be in the process of becoming "proactive" because she expects to become a member of the United States of America. because of being in the country illegally.

"The addition of the amendment added a toxic anti-immigrant to a clean gun safety bill," Ocasio-Cortez said. "It is necessary to vote for an anti-immigrant amendment. So that puts me in a tough spot, too, you know? It's not just about, you know, do 20 people have to take a tough vote? It's that 200 people had to take a tough vote. So now … I voted, why I was forced to vote for an anti-immigrant amendment. "

Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a freshman Democrat from New Jersey who voted for the amendment.

"I want to make sure that people who are citizens of this country do not have access to firearms illegally, and the people who are not citizens of this country do not have illegal access to firearms," ​​Sherrill said.

Sherrill's New Jersey colleague Rep. Josh Gottheimer, co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, said that Democrats won back the majority "through the middle, through districts like mine. And so we need to make sure, we know, we know that all districts are different.

"What we do not know who is in the party and who does not."

New approach

Even House progressives who agree with Ocasio-Cortez's policies – and like having someone to gin up energy on the issues – are not sure what to make of her approach.

"In my experience it has never really been productive in the past," Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., Said about Ocasio-Cortez's public shaming of members of the same party. Grijalva is the chair of the Progressive Caucus and supports much of the agenda Ocasio-Cortez is pushing.

"But that's her political call, the consequences are hers," he said.

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Political consequences

Republicans are already trying to get tough Democrats with Ocasio-Cortez's views.

"Every candidate is going to be associated with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez," Michael McAdams has spokesman for the House Republicans' campaign arm said.

Recognizing the strategy, help to a new member who flipped a Republican seat, said if the help is to be held next to Ocasio-Cortez at a news conference, the help would be to move the lawmaker to avoid photographs of the two together. The help was concerned a photo could be used by a Republican opponent during a re-election campaign.

Green New Deal Catnip for GOP

The Green New Deal, the environmental sweeping introduced by Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Has become a catnip for Republicans.

Supporters of the nonbinding resolution say it has a vision for a cleaner environment and promotes jobs and social justice. But Republicans say that vision will bankrupt the country.

Some Democrats say that they have been botched when they talk about getting rid of air and flatulence. The page has been taken down but Republicans have not forgotten.

Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo – a moderate Republican who lost his Florida seat in November – said all Democrats should be worried.

"My sympathies to them," Curbelo said.

Curbelo blames the far-right of his party for shifting legislation so far from the mainstream that it no longer appealed to voters in his district.

"You may not be working hard at discriminating at these extremes of the extremes of the political spectrum," he said, getting on national television, "getting retweeted," Curbelo said.

Some veteran Democratic strategists say endangered lawmakers should not be so worried. Ocasio-Cortez is getting excited about Democratic ideas, even though proposals will vary. More, they say, all of the Democrats who represent red and purple districts did a good job of sidestepping another bogeywoman during their last election.

Republicans pounded Democrats with ads to the Pelosi, whom they accused of being "San Francisco liberal." Yet, Democrats were still able to flip the House.

The GOP strategy "is not a strategy that has worked in 2018. I do not believe it is a strategy that will work going forward," said Brad Woodhouse, a Democratic strategist and former spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee.

"And really, to take Republican criticism and let it live by lending it credence, does not do anybody in the party any good," Woodhouse said.

Related:

Green New Deal too ambitious for some Democrats, even those who say Congress must 'do something'

Green New Deal: What is it and what does it mean for climate change?

Contributing: Ledyard King, Maureen Groppe, Bart Jansen

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