NY-18: AOC ventures into the Hudson Valley to help a fellow Dem. Will it work?
New York Rep. Pat Ryan, a centrist Democrat who's locked in a tight race that could help determine whether his party retakes the House of Representatives, eagerly hugged someone many moderates wouldn't dare embrace.
It was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a hero to many on the progressive left who was making her first stop in a tossup New York congressional district at a wooden boathouse alongside the Rondout Creek in Kingston last week.
Both Democrats stood to gain from the photo op — for very different reasons.
Ocasio-Cortez’s rapid rise to national prominence — forged by her willingness to take on the Democratic establishment — has made her a key leader of the party's left flank, with a legion of highly engaged supporters. But she’s long been an easy foil for Republicans, who believe her unapologetically progressive stances alienate moderates and independents — the very voters who may decide a race like Ryan’s.
https://gothamist.com/news/aoc-ventures-into-the-hudson-valley-to-help-a-fellow-dem-will-it-work