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Why Democrats Are Still Not the Party of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [View all]
In contests for party control between progressives and moderates, electoral and governing results speak for themselves.By Jennifer Steinhauer
Ms. Steinhauer is the author of the forthcoming “The Firsts: The Inside Story of the Women Reshaping Congress.”
March 5, 2020, 10:24 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats are very familiar with the political dramaturgy now playing out in their party’s White House primary and know of its lessons and consequences.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Super Tuesday, this was playing out at the presidential level across the country between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. But it played out at the congressional level as well. On Tuesday, Jessica Cisneros in Texas, the highest profile primary challenger of the Justice Democrats, a very progressive group, lost to the moderate Democratic incumbent, Henry Cuellar. Left-wing-activist-backed Senate candidates in Texas and North Carolina were crushed by more moderate candidates.
The first dress rehearsal for this battle was the 2018 midterm elections, when the Justice Democrats put its muscle behind nearly 80 Sanders-like insurgent candidates to target House seats, many of them held by less liberal Democratic incumbents. That year, scores of Democrats ranging from left of center (like Katie Porter of California) to fairly conservative (Anthony Brindisi of New York) took advantage of waning support for Mr. Trump in America’s suburbs to make a run for House seats held by Republican incumbents.
The results were pretty unequivocal. Justice Democrats lost virtually every primary race in 2018 when they fielded a homegrown liberal candidate, but they won one very important race: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez upset Representative Joe Crowley in a New York seat he had held for years.
At the same time, scores of middle-of-the-road Democrats were able to get through crowded primaries and win over Republican and independent voters in the general election, giving their party a net gain of 40 seats and flipping the House.
Ms. Steinhauer is the author of the forthcoming “The Firsts: The Inside Story of the Women Reshaping Congress.”
March 5, 2020, 10:24 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats are very familiar with the political dramaturgy now playing out in their party’s White House primary and know of its lessons and consequences.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Super Tuesday, this was playing out at the presidential level across the country between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. But it played out at the congressional level as well. On Tuesday, Jessica Cisneros in Texas, the highest profile primary challenger of the Justice Democrats, a very progressive group, lost to the moderate Democratic incumbent, Henry Cuellar. Left-wing-activist-backed Senate candidates in Texas and North Carolina were crushed by more moderate candidates.
The first dress rehearsal for this battle was the 2018 midterm elections, when the Justice Democrats put its muscle behind nearly 80 Sanders-like insurgent candidates to target House seats, many of them held by less liberal Democratic incumbents. That year, scores of Democrats ranging from left of center (like Katie Porter of California) to fairly conservative (Anthony Brindisi of New York) took advantage of waning support for Mr. Trump in America’s suburbs to make a run for House seats held by Republican incumbents.
The results were pretty unequivocal. Justice Democrats lost virtually every primary race in 2018 when they fielded a homegrown liberal candidate, but they won one very important race: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez upset Representative Joe Crowley in a New York seat he had held for years.
At the same time, scores of middle-of-the-road Democrats were able to get through crowded primaries and win over Republican and independent voters in the general election, giving their party a net gain of 40 seats and flipping the House.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/sunday-review/democratic-party-ocasio-cortez.html
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