NY-SEN: Schumer quietly nails down the left amid AOC primary chatter [View all]

[RandySF]

Just a few weeks after a group of young climate activists, accompanied by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, orchestrated a highly publicized sit-in in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office in late 2018, their Sunrise Movement received an unexpected email from Chuck Schumer’s staff.

Could the rabble-rousers meet with the then-Senate minority leader? He wanted to talk to them about his agenda if Democrats ever won back the Senate, which included tackling climate change, democracy reform, and economic and racial inequality. Before long, his team was asking for their support on a clean cars proposal.

Schumer’s outreach was likely no coincidence. New York, the veteran senator’s home state, is the epicenter of the progressive movement’s efforts to oust incumbent Democrats in Congress. And Schumer, who is up for reelection in 2022, has been taking steps both publicly and privately to steel himself from a left-wing primary challenge — especially from his biggest threat, Ocasio-Cortez.

At the time of the meeting, Ocasio-Cortez was fresh off her stunning primary upset victory. She hadn’t even been sworn into office yet. But in the two years since then, Schumer has thrown his weight behind a plan to cancel student loan debt by executive order. He's voted against the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. He’s said “nothing is off the table” when it comes to eliminating the filibuster. And that’s only a fraction of the progressive moves he’s made in recent years. It still hasn’t inoculated him from the possibility of a primary.

“It’s exciting to see how much action Schumer is currently taking,” said Saikat Chakrabarti, Ocasio-Cortez’s former chief of staff. “And I hope that progressives continue pressuring him, threatening a potential primary.”




https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/01/chuch-schumer-aoc-senate-464255