Democratic Party strategists have urged New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to “stay away” from the swing states ahead of the midterms, believing her progressive brand to be too divisive for undecided voters, according to a report.
While the congresswoman is hugely popular in some quarters and has helped several primary candidates secure their party’s nomination this summer – notably Senate contenders Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Angie Nixon in Florida – the same view is not shared everywhere, according to Axios.
“The polling is atrocious for her,” one party strategist said. “She’s a lightning rod.”
The outlet also cited the case of Montana House candidate Sam Forstag, who has reportedly removed an endorsement from AOC from his website and was noncommittal when asked about the prospect of her stumping for him.
“I don’t intend to be having a lot of folks from out of state campaigning with me over these next 40 days,” he told the outlet.
While Ocasio-Cortez was featured in almost $1 million-worth of adverts promoting El-Sayed prior to his primary win setting up a race against Republican Mike Rogers, she has featured in none since, according to AdImpact analysis.
However, a spokesperson for the former healthcare official’s campaign indicated she would make a fresh appearance at his side in the coming weeks, telling Axios: “There are a lot of Michiganders who can’t wait to have AOC back in town.”
New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler has attempted to capitalize on the idea that Ocasio-Cortez is a polarizing presence by running TV spots attempting to tie his challenger, former Army officer and national security official Cait Conley, to the progressive, despite the latter explicitly telling CNN she would not campaign with her.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC, has similarly run an ad labeling Conley “AOC’s choice for Congress.”
Ocasio-Cortez herself told Axios the strategy was the same one Republicans had been attempting to play against her ever since she first won her seat in the House of Representatives in 2018.
“I invite them to spend even more money… because they’re just setting it on fire,” she said. “I would rather them do this than something that’s actually potentially effective.”
The reason for the focus on the New Yorker is that she has been widely tipped for a 2028 presidential run and a number of her potential rivals for the Democratic nomination, including Kamala Harris, former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and ex-Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, have all appeared in competitive states and districts over the past month.
AOC has attempted to temper her reputation as a left-wing firebrand of late, a move interpreted by some as an attempt to broaden her appeal with a view to going national in two years’ time.
“Woke 1 was crazy!” she told ABC News’s Jonathan Karl recently, suggesting the intensity of the Covid-19 lockdowns had led her and others to entertain more extreme political positions and propositions than they might otherwise, an apparent walk-back of some of her past statements.
Her recent Instagram announcement that she has frozen her eggs was likewise interpreted as a signal she was putting her maternal ambitions on hold in order to pursue a tilt at the White House.
The representative offered some of her most direct comments on the prospect yet last week when she told The New York Times: “There’s an argument that some make that this is a very unique political window and, oftentimes in politics, you do only get one shot.
“And you don’t – and just in life in general – life doesn’t wait for you to be ready for things. Sometimes life just makes things ready for you.”
