Ocasio-Cortez discusses ‘Democratic Socialist’ label
Democratic congressional nominee Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday she embraces the “Democratic Socialist” label but doesn’t want to force other Democrats to do the same.
“It’s part of what I am; it’s not all of what I am,” Ocasio-Cortez said on “Meet the Press” on NBC. “And I think that’s a very important distinction.”
Last week, Ocasio-Cortez defeated 10-term incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary for New York’s 14th Congressional District, stunning the political establishment. She aligned herself with the same Democratic Socialist movement that propelled Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during the 2016 election, but said she’s not trying to spread the label to all Democrats.
“I’m not trying to impose an ideology on all several hundred members of Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “But I do think that, once again, it’s not about selling an ‘-ism‘ or an ideology or a label or a color. This is about selling our values.”
On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) was asked whether she thinks Ocasio-Cortez’s views are the future of the party.
“I think it’s the future of the party in the Bronx, where she is,” Duckworth said. “I think that we, as legislators, need to listen to our constituency and get out there. I think what she did was, she did the hard work. She pounded the pavement, and she was out there talking to every one of her constituents.”