New York 14th district Democratic candidate and almost-certain future Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dismissed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) downplaying of her stunning win Tuesday, saying that her victory is part of a “movement.”
“I think that we’re in the middle of a movement in this country,” Ocasio-Cortez said to CNN’s Erin Burnett. “That movement is going to come from the bottom up, that movement is going to come from voters. There are a lot of really exciting races with extremely similar dynamics as mine—it’s not just one district.”
When Burnett listed the ages of the septuagenarians currently leading the Democratic party, Ocasio-Cortez said that it’s time to elect “a new generation of people to Congress.”
“I think that some of the issues we even have today may have to do with some of the calcified structures and relationships,” she said. “And you know, in certain seats where it’s appropriate, I think that a new leaf could actually mean a lot of opportunity for the party and future.”
She also complimented Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), the incumbent whom she defeated Tuesday, saying that she has “profound respect” for him as a public servant and that his concession—playing “Born to Run” on his guitar in dedication to her—was “beautiful,” handled with “grace,” and made her “emotional.”
Pelosi told reporters Wednesday that the upset was a one-off and a product of an extremely liberal district. “They made a choice in one district. So let’s not get yourself carried away as an expert on demographics and the rest of that,”she said.
“The fact that in a very progressive district in New York it went more progressive than … well, Joe Crowley is a progressive, but she’s more left than Joe Crowley, is about that district. It is not to be viewed as something that stands for anything else,” she added.
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— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) June 28, 2018
