U.S.
Representative
Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez
(D-NY)
talks
with
reporters
outside
the
U.S.
Capitol
in
Washington,
September
14,
2023.
Evelyn
Hockstein
|
Reuters
At
a
moment
of
existential
turmoil
for
President
Joe
Biden,
Rep.
Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez,
D-N.Y.,
has
stepped
up
as
a
firm
ally
of
the
embattled
incumbent,
using
her
platform
to
speak
out
against
the flurry
of
Democratic
voices who
are calling
on
him
to
withdraw from
the
2024
presidential
race.
As
former
President
Donald
Trump
was
wrapping
up
his
lengthy
speech
accepting
the
GOP
presidential
nomination
Thursday,
AOC
—
as
she’s
widely
known
—
took
to
Instagram
Live
to
speak
directly
to
thousands
of
followers
to
make
the
case
against
Biden
dropping
out.
She
questioned
the
viability
of
replacing
Biden
atop
the
ticket
at
this
late
stage,
warning
that
some
Republicans
would
challenge
that
legally
and
said
doing
so
could
lead
to
“a
presidential
election
being
decided
by
Clarence
Thomas
and
the
Supreme
Court,”
like
in
2000.
Ocasio-Cortez
emphasized,
repeatedly,
that
she
respected
the
view
of
ordinary
voters
who
want
to
see
a
change
atop
the
ticket
and
said
she
wasn’t
guaranteeing
that
Biden
would
win
if
he
stayed
in
the
race.
But
she
warned
that
things
could
get
more
chaotic
for
Democrats
if
Biden
were
to make
the
extraordinary
move
to
end
his
campaign just
weeks
before
the
Democratic
convention.
“If
you
10,000%
are
super-convinced
that
the
candidate,
or
president,
cannot
beat
Donald
Trump,
then
do
what
you
think
is
in
your
good
conscience.
But
I
have
not
seen
an
alternative
scenario
that,
I
feel,
does
not
set
us
up
for
enormous
peril,”
she
said.
In
a
twist
for
the
left-leaning
Ocasio-Cortez,
her
comments
make
her
among
the
more
forceful
pro-Biden
voices
in
the
party
right
now.
While
over
10%
congressional
Democrats
have
called
for
Biden
to
withdraw
from
the
race,
few
have
spoken
out
to
criticize
those
voices
and
make
the
affirmative
case
for
him
to
stay
in,
with
party
leadership
saying
they’ll
support
any
decision
he
makes.
While
backing
the
president,
Ocasio-Cortez
and
other
prominent
progressives
have,
in
recent
days,
persuaded
Biden
to
embrace
several
of
their
priorities
in
a
potential
second
term —
including
expanding
Social
Security,
capping
rent
increases,
eliminating
medical
debt
from
credit
reports
and slapping
term
limits
on
the
Supreme
Court.
Many
progressives,
including
Ocasio-Cortez
and
Sen.
Bernie
Sanders,
I-Vt.,
are
primarily
driven
by
policy
goals
and
know
they
have
Biden’s
ear.
If
he
steps
down,
it’s
unclear
who
would
replace
him
and
how
that
relationship
would
change.
But
others
are
fearful
of
a
Trump
presidency
if
this
ticket
remains,
and
there’s
no
clear
consensus
about
whether
Vice
President
Kamala
Harris
would
be
a
better
or
worse
prospect,
electorally
or
at
governing.
“Right
now
folks
are
in
existential
crisis,
emergency
mode,”
a
progressive
strategist
said
of
the
mood
within
the
movement.
“S—‘s
hitting
the
fan.
…
There
is
this
chaos
angle
on
the
other
side
of:
If
there’s
a
change
in
the
ticket,
then
what?”
The
strategist
said
part
of
the
reason
progressives
like
Ocasio-Cortez
are
backing
Biden
is
the
“bird
in
hand
phenomenon”
—
there’s
a
“comfort
level”
with
Biden
in
the
White
House.
Ocasio-Cortez’s
view
is
not
shared
throughout
the
Congressional
Progressive
Caucus.
The
day
after
her
livestream,
Rep.
Mark
Pocan,
D-Wis.,
a
former
co-chair
of
the
CPC,
called
on
Biden
to
withdraw.
“We
must
face
the
reality
that
widespread
public
concerns
about
your
age
and
fitness
are
jeopardizing
what
should
be
a
winning
campaign,”
Pocan
said
in
a
joint
message
to
Biden
with
three
other
House
Democrats.
“These
perceptions
may
not
be
fair,
but
they
have
hardened
in
the
aftermath
of
last
month’s
debate
and
are
now
unlikely
to
change.
We
believe
the
most
responsible
and
patriotic
thing
you
can
do
in
this
moment
is
to
step
aside
as
our
nominee
while
continuing
to
lead
our
party
from
the
White
House.”
During
her
Instagram
Live,
Ocasio-Cortez
said
that
much
of
the
effort
to
push
Biden
out
of
the
race
in
the
wake
of
his
poor
debate
performance
is
coming
from
“the
donor
class”
and
“elites”
who
would
not
allow
“an
easy
transition”
to
Harris
becoming
the
nominee,
though
she
did
not
opine
on
Harris
—
or
any
other
alternative.
“If
you
think
that
there
is
consensus
among
the
people
who
want
Joe
Biden
to
leave
that
they
will
support
Kamala
—
Vice
President
Harris
—
you
would
be
mistaken,”
Ocasio-Cortez
said.
“I’m
in
these
rooms.
I
see
what
they
say
in
conversations.
A
lot
of
them
are
not
just
interested
in
removing
the
president.
They
are
interested
in
removing
the
whole
ticket.”
She
said
the
effort
is
being
fueled
by
wealthy
donors:
“When
I’m
talking
to
folks
in
rooms,
I
hear,
‘My
donor
this,
my
donor
that.’
Those
are
the
inputs
that
I
am
hearing
reflected
by
my
colleagues.
It’s
not,
‘My
voters
this…’
it’s
like,
‘Big
donors
are
saying
this.'”
“I
could
give
two
damns
about
what
a
bunch
of
rich
people
think,”
she
added.
The
progressive
strategist
also
said
Ocasio-Cortez,
in
accusing
donors
and
elites
of
wanting
to
eject
the
whole
ticket,
may
be
“pre-butting”
the
inevitable
questions
if
Biden
does
quit
about
whether
the
nomination
should
go
to
Harris
or
if
there
should
be
an
open
primary.
Her
office
had
no
further
comment
beyond
her
extensive
remarks
to
followers
on
the
platform.
Biden,
for
his
part,
has
repeatedly
and
emphatically
said
he
won’t
drop
out.
He
said
he
will
return
to
the
campaign
trail
next
week
after
self-isolating
with
a
Covid
diagnosis.
Lisa
Lint-Vander
Zouwen,
a
46-year-old Grand
Rapids
resident
and
mom
of
two
school-aged
daughters,
called
herself
a
“reluctant”
Biden
supporter.
She
said
she’d
like
to
see
him
step
aside
and
replaced
with
a
“strong
woman”
—
but
not
without
a
competition.
“It
would
be
nice
for
three
to
be
some
sort
of
process,”
she
said.
“I
don’t
know
what
that
would
look
like,
but
some
coming
together
of
the
Democrats
to
discuss
who
they
think
would
be
a
strong
candidate
and
why,
and not
necessarily
default
to
Vice
President
Harris.”
Ocasio-Cortez
also
cautioned
followers
that
Biden
has
unique
electoral
strengths
that
other
Democrats
cannot
expect
to
replicate.
“Joe
Biden
kind
of
stomps
with
older
people
electorally,
which
is
one
of
the
strongest
and
most
consistent
electorates,
and
it’s
actually
a
hard
electorate
for
Democrats
to
win.
Those
are
not
people
that
are
on
Twitter,”
she
said.
“You
cannot
assume
that
electorate
transfers
to
any
other
candidate.”
