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November 14th, 2024

Reality Check

Another step to the left for Dems

Jonathan Tobin

By Jonathan Tobin JNS.org

Published June 29,2018

Another step to the left for Dems

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn't on her way to Congress because of her hostility to the State of Israel. The upset victory of a Democratic Socialist over one of the highest ranking Democrats in Congress, as well as the boss of the party in New York City's Queens County, did not hinge on her declaring that Israel was perpetrating a "massacre" in Gaza and her call for members of the party to join in denouncing the Jewish state.

She beat Rep. Joe Crowley for a number of sound political reasons, including the demographics of a district with an overwhelmingly minority population and the way the Democratic base—the people who turn out to vote in primaries—is shifting hard left. Ocasio-Cortez ran on an essentially Socialist platform of Medicare for all and a federal jobs guarantee, as well as for the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which means open borders.

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