Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez opened up about her future plans in politics during a revealing interview with the New York Times. During the interview, Ocasio-Cortez was asked if she would consider running for the U.S. Senate and she seemed less than enthusiastic about the proposition.
“I genuinely don’t know,” the New Yorker said.
“I don’t even know if I want to be in politics. You know, for real, in the first six months of my term, I didn’t even know if I was going to run for reelection this year.”
The congresswoman has not held back about the challenges she's faced while in the nation's capital. Throughout her tenure, she's talked openly about not being able to afford an apartment in Washington, D.C., receiving death threats regularly and demeaning comments she's received from her colleagues. Most recently, senior members of Congress like Rep. Jim Clyburn openly criticized progressive efforts like defunding the police and providing medicare for all that Ocasio-Cortez has backed.
"[If] we are going to run on Medicare for All, defund the police, socialized medicine, we're not going to win," House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said.
Clyburn's comments were seemingly backed by former Ohio Governor John Kasich. After it became clear that former Vice President Joe Biden would become the President-Elect, Kasich said that slogans like "Defund The Police" and "Medicare For All" hurt the Democratic Party.
"The Democrats have to make it clear to the far-left that they almost cost him this election," Kasich said.
Despite pushback from within her party, the second-term congresswoman has questioned the legitimacy of Kasich and Clyburn's comments.
"Progressive policies do not hurt candidates. Every single candidate that co-sponsored Medicare for All in a swing district kept their seat. We also know that co-sponsoring the Green New Deal was not a sinker," Ocasio-Cortez said.
"If the party believes after 94 percent of Detroit went to Biden, after Black organizers just doubled and tripled turnout down in Georgia, after so many people organized Philadelphia, the signal from the Democratic Party is the John Kasich won us this election?"
As she enters her second terms in Congress, it appears that she is growing weary of politics in Washington, D.C. In fact, she is now hinting that she may walk away from Capitol Hill for good in the near future.
“I’m serious when I tell people the odds of me running for higher office and the odds of me just going off trying to start a homestead somewhere — they’re probably the same."
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