Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y., refused to say whether she would support House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for the speakership once again should Democrats hold the House of Representatives in the upcoming election.
The ‘Squad‘ leader—currently aspiring to her second term in Congress while facing three well-funded challengers in New York’s 14th District—instead vowed to support “the most progressive option.”
“If Speaker Pelosi runs again, as she just indicated she will if the Democrats keep the House, will you support her?” CNN’s Jake Tapper asked the freshman Democrat.
“I want to make sure that we win the House,” Ocasio–Cortez responded.
“I do believe that we will,” she continued, “but it’s critically important that we are supporting Democrats in tight swing races, making sure that not only all of them come back but that we grow our majority.”
Ocasio–Cortez added that she will be “committed to making sure that we have the most progressive candidate there” when the question of the speakership does emerge after the election.
“But, if Speaker Pelosi is that most progressive candidate, then I will be supporting her,” she explained.
Pelosi has frequently clashed with Ocasio–Cortez and the other progressive Squad members, whom President Donald Trump now refers to as “AOC plus three.”
Ocasio–Cortez even accused Pelosi of “targeting newly elected women of color,” referencing herself and others, in order to keep “the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance.”
After this public clash, Pelosi and Ocasio–Cortez met to reconcile their differences, which weren’t “many,” according to Pelosi.
Today, Congresswoman @RepAOC and I sat down to discuss working together to meet the needs of our districts and our country, fairness in our economy and diversity in our country. pic.twitter.com/eVp1LS0Gpw
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 26, 2019
Pelosi, who was criticized during her 2019 speaker bid as a holdover of the archaic Democrat establishment that paved the way for Trump, had pledged during her run to remain in the spot on a temporary, transitional basis.
But the San Francisco liberal made it clear this weekend that she intends to run for another term as speaker, calling the GOP’s chances of taking back the House “delusional.”
