Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., reportedly joked that he would buy Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y., a ticket to Georgia so she can help his opponent campaign.
“She’s going go be down here. I’m going to buy her a ticket! I want her to come down to Georgia. We’ll have that debate,” Perdue said at a campaign stop on Monday, according to NBC News.
David Perdue says he wants to buy @AOC a ticket to come down here and campaign for the Dems.
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) November 23, 2020
Perdue’s comment reflects the general understanding that Ocasio–Cortez’s radical policies hurt Democrats down-ballot during the 2020 election. Republicans gained multiple House seats and fended off several competitive Senate challenges.
Even House Democrats are worried that Ocasio–Cortez’s platform, which includes policies such as the Green New Deal, Medicare-for-All, and ‘Defund the police,’ will cost them additional seats in 2022.
“We need to not ever use the word ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again. . . . We lost good members because of that,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., said during a Democratic Caucus call after the election. “If we are classifying Tuesday as a success . . . we will get f—ing torn apart in 2022.”
Ocasio–Cortez and other House progressives, however, have pushed back on this criticism from their moderate colleagues. Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., defended the election as a “victory” for the Democratic Party.
“We held the House. Joe Biden is on a clear path to be the next president of the United States,” Pelosi said. “We did not win every battle, but we did win the war.”
Perdue is one of two Georgia incumbents who will determine whether the GOP keeps its Senate majority.
He faces Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff in January during the state’s run-off election, and Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler faces Democrat Raphael Warnock.
