Tumult for House Democrats

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: Upheaval among House Democrats.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Last week a flurry of primaries took place across the country. Some results didn’t come as any surprise—like Senate candidate Mitt Romney winning Utah’s Republican primary. Or Maryland Democrats re-nominating Senator Ben Cardin for another term.

EICHER: But some results did come as a surprise: particularly the results in a New York City congressional district that straddles Queens and the Bronx. It was a House primary that sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party. A 28-year-old self-proclaimed Democratic socialist by the name of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unseated a 10-term member of Congress.

At the moment, Congressman Joe Crowley is the 4th most powerful Democrat in the House.

But in January he won’t be.

WORLD Radio’s Sarah Schweinsberg has a report on how the upset is causing a shakeup in the Democratic ranks.

SARAH SCHWEINSBERG, REPORTER: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is no stranger to politics. She worked for Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and later on Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. But no one gave the 28-year-old a chance when she launched a campaign against Congressman Joe Crowley.

OCASIO-CORTEZ: Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office. I wasn’t born to a wealthy or powerful family. I was born in a place were your zip code determines your destiny.

Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, says Ocasio-Cortez ran an aggressive campaign that appealed to the challenges working-class families face.

OLSEN: She basically ran a grassroots campaign with some targeted digital advertising. She focused on progressive issues, like Medicare for all and ICE and a federal job guarantee. She also focused on the fact that the congressman doesn’t live in the district.

Her strategy worked. Even though Crowley outraised her 10 to 1, last Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez won the nomination by double digits.

OCASIO-CORTEZ: This victory tonight belongs to every single person in this room.

Crowley’s loss raised new leadership questions for House Democrats. Many saw the 56-year-old Crowley as the most logical successor to 78-year-old Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi has led House Democrats for more than 15 years. She defeated a leadership challenge in 2016 after Democrats failed to take back the House, and since then has faced murmurs of change within the party. Crowley’s loss strengthened those calls.

Last week CNN asked Ocasio-Cortez if she’d support Pelosi.

OCASIO-CORTEZ: I think it’s far too early to make those kinds of commitments right now. I think we just need to look at what the options are.

At least 20 other centrist and liberal Democratic candidates have either declined to support Pelosi or pledged not to vote for her as party leader.

Pelosi’s fundraising prowess has helped her stay on top. She raised almost $50 million for fellow House Democrats in 2017.

At a press conference last Wednesday, Pelosi defended her ability to lead an increasingly younger and racially diverse party.

PELOSI: Well I’m female, I’m progressive, I’m—and the rest. So what’s your problem? Two out of three ain’t bad.

There’s no clear candidate behind Pelosi. Her No. 2, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, is 79. And her No. 3, Jim Clyburn, is 77. The three have served a combined 84 years in Congress.

Age played a central role in a biting New York Times editorial over the weekend. The editorial board wrote that Democrats’ House leadership has gone from—quote—“stale to downright ossified.”

But no clear alternative has emerged. When MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson asked DNC chairman Tom Perez to name names, he sidestepped.

Who would you like to see step into a leadership role, if not Nancy Pelosi?

PEREZ: Oh, I’ll leave that to other people.

Well why not you?

PEREZ: We have to make sure we are winning in November.

Paul Kengor is a professor of political science at Grove City College. He says Pelosi will have to continue to walk a difficult line between centrists and the energized base to stay in power.

KENGOR: Does the National Democratic Party want to embrace an image of going farther to the left, or more toward the middle, or what? And Pelosi’s been walking that tightrope herself for at least 10 years now.

That tension was evident in the same press conference when Pelosi was asked if the primary win for Ocasio-Cortez means that the party is moving toward embracing Democratic socialism.

PELOSI: No they’re not. It’s ascendent in that district… perhaps. Nobody’s district is representative of somebody else’s district. It’s just a sign of the vitality of our party.

Polls continue to favor Democrats retaking the House this fall. If that happens, Pelosi says she plans to run for speaker again.

Over the weekend, her potential candidacy got a boost from former President Barack Obama. He called Pelosi “one of the greatest speakers we’ve ever had” and said “she will be again” after the midterm elections.

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Sarah Schweinsberg.

(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, smiles while being interviewed in Rockefeller Center, Wednesday, June 27, 2018, in New York. 

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.