Centrist Democrats, or at least those attempting to appear that way, reportedly don’t want Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) remotely near their campaign events as we head into the final five weeks before Election Day.
“I don’t intend to be having a lot of folks from out of state campaigning with me over these next 40 days,” progressive House candidate Sam Forstag told Axios when asked if Ocasio-Cortez would be welcomed back on the campaign trail after stumping for him before the primaries.
And just to make the distancing complete, the Forstag campaign scrubbed her endorsement from his campaign’s website.
“The polling is atrocious for her,” a senior Democratic strategist working in a key swing district told the publication. “She’s a lightning rod.”
The 36 year old may be a darling of legacy media, but nationally her polling truly is atrocious. A recent CNN/SSRS poll has her sitting at 26% favorability nationally, with just 28% of those aged 18-34 supporting her. Among independents, the number drops to 22% seeing her favorably.
But winning the Democratic nomination may not need moderate or independent voters. The far-left socialist wing of the party has proven to have the money, momentum, and organization right now, while the establishment Democratic National Committee is millions underwater.
We’ve seen this movie before: run hard to the left during the primaries, then pivot back to the middle during the general. Ocasio-Cortez will have no problem with the former, but the latter of pivoting to the middle will be quite a challenge for someone who’s never remotely been there before.
And this brings us to why Ocasio-Cortez could end up being the worst general election candidate offered up from the Democrats … perhaps ever. Because until the party gains back power, blows up the filibuster, and abolishes the Electoral College, as many are promising to do, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, elections will come down to those same seven swing states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina.
One by one, Ocasio-Cortez’s positions on the most key issues in those seven states will be quickly exposed in a general election. In Pennsylvania, for example, how will voters respond to this future GOP campaign ad featuring Ocasio-Cortez screaming during a rally outside the United Nations in 2023 about the need to end all fossil fuels?
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is a floated 2028 presidential candidate. (Graphic by Christine Valora/Washington Examiner; photos by AP)
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is a floated 2028 presidential candidate. (Graphic by Christine Valora/Washington Examiner; photos by AP)
“We are all here for one reason: to end fossil fuels around the planet! And the way we create urgency is to have people around the world in the streets!” she shouted.
The fossil fuel industry is responsible for more than 400,000 jobs in Pennsylvania. And for Ocasio-Cortez, who portrays herself as a climate change champion despite flying on private jets to her “Fight the Oligarchy” rallies with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), winning the Keystone State will be impossible.
How about Michigan, the auto industry capital of the country? Can a candidate who has gone all in on electric vehicles going to win there? Overall, gas engine vehicles have about 2,000 drivetrain parts to build. Electric vehicles have just 17. As a result, an EV takes about 40% less labor to build than a gas vehicle.
Overall, the auto industry is responsible for more than 700,000 jobs in Michigan alone when including supply chains and sales. Ocasio-Cortez will likely attempt to moderate her views in a general election. But like Harris, it’s a good bet that no one sane and sober is going to buy that act.
In Wisconsin, Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal” goal of setting net emissions to zero apparently involves cows.
“We set a goal to get to net zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast,” Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) wrote when a draft of the Green New Deal was introduced.
After some blowback, the draft was altered to read “emissions from cows” before being deleted altogether.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be eating a hamburger for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Like, let’s keep it real. We have to take a look at everything,” she once told Showtime’s Desus & Mero.
Wisconsin agriculture makes up about 10% of the state population, or more than 350,000 jobs. And yes, it can be guaranteed that the attack ads will be coming fast and furious, complete with farting cows and footage of her making that statement around hamburgers.
Let’s go to the southwest, where Arizona provided President Donald Trump with his biggest turnaround. In 2020, he narrowly lost a state that hadn’t gone blue in a presidential election since 1996. In 2024, Trump won Arizona by more than 5 points, his largest margin of any of the seven swing states.
At a rally on Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez made abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement her primary focus, and she blatantly lied about its role.
“ICE is coming after every man, woman, and child who is engaging in productive activity in the street regardless of your status,” she claimed on Sunday.
Of course, this isn’t even remotely true. But fear is the greatest motivator, and Ocasio-Cortez saying that ICE is just randomly arresting “every man, woman, and child who is engaging in productive activity” is the whopper to end all whoppers.
Ultimately, Ocasio-Cortez believes in providing every man, woman, and child in this country with full citizenship and benefits. And in a state like Arizona, which was overrun by illegal immigrants during the Biden-Harris administration, this kind of reckless rhetoric will ensure a defeat even worse than the one Harris suffered two years ago.
By winning those four states alone, and given the fact that former toss-ups like Florida and Ohio are now solidly red, the Republican nominee will be the next president. Nevada, Georgia, and North Carolina, three states Trump also captured, would also likely find plenty of reasons not to vote for a democratic socialist, which is an oxymoron in itself.
Of course, outside factors could help a presidential candidate like Ocasio-Cortez in 2028, primarily the economy. If gas prices are still above $4, or inflation still is stubbornly not below 3%, or if grocery and food prices remain elevated, this gives a socialist an opening to blame the system and offer a better way through massively expanded government and radical change.
“There’s an argument that some make that this is a very unique political window and, oftentimes in politics, you do only get one shot,” the former bartender told the New York Times recently when asked about her running for president. “And you don’t — and just in life in general — life doesn’t wait for you to be ready for things. Sometimes life just makes things ready for you.”
She sees an opportunity, perhaps driven by the success of her friend, Zohran Mamdani, the socialist mayor of New York City who has promised everything from free busing to free childcare and has yet to deliver on any of it.
CHINA IS NOT OUR PEER
New York ain’t the Rust Belt, however, nor is it the Sun Belt.
President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Keep dreaming.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
