Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Monday she will not divulge if she will challenge Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in 2022 for his Senate seat.
“I know it drives everybody nuts, but the way that I really feel about this and the way that I really approach my politics and my political career is that I do not look at things and I do not set my course positionally,” Ocasio-Cortez told CNN.
“And I know there’s a lot of people who do not believe that. But I really – I can’t operate the way that I operate and do the things that I do in politics while trying to be aspiring to other things or calculating to other things,” she added. “I’m not commenting on that.”
When asked in January, Ocasio-Cortez gave a similar answer, saying, “[I am] very much in a place where I’m trying to decide what is the most effective thing I can do to help our Congress, our [political] process, and our country actually address the issues of climate change, health care, wage inequality, etc.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who wields political power due to grassroots fundraising, disseminating money to congressional candidates whom she supports, has presumably put pressure on Schumer to bend further left.
For example, when the Biden administration announced they would attempt to extend the eviction moratorium, Schumer took the opportunity outside the capitol building to celebrate with far-left Rep. Cory Bush (D-MO), who pressured the administration to do so.
On the same subject of far-left housing measures, the New York Times reported in February Schumer was engaging Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ocasio-Cortez, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
The “meeting was one in a series of steps Mr. Schumer has taken to win over leaders of the left in New York and Washington ahead of his campaign for re-election in 2022,” the Times reported. “Armed with a sweeping set of policy promises, he is courting the activists, organizers and next-generation elected officials in New York who would likely make up the backbone of an effort to dethrone him, should one ever arise.”
Ocasio-Cortez presumably understands Schumer’s maneuvers, telling Punchbowl News, “He and I have an open relationship, we speak to each other regularly.”