She is out for blood.
Progressives in the Democratic Party continue to attack the few moderates that remain, with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) leading the charge against Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ.).
On Wednesday (January 26), Ocasio-Cortez commented during an interview on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour” that she does not believe Sinema has “given a compelling case as to why she should be re-nominated as the Democratic nominee for United States Senate in Arizona.”
Ocasio-Cortez continued her attack on Sinema saying the Arizona Democrat has “proven herself an obstacle to the right to vote in the United States,” adding that Sinema was “not an ally on civil rights.” She also mentioned that Sinema was “contributing to the threat that we have in stabilizing our democracy” and continued by saying that Sinema was a “profound ally” to corporate interests and wasn’t “doing what voters in Arizona sent her to do.”
Ocasio-Cortez also went on to say that supporting primary challengers –– like progressive Congressman Rub Gallego (D-AZ.) –– would be “the easiest decision” she could make, when asked by host Mehdi Hasan if she would support primary challenges to Sinema and Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). AOC also emphasized that there was “no comparison.”
Since she voiced her support for the 60-vote threshold on the filibuster, Sinema has been drawing the ire of progressives like AOC and independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who caucuses Democratic.
Her decision to keep the filibuster also got her censured by her state party.
But AOC’s gripe with Sinema is deeper than the latter being “an obstacle to the right to vote in the United States,” as Sinema and Manchin have delayed President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act by voting with Republicans.
Recently, Sinema has been taking the brunt of progressives’ attacks as it’s more likely she could lose in the primaries, whereas Manchin has not lost any support from his state party following his decision.
Sanders and others have said they would support primary opponents against both of them in 2024 when their current terms expire, the New York Post reported.
