Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) has told the Intercept that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer should no longer lead the Democrats in Congress.
“I do think that we need new leadership in the Democratic Party,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Chuck Schumer, 70, was reelected as leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus last month, while Nancy Pelosi, 80, looks set to be reelected as speaker in January.
Ocasio-Cortez also hit out at progressives within the party, noting that “the left isn’t really making a plan” ahead of Pelosi’s potential retirement, and warning that “there are folks more conservative than even” Pelosi and Schumer who are “willing to kind of fill that void” in leadership.
Ocasio-Cortez also took a swing at President-elect Joe Biden for bringing in members of the Obama administration, as well as people from Wall Street companies like Goldman Sachs and McKinsey.
“It’s horrible,” she added.
“We now have a Biden administration that’s bringing back a lot of Obama appointees, but when Obama was making appointments, he was bringing back a lot of Clinton appointees”, she went on.
Some people took to social media to support the Congresswoman's stance.
In addition to calling for new Dem leadership in Congress, AOC also condemned Biden filling his ranks with Wall Street types and ex-Obama/Clinton hangers-on. The barnacles of DC return to the White House for another round of status quo governing. pic.twitter.com/fp5mFDFpif
— jordan (@JordanUhl) December 16, 2020
But others said it was not the right time for the Dems to have this debate.
Does it not occur to @AOC this is a really poor time to stir this up?@kylegriffin1 https://t.co/aGS8hdf08S
— Rodentia (@SixWires) December 16, 2020