Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said it’s almost time for Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to make way for bolder, more progressive leadership in the Democratic Party.
“I do think that we need new leadership in the Democratic Party,” the democratic socialist of New York told host Jeremy Scahill on the “Intercepted” podcast. “I think one of the things that I have struggled with, I think a lot of people struggle with, is the internal dynamics of the House has made it such that there’s very little option for succession, if you will.”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez quickly stated she would not be prepared for the job herself.
“The House is extraordinarily complex and I’m not ready,” she said. “It can’t be me. I know that I couldn’t do that job.
“Even conservative members of the party who think Nancy Pelosi is far too liberal for them don’t necessarily have any viable alternatives, which is why whenever there’s a challenge, it kind of collapses,” she continued. “And that is I think the result of just many years of power being concentrated in leadership with lack of, you know, real grooming of a next generation of leadership.”
Asked directly by Mr. Scahill whether “Pelosi and Schumer need to go,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez responded, “I mean, I think so.”
“The hesitancy that I have is that I want to make sure that if we’re pointing people in a direction that we have a plan,” she said. “Because if you create that vacuum, there are so many nefarious forces at play to fill that vacuum with something even worse.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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