After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) openly called out Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and her fellow members of the New Breed, you just knew there was going to be a line drawn in the sand.
Well, consider it drawn.
Justice Democrats, a group co-founded by AOC and her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, are now going after House seats of incumbent Democrats that have crossed AOC and her clan.
On the List
Several months ago, AOC stated that she was putting together a list to target people if they dare cross her.
It would appear being called out by Nancy Pelosi was the last straw, and now Justice Democrats are moving forward with their coup to help AOC become more influential both in the party and the House itself.
At the top of the hit list is Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX).
Cuellar is a pro-life Democrat representing a conservative district in Texas.
He is now serving his seventh term, so it will not be an easy undertaking.
Remember, overall, Texas is still a red state, so it is unlikely a socialist Democrat candidate is going to be able to win over a moderately conservative base in that district.
As stated above, Cuellar is pro-life, but he is also a fan of the NRA, two things that carry a lot of weight in the Lone Star State.
AOC has fallen short of issuing an outright endorsement to Cuellar’s primary challenger, but Chakrabarti has been tweeting hit pieces on Cuellar to remind the voters in the district that Cuellar seems to be more of a Trump supporter than a tried and true Democrat.”
Cuellar votes with Trump more than some Republicans. And he votes most with big oil, private prison corps, and the gun lobby.
He says he knows Texas. When I lived in TX, I don't recall people wanting their reps to be bought out by big corps.
Donate: https://t.co/CZLl1pdYlO https://t.co/M1TvTmbQWT
— Saikat Chakrabarti (@saikatc) June 13, 2019
If AOC manages to unseat Cuellar, it will be a true coup.
Also on the hit list is Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.).
Engel is currently the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
He is also a career politician, serving his 16th term in office.
This seat may actually be a bit more doable for AOC, but it is awfully hard to convince voters to change when they have had the same face representing them for decades.
Engel, as you may recall, was the one who called out Rep. Ilhan Omar over her anti-Semitic comments.
Getting Worried
The threats by AOC are being taken very seriously by sitting Democrats.
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) stated, “Members are looking over their shoulders.”
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), stated, “It’s not just older white men, but everybody including younger incumbent women is looking over their left shoulder.”
Even more worrisome to the party is the fact seats they currently hold are now going to have to use their war chests to fight off primary challengers.
Former DCCC chairman and Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) stated, “You end up losing seats based on litmus tests.”
His point being, AOC may end up winning the battle to unseat incumbents but end up losing the overall war and handing these seats to Republicans, which would be a disaster for the Democrat party right now, who only regained the House majority in 2018.
If they lose power in 2020, there will only be one person to point the finger at… AOC.
Source: Fox News
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