AOC loses out on prestigious committee role after secret ballot of her fellow House Democrats after calling for 'new leadership' and feuding with Joe Manchin
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lost a race for a seat on the prestigious House Energy and Commerce Committee, as colleagues through a secret ballot voted overwhelmingly for fellow New York Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice.
Politico reported Thursday that the two New York Democrats were forced to fight over a final seat on the committee, which oversees big policy areas like climate change and healthcare.
During a video call, moderate Democrats took on AOC prior to the vote, as she's called for 'new leadership' in her party and gotten in a public feud with fellow Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lost a race for a seat on the prestigious House Energy and Commerce Committee, when Democrats voted overwhelmingly for Rep. Kathleen Rice in a secret ballot
Rep. Kathleen Rice , a New York Democrat, bested AOC to get a seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In recent weeks, Ocasio-Cortez has called for fresh party leadership and feuded with Sen. Joe Manchin
During a private meeting of the Steering and Policy Committee - where members secretly voted 46 to 13 in favor of Rice - Democrats called out Ocasio-Cortez for supporting progressive primary challengers over House incumbents, Politico reported.
'I'm taking into account who works against other members in primaries and who doesn't,' said Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat who faced the AOC-backed primary opponent, Jessica Cisneros, according to the newsite.
AOC also got called out for refusing to pay party campaign dues.
Ocasio-Cortez withheld money to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee over its policy to 'blacklist' political firms and vendors who support Democratic primary challengers.
Most members of the New York delegation signed statements of support for both Ocasio-Cortez and Rice, with the exception of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, who only signed AOC's document, Politico reported.
While a superstar on the left, Ocasio-Cortez has long ruffled the feathers of more moderate Democrats.
She was in a weeks-long back-and-forth with Manchin of West Virginia, taking umbrage when he said, 'She’s more active on Twitter than anything else.'
'I find it amusing when politicians try to diminish the seriousness of our policy work, movement organizing and grassroots fundraising to "she just tweets," as though "serious" politics is only done by begging corporate CEOs for money through wax-sealed envelopes delivered by raven,' Ocasio-Cortez shot back.
AOC sent out a tweet showing her staring daggers into the back of moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin's head, during their weeks-long feud, which showed the left-moderate divide of the current Democratic Party
More recently she suggested there should be new leadership at the top of the caucus, during an appearance on The Intercept's 'Intercepted' podcast.
First, she talked about being disillusioned by the party before running for a Congressional seat.
'You know, for me personally it was when I was waitressing, and I would hear Democrats talk about why the Affordable Care Act was so amazing all the time and how this is the greatest thing ever, and the economy was doing wonderfully,' she recalled. 'And frankly, it is the same trick that Trump pulls, which is, you know, people touting the Dow as a measure of economic success, when we're all getting killed out here.'
'And so, you know, do we need new leadership of the Democratic Party? Absolutely,' she said. 'But how do we ensure that when we shift, we don't even move further to the right?'