Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has quietly backed off endorsing Democratic primary challengers


Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) beat the odds in 2018, winning a primary against a Democrat who'd been in office for decades. But since she's entered Congress, Ocasio-Cortez has largely declined to endorse progressives following her lead, Politico reports.
Ocasio-Cortez entered Congress last year ready to shake things up. She quickly joined up with the progressive group Justice Democrats and called on its supporters to run against incumbents, and reportedly set her primarying sights on House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) even before she took office.
But since starting to work with those longstanding Democrats, Ocasio-Cortez has publicly supported ousting just two of them in this year's elections. In terms of primary challengers, she only endorsed Marie Newman against Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) and Jessica Cisneros in her challenge of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas); both Lipinski and Cueller are among the most conservative House Democrats. Justice Democrats have meanwhile endorsed four other progressive challengers whom Ocasio-Cortez has so far declined to back, including one Ocasio-Cortez campaigned for in 2018. It all seems to put Ocasio-Cortez at odds with Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) philosophy of completely restructuring the Democratic party.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
To be clear, Ocasio-Cortez hasn't backed away from backing progressives in general. She endorsed seven progressive women challenging Republican congressmembers and senators just last month, even bucking the Democratic party's preferred candidate to challenge Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). Read more at Politico.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Alcatraz: America's most infamous prison
The Explainer Donald Trump wants to re-open notorious 'escape-proof' jail for 'most ruthless and violent prisoners' in the US
-
The best historical fiction of 2025
The Week Recommends Let these compelling tales whisk you away to another century
-
Taz Sarhane's mallard with pine nut sauce and boulangère potatoes
The Week Recommends Bold duck, crispy potatoes and silky pine-nut sauce come together in this earthy yet refined dish
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
-
Trump blames Biden for tariffs-linked contraction
speed read The US economy shrank 0.3% in the first three months of 2025, the Commerce Department reported
-
Trump says he could bring back Ábrego García but won't
Speed Read At a rally to mark his 100th day in office, the president doubled down on his unpopular immigration and economic policies
-
Canada's Liberals, Carney win national election
Speed Read The party of Prime Minister Mark Carney beat Conservative Pierre Poilievre thanks in part to Trump's trade war