Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defends her agenda, says she's not promising 'free stuff'
Progressive 'squad' member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fires back at critics of her far-left agenda; reaction from New York Post columnist Miranda Devine.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., pulled in what is being described as an unprecedented fundraising haul in the third quarter of this year, outraising top Democrats in the House of Representatives as party leaders move forward with a controversial impeachment inquiry.
With $1.42 million in the bank, the progressive star raised more for her re-election campaign than any other House Democrat, with the vast majority ($1.1 million) of individual donations totaling less than $200.
Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., fell behind the freshman congresswoman, the New York Post reported Tuesday.
PROGRESSIVE FRESHMEN RAISE MILLIONS AMID FEUDS WITH PARTY, TRUMP
Pelosi and Schiff reportedly followed Ocasio-Cortez with $1.145 million and $1.26 million respectively. Pelosi receives support from The Nancy Pelosi Victory Fund, which helps elect House Democrats. That group raised more than $11 million since January and $2.7 million in the third quarter.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who's leading the second round of impeachment inquiry hearings, raised only $192,284 for the quarter. His fundraising since January was $860,037, roughly $500,000 less than Ocasio-Cortez pulled in for just the third quarter.
The figures were reported amid an internal debate in which progressives like Ocasio-Cortez demanded party leadership adopt policies like "Medicare-for-all." And her successful quarter was another indication that her power as a progressive icon could become a greater threat to moderate leadership's control over the party.
BERNIE SANDERS: AOC WILL HAVE KEY ROLE IN MY WHITE HOUSE IF I'M ELECTED
Pelosi previously downplayed Ocasio-Cortez's influence, sparking a media firestorm in D.C. "These people have their public whatever and their Twitter world," Pelosi said in July, responding to Ocasio-Cortez and other freshman Democrats' decision to oppose a border funding package.
Ocasio-Cortez has spent time in recent weeks campaigning for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and adamantly pushing for progressive policies from which Pelosi and others have distanced themselves.
TUCKER ON WHY REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ IS SO FAMOUS
At the beginning of November, Pelosi specifically said she hoped the 2020 field would focus on a health care plan other than "Medicare-for-All."
Since her summer spat with the Speaker, Ocasio-Cortez has continued garnering loads of public attention -- both for her progressive activism and her apocalyptic climate predictions. In October, news surfaced that a design studio was releasing an AOC action figure. In that same month, she also appeared at an international conference where mayors from the U.S. and other nations pushed for a global version of her Green New Deal.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The Q3 numbers will likely feed Republicans' narrative that the Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives have hijacked the Democratic Party. Republican National Committee spokesman Steve Guest said in a statement: "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s infamy and extreme agenda might be good for her own campaign coffers but they will be a boat anchor on the rest of Democrat Party in 2020.”
More from Politics
