Statement on AOC’s Endorsement Status
To be clear: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez remains endorsed by NYC-DSA—as she has been every re-election year since 2018—and no national endorsement has been revoked. Claims to the contrary are wrong.
AOC has spent her career taking brave stances against the corporate establishment and the far right, despite the risks. More than nearly any other politician, she has used her material power to advance working-class liberation and the cause of democratic socialism. We haven’t agreed on every vote—but inside DSA, we don’t always agree with each other either. We still stand together. That’s why, when weighing in on re-endorsement, over 80% of NYC-DSA members and over 70% of national members were supportive.
In Congress, AOC is a leading voice for workers’ rights, for the climate, for opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza, for antifascism, for class struggle against billionaire oligarchs, for antiracism and LGBTQ rights, and so many other issues at the center of democratic socialist values. Yesterday, she introduced articles of impeachment against far-right Supreme Court justices who accepted MAGA billionaire bribes to restrict abortion access and give Donald Trump immunity from the law. This year, she became the only Congressperson in New York to endorse DSA’s Not On Our Dime! Act, which would ban state funds from being used for Israeli settlement of Palestinian land. The U.S. needs more politicians like her.
We’re disappointed with the NPC’s decision to sit on NYC-DSA’s national endorsement request for over two months, announcing nothing before the date of AOC’s primary election. We support NYC-DSA’s decision to withdraw that request after the primary, given the dysfunction of the national process—many local endorsements around the country do not get passed up to the national level. But we’re concerned at the increasing mismanagement and sectarianism in DSA’s national leadership, as some leaders attempt to steer the organization into powerlessness and isolation while we face rising fascist tides in America. While misreported by most media, this situation has very publicly exposed that dysfunction. It does not reflect well on us.