Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) is emerging as a key surrogate for President Biden’s reelection campaign for young and progressive people, promoting his climate agenda as a victory for critical voting blocs.
Ocasio-Cortez’s surrogacy comes with parameters. She has said she supports Biden’s re-election bid and will support him during a climactic event, but also pressed him as an open critic of the Biden administration’s handling of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
The support of AOC — as Ocasio-Cortez is widely known — gives Biden star power and left-leaning credibility as he faces an uphill battle to get young voters, as well as left-leaning voters in general, to the polls. .
“AOC has immense and sustained visibility with young, progressive voters of all ages,” said former Rep. Steve Israel (DN.Y.), who chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “She can play a very impactful role in helping bring them together to stop Donald Trump. She can remind them of Biden’s success in funding climate initiatives, reducing student debt, and more.”
While Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Biden to support his climate agenda, students in her hometown of New York were protesting Biden’s pro-Israel policy.
Ocasio-Cortez argued that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and called on the Biden administration to suspend military aid to Israel.
Biden campaign spokesman Seth Schuster told The Hill that they are “proud to have won the support of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and we look forward to working with her and our entire Democratic coalition to defeat Donald Trump in November”.
The congresswoman supported Biden but did not make any television appearances on behalf of Biden’s campaign, which official surrogates and members of the campaign’s National Advisory Council often do.
Its emerging surrogacy comes after just 9% of young voters in a Harvard Kennedy School poll said they believe the US is heading in the right direction and that a NPR/NewsHour/Marist Research found former President Trump 2 points above him among millennial and Gen Z Americans.
“I think it remains to be seen whether progress on issues like climate and student debt outweighs the level of frustration over the administration’s Middle East policy,” said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution.
“At the end of the day, young people are not naive. They’re not going to blindly say, ‘Well, AOC or Bernie is for Biden, so I’m going to be for Biden,” he continued, referring to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Biden, during his climate remarks Monday in Virginia, said he would discuss foreign policy with Ocasio-Cortez that day while they were together.
“Representative. Ocasio-Cortez from New York, you know, I learned a long time ago: listen to that lady. Listen to that lady,” Biden said. “We will also talk more about another part of the world very soon.”
After the comments, he and Ocasio-Cortez walked and talked alone for a few seconds – both extremely serious – before separating so the president could speak to the press. After the event, Biden, Ocasio-Cortez and progressive Senators Sanders and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) traveled back to the White House and went to the Oval Office together.
The White House said it would not release information about private conversations with Biden and any lawmakers when asked what they discussed.
“We appreciate your participation in the climate event, as do Senator Sanders and Senator Markey and others. It is clear that this is a national security and economic crisis that we want to continue to fight hard to resolve,” Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates told reporters on Tuesday.
Biden, Ocasio-Cortez and Markey took a photograph, and Biden shared with the caption: “Young Americans know that the climate crisis is the existential threat of our time. They deserve leaders who believe in them. We will not disappoint them.”
“Democrats may not agree on every issue in the future, but they are united in the belief that Donald Trump’s return to the White House is an existential threat,” Israel said. “There are two words that make all other issues less vital: Trump re-elected.”
Geevarghese described a balancing act that progressives must achieve in this election, arguing that lawmakers are taking advantage of having the president’s attention to get things done, as well as to register discontent over policies.
“That’s the fine line we walk. We will have to agree to disagree on certain issues. And I think that’s where Bernie and Markey and AOC have positioned themselves,” he said. “There is an agreement to disagree on certain policies. But there is also recognition that the president has given progressives a seat at the table.”
“I hope Bernie and AOC got the message across: Gaza is a top priority for progressive voters and we cannot continue to write blank checks to Netanyahu,” he added, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ocasio-Cortez voted Saturday against the portion of the foreign aid package that provided $26 billion in aid to Israel and global humanitarian aid. The package was divided into four bills, each receiving a vote on the House floor. Ocasio-Cortez, however, supported Ukraine’s move, which would provide $61 billion to Kiev.
Ocasio-Cortez last week told reporters that the U.S. needs to condition military assistance and ensure that human rights are protected and that international law is respected as she described her problems with the bill.
In a similar balance, Sanders criticized the Gaza issue, but also supports Biden.
The senator also recently appeared at a White House event to promote efforts to reduce the cost of inhalers with Biden. Meanwhile, Sanders has pushed for a ceasefire in Gaza and demands that the US not send “not one more cent” to Netanyahu.
Frustration over Gaza is clear among young people, who occupy the center of the campus of Columbia University and other schools, including New York University, Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Biden said he condemns “anti-Semitic protests” amid escalating demonstrations.
“There is a role for outside groups, like young people protesting Our Revolution, to be in the streets, because that gives people like Bernie and AOC the position to defend their positions and say to the president, ‘Look, your achievements on climate and student debt are excellent,’” Geevarghese said. “’But you still have a problem with the progressive base because of Gaza.’”
Mychael Schnell contributed to this report.
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