Biden campaign communications director Kate Bedingfield assured progressives that Joe Biden, the presumptive president-elect, will not disappoint them.
During a Sunday interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd asked Bedingfield about New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expressing doubt that Biden would govern in a progressive fashion. The congresswoman told the New York Times that the history of the Democratic Party shows they embrace progressive communities during an election but are “promptly abandoned right after an election.”
“Do you believe that she’s going to be disappointed or not when she sees the agenda of the Biden administration in the first six months?” Todd asked.
“No. I think that Vice President Biden campaigned on an incredibly progressive and aggressive agenda. Take a look, for example, at his climate plan, it’s the boldest, biggest climate plan that’s ever been put forward by a nominee running for president and now a president-elect. He’s going to make good on those commitments. He spent time during this campaign bringing people together around this climate plan,” Bedingfield said, adding, “It’s a big, aggressive plan. It’s the perfect example of the kind of big effort that he is going to make to meet this moment and meet these crises we’re in.”
Earlier, Todd asked if the “mixed” election results for Democrats, with a now weakened Democratic House majority and an uncertain path to Senate majority, meant the public wants Biden to work with “everybody” rather than give one party all the power. “Well, Joe Biden believes his job is to work with everybody. So, if that is the message from the American people, that’s how Joe Biden views governing,” Bedingfield said.
Ocasio-Cortez, who endorsed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary, has made clear her public disagreements with Biden. In an interview with CNN last month, Ocasio-Cortez said it would be a “privilege to lobby” Biden on fracking upon winning the election, but “understands that he is in disagreement on that issue.”
The congresswoman said she would cast a “tactical vote” for Biden in the election. “It’s okay to say Joe Biden is not perfect, and it’s okay to say that and to support him. Not because you agree with him on everything, not even because you think his policies are good,” Ocasio-Cortez said, instead arguing “the stakes of this election” in ousting Trump put left-wing activists in a better negotiating position for their policies.
