A liberal group that backs “The Squad” of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other liberal freshman lawmakers has been wreaking havoc among the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives.
Justice Democrats, a political action committee founded by Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, has been backing several liberal candidates to run in primary races against Democratic incumbents, a fact that has alarmed the Congressional Black Caucus, among others.
During a panel discussion at the Netroots Nation convention in Philadelphia, Rep. Ayanna Pressley took a shot at the CBC. “I don’t want to bring a chair to an old table. This is the time to shake the table. This is the time to redefine that table. Because if you’re going to come to this table, all of you who have aspirations of running for office,” the Massachusetts Democrat said on Saturday. “If you’re not prepared to come to that table and represent that voice, don’t come, because we don’t need any more brown faces that don’t want to be a brown voice.”
“We don’t need black faces that don’t want to be a black voice,” she said. “We don’t need Muslims that don’t want to be a Muslim voice. We don’t need queers that don’t want to be a queer voice. If you’re worried about being marginalized and stereotyped, please don’t even show up because we need you to represent that voice.”
Ocasio-Cortez and other congressional members of “The Squad” were recently chastised by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who told them to stop tweeting disparaging remarks at other members of Congress. Without specifically naming anyone she addressed “an offensive tweet that came out of one office.” That ostensibly was a reference to Chakrabarti’s tweet about some congressional Democrats that said, “They certainly seem hell bent to do to black and brown peopled today what the old Southern Democrats did in the 40s.”
Pelosi said to the group of ultra-liberal lawmakers, “Do not tweet about our members and expect us to think that that is just Okay.”
Ocasio-Cortez interpreted Pelosi’s comments as being racially motivated. “But the persistent singling out … it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful … the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color,” the New York congresswoman said. She later backtracked and said that Pelosi was “absolutely not” a racist.
The Congressional Black Caucus has raised concerns that the Justice Democrats are targeting veteran black members of Congress to primary ahead of the 2020 elections, as they have confirmed they are backing primary challenger to 10-term veteran and CBC member Rep. William Lacy Clay of Missouri and have also raised the possibility of challenging New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who serves as the Democratic Caucus chairman. Justice Democrats successfully backed Ocasio-Cortez in her 2018 primary challenge to Joe Crowley, who had been in Congress for 20 years and was the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.
Pressley’s comments Saturday escalated tension between House Democrats and their most liberal members. On Friday night, Justice Democrats and the House Democratic Caucus exchanged fire on Twitter when the House Democrats account shared a tweet from Chakrabarti that said of Democratic Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids, who is Native American, “I don’t think people have to be personally racist to enable a racist system. And the same could even be said of the Southern Democrats. I don’t believe Sharice is a racist person, but her votes are showing her to enable a racist system.”
The House Democrats slammed Chakrabarti for his comments, tweeting “Who is this guy and why is he explicitly singling out a Native American woman of color? Her name is Congresswoman Davids, not Sharice. She is a phenomenal new member who flipped a red seat blue. Keep Her Name Out Of Your Mouth.”
Responding to an assertion that her comments were meant to criticize members of the Democratic Congress and CBC, Pressley tweeted a short time after the panel, “This is completely false. I was speaking to the collective impact of lifting up one’s lived experience, *whatever* that is, whatever your life walk. I was encouraging *everyone* to lean-in on & not run away fr lifting their unique lived experiences when in the corridors of power.”
Pressley touted her relationship to the CBC and particularly with Rep. Barbara Lee of California, who was in attendance during the discussion. “I was empowering those in attendance that their voices matter & belong everywhere,” she said.
I respect, govern, fellowship & lead with @TheBlackCaucus colleagues daily & @RepBarbaraLee was in the audience! In my riff, I cited #women #queer #disabled #black #brown et al I was empowering those in attendance that their voices matter & belong everywhere.
— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) July 13, 2019
Virginia Rep. Donald McEachin said of the Justice Democrats’ efforts to challenge veteran Democrats, “I think challenging other Democrats in the primary when we’re trying to hold on to the majority is wrong unless the person is so far out of bounds, so far away from Democratic orthodoxy, but that’s not what’s going on here. It’s disturbing to see challenges to that many CBC members.”
