Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday that the defeat of Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., in Tuesday’s primary election to a progressive challenger is a sign that the Democratic Party has gone “hard left,” and said will be a “real drag” on the party’s ability to win back the White House in 2020.
“It was a stunning development,” McConnell said of Crowley’s loss to 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
[Opinion: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s victory over Joe Crowley is a very big deal]
“The energy in the Democratic Party is self-avowed socialists, open borders. We even had a credible potential candidate for president in 2020 suggest we get rid of ICE, the border enforcement agency,” McConnell said, likely referring to Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who said recently it is time to be “starting from scratch” with the enforcement agency. “I think the Democrats are going hard left.”
“If you look at the presidential primary, voters in 2020, it seems to me that like 35 or 40 percent were self-identified socialists,” McConnell said. “So I think it’s a general election problem for them in a number of places and a real drag on the party in terms of appealing to American voters, who I don’t think want us to turn into a European socialist country.”
McConnell’s comments came at a breakfast hosted by Politico Playbook.
Crowley’s loss Tuesday night was a stunner as Ocasio-Cortez had spent only a fraction of the $1.1 million Crowley spent. Crowley, the Queens party boss, was also viewed as a possible successor to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
The ICE issue has been a question in recent weeks for Democrats peeking ahead to 2020. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., declined to say recently whether he would abolish the agency if he were elected in just over two years.
