2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders suggested that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was being “a little bit” too tough on freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the other prominent, progressive freshmen congresswomen.
Chuck Todd asked Sanders about the recent in-party feeding between the House speaker and some of the freshmen progressive members during Meet the Press on Sunday morning.
The Vermont senator first tackled the question by explaining that he was polling well among voters under 50 years old and that the party should listen to younger members in order to better attract young voters.
“What Alexandria and other young women and women of color are saying, we have got to reach out to young people. We have got to heal the pain of the working class of this country. And that is causing some political disruption within the leadership of the Democratic Party,” Sanders answered. “So I support, you know, Alexandria’s and the other women’s desire to bring more people, especially young people, working class people, into the Democratic Party. That is the future of the Democratic Party.”
“Do you think the speaker’s being too tough on them?” Todd followed up.
Sanders responded, “I think a little bit. You cannot ignore the young people of this country who are passionate about economic and racial and social and environmental justice. You got to bring them in, not alienate them.”
The ongoing feud between the progressive congresswomen and Pelosi reached new heights last week as the speaker minimized their influence in the party and Ocasio-Cortez responded by publicly questioning if their race played a role in the speaker’s frequent condemnation.
