AOC Says Virginia Results ‘Show the Limits’ of Running a Moderate Campaign

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) dropped some political analysis into her Instagram stories on Wednesday night, making the case that Terry McAuliffe lost his bid for governor of Virginia Tuesday because he did not embrace progressives.

At a time when many in the media, particularly on the left, are questioning whether or not the Democrats have turned too far to the left and that is the reason Glenn Youngkin was able to pull off such a decisive win, Ocasio-Cortez is suggesting exactly the opposite. Youngkin defeated former Governor McAullife 51% to 48.5% after trailing in the polls for most of the campaign.

She said on Instagram:

I think that the results show the limits of trying to run a fully 100 percent super moderated campaign that does not excite, speak to, or energize a progressive base, and frankly we weren’t even really invited to contribute on that race.

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville appeared on PBS NewsHour and argued that “stupid wokeness” is to blame for Democrats losing the governorship, the lieutenant governor’s race, the attorney general and most likely the House of Delegates in Virginia. Carville joked “these people need to go to a woke detox center.”

Carville echoed election night sentiments from CNN’s Van Jones and Anderson Cooper. Van Jones argued that Democrats live in an “echo chamber” and don’t realize they come across as “annoying and offensive and seem out of touch.”

While Cooper asked the simple question if McAuliffe’s loss is “a message” that Democrats are “too far left.”

While the progressive base and the rest of the Democratic Party are certain to continue to debate why McAuliffe lost and how to course-correct for 2022, Ocasio-Cortez said one thing they can all undoubtedly agree on: “Virginia was huge a bummer.”