Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Sets Up Endorsement Battle Between Sanders and Warren
The battle for New York Congresswoman and superstar progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement is shaping up to be a dogfight between Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), if AOC’s most recent comments on the subject are any indication.
On Sunday morning’s edition of ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos, fill-in host and Chief White House Correspondent Jon Karl asked AOC about her presidential endorsement, and got a strong hint in reply.
“Are you going to endorse?” Karl asked.
“Not now,” Ocasio-Cortez said, adding, “It’s possible that I’ll endorse later on perhaps, you know, I do not see myself endorsing any time soon. We haven’t even had our first debates yet. I’m very interested in seeing how things play out. So we’ll see.”
Karl asked if Sanders had sought her endorsement, and Ocasio-Cortez indicated that he has not.
“Would he have an edge?” Karl asked, adding, “I mean, you volunteered for his campaign, he supported your campaign.”
“I think what we really need right now is a presidential candidate that is going to fight for the well being of working-class Americans and all Americans,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And I think that he does that excellently. I think his policies do that excellently.”
“I believe Senator Warren’s policies do that excellently,” she added. “And I think that that’s really what we need to be looking for in terms of the agenda.”
Ocasio-Cortez then described the progressive principles she’s looking for in a candidate, but did not name any of the 2,020 other 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
While former Vice President Joe Biden remains the frontrunner, Warren has begun to mount a serious challenge to Sanders’ runner-up status. Earlier this week, Warren passed Sanders for second place in a national poll, and holds a slim one-point lead over Sanders in a brand-new CBS News poll of battleground states.
However, Sanders still fares significantly better than Warren in head-to-head polling against President Donald Trump.
This isn’t the first time that AOC has strongly hinted at a Warren/Sanders endorsement fight. She made similar, if more brief, comments to a CNN reporter in May. But this was Ocasio-Cortez’s first Sunday show appearance since taking office, and a pretty clear signal to the rest of the field that her endorsement is likely to go only to one of these two candidates. Time will tell which one.
Watch the clip above, via ABC.
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