“A bartender from the Bronx has been able to create a litmus test around climate and economic policy for every 2020 Democrat,” said Waleed Shahid, who was one of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s early campaign advisers and is now the communications director for Justice Democrats, a liberal activist group. “If that’s not seen as a metric of success, then I don’t know what is.”
Far beyond policy, she has emerged as a potent symbol for a diversifying Democratic Party: a young woman of color who is giving as good as she gets in a political system that has rarely rewarded people who look like her. Her mastery of social media has allowed her to connect with audiences who might otherwise be alienated from Washington.
Still, her unexpectedly outsize profile could bring perils. Her threats to knock out more moderate Democrats in future primaries in particular seem to have rankled. Some whisper her tweet-first, ask-questions-later mentality reminds them of President Trump.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member