• As difficult as this may be to believe, the person who should be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Former House GOP leader.
• Ocasio-Cortez also claimed that President Donald Trump represents “white supremacy.” “And if at this point you haven’t recognized that and you don’t see it, maybe you have a lot of work to do,” she said. “Maybe we have a lot of work to do. But that’s a real big issue that we have.”.
• — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 5, 2019. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a sitting U.S. Congresswoman who recently got into a public spat with a private citizen, Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr. On Twitter, something Democrats considered unseemly of Donald Trump after becoming president.

Want more of the latest 2020 election videos? Watch here: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) offers short, but powerful remarks while. Ocasio-Cortez accuses NBC News of making her 'life a living hell' with tweet about DNC remarks Lawmaker says she received 'a ton of abuse' after NBC tweet that she 'did not endorse Joe Biden'.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested in a new interview that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer should no longer lead Democrats in Congress, and complained that the party had failed at grooming a “next generation” of younger lawmakers to succeed them.

“I do think that we need new leadership in the Democratic Party,” Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told The Intercept in an interview published Wednesday. Spokespeople for Pelosi and Schumer did not immediately return an email seeking comment on Ocasio-Cortez’s interview.

The remarks from the freshman congresswoman and superstar of the party’s left wing represented her most direct criticism yet of Pelosi and Schumer, and come as Democrats are locked in a fierce debate over their broader message following a disappointing showing in 2020 congressional races across the country.

Schumer, who is 70 years old, was reelected as leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus last month, and Pelosi is positioned to be reelected as speaker in January — all but ensuring the House Democratic Caucus will continue to be governed by the same octogenarian triumvirate that has occupied the party’s top three leadership roles for the past 14 years: the 80-year-old Pelosi, 81-year-old House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and 80-year-old House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.).

Pelosi has indicated her next term as speaker will be her last, but Ocasio-Cortez lamented in the interview that even the party’s more moderate members have struggled to produce “viable alternatives” to challenge her leadership. “I think one of the things that I have struggled with — I think that a lot of people struggle with — is [that] the internal dynamics of the House has made it such that there’s very little option for succession, if you will,” she said.

Video: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulates Biden (ABC News)

Former President Barack Obama called on the Democratic National Committee to give a bigger platform to progressives as they continue to butt heads with the party's centrist members.

'One thing I will say about the Democratic Party is that promoting young people is really important. We stick so long with the same old folks and don't make room for new voices,' Obama said in an interview with Peter Hamby on Snapchat's Good Luck America.

Obama also acknowledge the party's controversial decision to allot Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez only 60 seconds at this summer's national convention, while handing out significantly more television time to former Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich and businessman and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

'The Democratic National Convention, I thought, was really successful considering the pandemic but, you know, the fact that an AOC only got, what? Three minutes or five minutes? When she speaks to a broad section of young people who are interested in what she has to say, even if they don't agree with everything she says,' Obama said.

'You give her a platform, just like there may be some other young Democrats who come from more conservative areas who have a different point of view. But new blood is always good,' he continued.

His comments come as conflict between the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and more centrists Democrats have widened following the November 3 election.

Last month, establishment Democrats were heard on a leaked caucus call blaming more progressive lawmakers, particularly Ocasio-Cortez and the so-called Squad, for costing Democrats seats with messaging like defund the police.

Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat, drew criticisms from the young congresswoman and others after tweeting, 'Defund the police? Defund my butt.'

In an interview with The New York Times, Manchin suggested Ocasio-Cortez is 'more active on Twitter than anything else,' including legislating in Congress.

'We're not going to defund the police, we're not for the new green deal. That's not going to happen. We're not for Medicare for All—we can't even pay for Medicare for some,' the senator added.

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However, many were quick to note that Manchin missed more votes than Ocasio-Cortez in 2019 and that she co-sponsored 130 more bills than he did in the same legislative period.

Ocasio-Cortez fired back at Manchin on Tuesday, tweeting, 'I find it amusing when politicians try to diminish the seriousness of our policy work, movement organizing & grassroots fundraising to 'she just tweets,' as though 'serious' politics is only done by begging corporate CEOs for money through wax-sealed envelopes delivered by raven.'

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Despite Obama's push for newer voices within the party, the former president advised younger Democrats to steer clear of such 'snappy slogans' which can cost them 'a big audience the minute you say it.'

'If you instead say, 'Let's reform the police department so that everybody's being treated fairly, you know, divert young people from getting into crime, and if there was a homeless guy, can maybe we send a mental health worker there instead of an armed unit that could end up resulting in a tragedy?' Suddenly, a whole bunch of folks who might not otherwise listen to you are listening to you,' Obama said.

'The key is deciding: Do you actually want to get something done? Or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with?' he added.

Newsweek reached out to the offices of Manchin and Ocasio-Cortez for comment but did not hear back from either in time for publication.

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