Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Puts the DCCC on Notice

Denouncing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s new policy of cutting off firms that work with primary challengers as “divisive” and “harmful,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday advised small-dollar donors to stop giving money to the DCCC and instead donate to progressive candidates directly.

“The DCCC’s new rule to blacklist + boycott anyone who does business with primary challengers is extremely divisive and harmful to the party,” tweeted the congresswoman from New York. “My recommendation, if you’re a small-dollar donor: pause your donations to DCCC and give directly to swing candidates instead.”

The @DCCC’s new rule to blacklist+boycott anyone who does business w/ primary challengers is extremely divisive & harmful to the party.

My recommendation, if you’re a small-dollar donor: pause your donations to DCCC & give directly to swing candidates instead.

Some great ones:

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 30, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez went on to list three swing-seat House Democrats up for reelection in 2020: Reps. Katie Porter (Calif.), Mike Levin (Calif.), and Lauren Underwood (Ill.).

The New York congresswoman’s call for small-dollar donors to “pause” donations to the DCCC comes amid a growing progressive revolt against the campaign arm’s new policy, which states that the organization “will not conduct business with, nor recommend to any of its targeted campaigns, any consultant that works with an opponent of a sitting member of the House Democratic Caucus.”

Progressives vowed to fight back against the rule, arguing it will disproportionately harm left-wing organizations looking to transform the party by ousting conservative Democrats.

As Common Dreams reported last week, leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus met with DCCC chair Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) to slam the policy and call for a change.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) called the DCCC’s rule “a slap in the face of Democratic voters across the nation.”

In a series of tweets on Saturday, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), who reached the House after a primary victory, warned that the DCCC’s rule risks “undermining an entire universe of potential candidates and vendors—especially women and people of color—whose ideas, energy, and innovation need a place in our party.”

If the DCCC enacts this policy to blacklist vendors who work with challengers, we risk undermining an entire universe of potential candidates and vendors – especially women and people of color – whose ideas, energy, and innovation need a place in our party (6/x)

— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) March 30, 2019

“I believe fiercely in the potential of our party, but we cannot credibly lay claim to prioritizing diversity and inclusion when institutions like the DCCC implement policies that threaten to silence new voices and historically marginalized communities,” Pressley added. “The lesson of 2018 is that our party is made stronger by the inclusion of diverse, disruptive candidates and vendors who bring different perspectives and experiences.”