Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Nancy Pelosi: 'It's Not Just One District'

On Wednesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi gave reporters her take on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s win: “They made a choice in one district.”

She continued:

So, let’s not get yourself carried away as an expert on demographics and the rest of that. We have an array of genders, generations, geography and the rest, opinion, in our caucus and we’re very proud of that.

Nancy Pelosi is correct that not every district is going to want to elect a Democratic Socialist. She is wildly incorrect—some might even say foolish—to downplay the significance of Ocasio-Cortez’s win. And yet, downplaying it is all Pelosi can do, because if Ocasio-Cortez’s win is a symbol of a larger shift on the left, then that would have implications for the elderly capitalists currently leading the Democratic Party.

“Yeah, well, you know, I think that we’re in the middle of a movement in this country,” Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN later that night, after being shown a clip of Pelosi’s remarks. “I feel this movement, but that movement is going to happen from the bottom up. That movement is going to come from voters.”