Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addressed past controversial statements made by Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong during an interview with ABC’s Jon Karl, stating that candidates should be evaluated on their current positions rather than past rhetoric from the pandemic era.
During the interview, Karl asked Ocasio-Cortez about Hong, a candidate supported by the Democratic Socialists of America who is running in Wisconsin’s primary. Karl noted previous statements by Hong regarding canceling Thanksgiving, as well as past positions supporting the abolition of prisons and police.
Karl asked Ocasio-Cortez if she planned to endorse Hong in the primary.
“No, I haven’t endorsed in that race,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “My focus has been in winning back the Congress, winning back the House, and positioning ourselves to have the best chance possible to win the Senate. So, I’ve been focused on — on those legislative races.”
When questioned about how candidates handle past positions that may not align with the broader electorate, Ocasio-Cortez emphasized that local voters ultimately decide based on a candidate’s current platform.
“A lot of these races, even right now, they’ll have a tendency to be nationalized. But these races ultimately are local and all politics are local,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “My understanding is that Francesca Hong has made clear her present stances to her electorate.”
She added: “I have a local city councilman that has this saying, ‘woke one was crazy.’ And I think that what’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now.”
Karl also asked Ocasio-Cortez whether the progressive movement went too far with certain stances during that period, pointing to past discussions around defunding the police.
Ocasio-Cortez attributed the shift in rhetoric to the unique circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns.
“I think that during this time and during — especially during Covid, there was a huge opening of the Overton window,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “We were shut down. There was some of the highest unemployment rates that we have seen because of those shutdowns. And I think that the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place.”
She noted that public conversation around public safety has shifted since then.
“I think that when we talk about crime today, it’s fundamentally different than the way that we talked about crime in bringing crime down,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I think that we all share in the goals of having as low a crime rate as possible. I think that, you know, during lockdown, of course, rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today.”
Ocasio-Cortez concluded by stating she is “grateful that these candidates have the opportunity to present who they are to their electorate and what they’re campaigning on in this moment.”
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