Democrat National Committee Chair Tom Perez called Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “the future of the party” during the Bill Press Show Tuesday. Ocasio-Cortez defeated ten-term incumbent and House Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley (NY) in a stunning upset last week and ran on an extreme platform of abolishing ICE and Medicare for all.
"Twenty-eight years old, never ran for office before, big progressive. Calls herself a democratic socialist, actually, like Bernie Sanders did, she was a Bernie Sanders supporter," Press noted.
"What's this tell you about where the Democratic Party is going today?" he asked.
Perez replied saying that his daughters were excited by Ocasio-Cortez's win.
"I have three kids. two of them are daughters. One just graduated college, one who is in college - and they were both texting me about their excitement over Alexandria because she really – she represents the future of our party," Perez said.
Perez added that he did have "great respect" for Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), saying, "he's a good Democrat ... he's fought the good fight."
Perez’s praise for Ocasio-Cortez was milder last week following her stunning primary victory.
He would not directly answer a question from CNN’s Chris Cuomo about whether her win marked a shift in the Democratic party last week.
He told MSNBC of Ocasio-Cortez’s win that "time will tell, but I think what we've seen in elections across the country are candidates who won by focusing on the issues that were keeping their constituents up at night."
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