House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters Wednesday that House Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley’s (D-NY) stunning loss Tuesday to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Democratic socialist, does not mean socialism is ascendant in the party as a whole.
Pelosi was asked if democratic socialism is "ascendant" in the Democratic Party and replied that it was not, characterizing Crowley’s district as “very progressive.”
"It's ascendant in that district perhaps,” Pelosi said, “but I don't accept any characterization of our party presented by the Republicans. So let me reject that right now."
Pelosi also cautioned against generalizing based on the upset.
"They made a choice in one district," she emphasized. "So, let's not get yourself carried away as an expert on demographics and this or that within the caucus or outside the caucus.”
“It is not to be viewed as something that stands for anything else,” she said.
One reporter noted, “the Democratic Party is increasingly younger, more female, more diverse, more progressive,” asking, “Should the Democratic House leadership look that way?”
"I am female. I am progressive. What's your problem?" Pelosi replied with a laugh, “two out of three ain’t bad.”
She called the young Latina candidate’s victory "just a sign of the vitality of our party."
She also noted that the Democratic party has “an array of genders, generations, geography and the rest, opinion, in our caucus and we're very proud of that."