Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) for some reason thought it worthwhile to weigh in on the Virginia statewide races where Republicans swept thanks to the wins for Governor-Elect Glenn Youngkin, Lieutenant Governor-Elect Winsome Sears, and Attorney General-Elect Jason Miyares. The GOP also took back control of the House of Delegates. The executive positions were close races, but that's the reality in a Virginia which is purple, and certainly hasn't fully gone blue.
In a video stream, AOC acknowledges that Virginia was "a huge bummer" for progressives. She did go on to claim that "honestly, if anything, I think that the results show the limits of trying to run a fully 100 percent super moderated campaign that does not excite, speak to, or energize a progressive base and frankly we weren't even invited to contribute on that race."
It's worth highlighting that AOC represents the 14th district of New York, a particularly Democratic district, and won her seat for 2018 and 2020 by more than 70 percent of the vote.
These claims from the congresswoman, a key member of the squad, are laughable. From the positions Democratic candidates took, to their endorsements, as well as having Democratic figures campaign for them, including Stacey Abrams, the Democratic ticket was arguably quite progressive.
A larger point, though, as raised by Virginia's new Republican Attorney General-Elect Jason Miyares in a conversation with Townhall, is that all 100 seats in the House of Delegates were up for re-election, Democrats held a 55-45 majority. Republicans now hold a 52-48 majority.
Miyares, who is currently a delegate representing the 82nd district, offered how "amazing" it is to see claims from talking heads, and now AOC, that "the problem we had in Virginia is we didn't have candidates that excited progressives and got progressives out to go vote" because "they weren't pushing progressive ideas."
He pointed out that these progressives "always fail to forget" that these 100 seats were up for election. When it comes to the most recent legislature, "all they did, the last two years, was pass pretty much every single progressive wish list you could imagine," and "all the social justice bills," including the Green New Deal, rolling back commonsense abortion regulations, gun control laws, and planning plastic bags.
Miyares further noted that "the General Assembly did exactly what progressives said they need to do to this election" and that "what they don't want to admit is their ideas turned off so many independent, middle of the road, suburban voters." He argued that "their whole narrative implodes once anybody points out um, hello, the General Assembly was on the ballot, and they had one party rule." The Senate is also under Democratic control, with those seats up for election at a later date. The sitting governor, Ralph Northam, is also a Democrat.
As a congresswoman representing one of the most Democratic districts in the country, perhaps the best AOC could do for her Democratic colleagues is stay out of statewide races in purple Virginia.