AOC urged to launch underdog problem towards DC’s strongest Democrat

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is being encouraged to mount a primary challenge against the Senate‘s top Democrat Chuck Schumer after he agreed to vote to continue funding the government.

The ‘squad’ member who represents parts of New York City in Congress slammed Schumer for going along with what even the Senate Minority Leader says is a ‘deeply partisan’ bill. 

‘Just to see Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing to Elon Musk, I think is a huge slap in the face,’ AOC said Thursday night.

Pennsylvania‘s John Fetterman has also announced he will vote yes on the funding bill.  

‘I think there is a wide sense of betrayal if things proceed as currently planned,’ Ocasio-Cortez added.

She noted that the Senate – which requires 60 votes to pass a bill, meaning seven Democrats must flip – was cowardly compared to ‘members of Congress who have won Trump-held districts’ being willing to hold out. 

A member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus told CNN after Schumer announced he was voting yes that ‘even centrist Democrats were ‘ready to write checks for AOC for Senate.’

Schumer is not up for re-election until 2028, meaning Ocasio-Cortez would have a little over three years to mount what would be an underdog campaign during the next presidential election.

The anonymous Congressmember also told CNN that some House Democrats have privately asked AOC to primary the long-time leader of the party in the Senate, though most are in the far left progressive caucus. 

One even said they would write her a check at the party’s retreat in Virginia later Thursday night.  

When asked for comment on the possibility, Ocasio-Cortez said she’s focused on the funding bill. 

‘We still have an opportunity to correct course here, and that is my number one priority.’ 

If she were to challenge Schumer, it would mirror Ocasio-Cortez’s rise to power, when she successfully defeated Joe Crowley, then one of the House’s most prominent Democrats, in 2017.

Schumer told Democrats privately during a spirited closed-door lunch and then made public remarks ahead of voting Friday, which will be hours before the midnight deadline to keep government running. 

The New York senator said as bad as the GOP bill is, a shutdown would be worse, giving President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk ‘carte blanche’ as they tear through the government.

‘Trump has taken a blowtorch to our country and wielded chaos like a weapon,’ Schumer said. 

‘For Donald Trump, a shutdown would be a gift. It would be the best distraction he could ask for from his awful agenda.’

The move by Schumer brings a potential resolution to what has been a dayslong standoff. 

Senate Democrats have mounted a last-ditch protest over the package, which already passed the House but without slapping any limits they were demanding on Trump and billionaire Musk’s efforts to gut federal operations.

Republicans were able to pass the CR through the House on Tuesday along nearly party lines 217 to 213. 

The bill slightly increases defense spending by $6 billion while cutting domestic spending by $13 billion. It also includes provisions that would give President Trump more leeway on how to spend money without congressional approval. 

Only one House Democrat, Congressman Jared Golden of Maine voted for it. One Republican, Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, voted against it.

Hakeem Jeffries, Schumer’s fellow New Yorker and the House Minority Leader, put out a statement demanding Democrats vote no.

‘We strongly oppose the partisan and harmful Republican spending bill,’ he wrote on social media.  

Republicans in the Senate need 60 votes to avoid a filibuster. They only have a 53-47 majority and one GOP Senator, Rand Paul of Kentucky, has already come out against it.

It means Senate Republicans need more than a handful of Democrats to cross the aisle and vote for the Trump-backed GOP bill to keep the government open.

Some Democratic lawmakers have slammed the GOP bill because it was rammed through by Republicans who did not make any effort to obtain bipartisan input. 

As the bill went before the House for a vote, Senate Democrats remained tight-lipped on how they would handle the CR should it pass, telling reporters they would wait and see. 

Some House Democrats who voted against the bill have urged their supporters to make calls to their Democratic senators to push them to reject the bill. 

They argue it gives Trump and Republicans a blank check to move forward with their plans to pass massive tax cuts for the wealthy. 

Some Senate Democrats have made it clear they believe it’s time to stand their ground. Progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren said she would vote no. 

On Thursday, Senator Mark Warner also said he was no on a procedural vote to overcome the filibuster and no on the legislation.

Fetterman has pushed back on his own caucus’ approach and accused Senate Democrats of ‘theater’ to save face.

‘Shut the government down, plunge the country into chaos, risk a recession,’ Fetterman posted on X. ‘or Exchange cloture for a 30 day CR that 100% fails.’

‘The House GOP CR will then pass the Senate because it only needs 51 votes. Total theater is neither honest with constituents nor a winning argument,’ the senator added.