Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-V.T. has very few political allies — and insiders are saying that he may have lost his strongest ally yet.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. reportedly refused to stump for the Sanders campaign when he needed her most, and it may have cost him 2020 altogether.
The Huffington Post reports that insiders familiar with conversations between the two campaigns says Ocasio-Cortez made a noticeable disappearance from the Sanders campaign.
Their friendship was first solidified during a raucous rally in New York City in the fall.
In an October 2019 rally, Ocasio-Cortez declared her support for Sanders. She took her support further by stumping on his behalf while Congress was busy with the Democrat-led impeachment proceedings.
The Post reported that Ocasio-Cortez attended 15 rallies for Sanders during fall and early winter, including seven assemblies in first caucus state Iowa.
And according to insiders, it was there that the riff opened between the AOC and Sanders camps.
During a Jan. 25 rally, Ocasio-Cortez suggested that Sanders supporters assist in hiding illegal immigrants from U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement (ICE). Shortly after, Vanity Fair wrote that Sanders’ campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, was upset with AOC’s rhetoric on illegal immigration during the rally.
AOC went too far for Sanders’ liking.
But Ocasio-Cortez had already expressed displeasure with Sanders after podcast host Joe Rogan endorsed the democratic socialist senator. Rogan has long-been accused of being a “bigot” by liberal voters.
Ocasio-Cortez distanced herself from Sanders. And when Sanders needed her to stump for him in New Hampshire ahead of its primary, she was nowhere to have been found.
His campaign manager said “it was like pulling teeth to get her to New Hampshire.” The Post wrote that after repeated requests by Sanders’ campaign, she finally appeared the day before the Granite State primary.
HuffPost also confirmed through three sources that from Feb 11 to March 8, AOC turned down a number of requests for her to show up in states such as Nevada and South Carolina, including the highly-coveted Super Tuesday states.
Voting in those states saw Sanders campaign suffer an epic collapse, from nomination frontrunner to running a campaign on life support.
That is thanks in part to AOC, who bailed on Sanders leading up what was likely the defining moments in the Democratic primary race.
The Horn editorial team