Ocasio-Cortez rips Democratic leaders for support of Cuellar

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday slammed House Democratic leadership’s support of incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) in his district’s primary runoff, calling it an “utter failure.”

The progressive argued it was wrong for leadership to support the centrist Cuellar given the threat to abortion rights from an upcoming Supreme Court decision expected to overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling and the Texas school shooting on Tuesday that left 19 children and two teachers dead.

“On the day of a mass shooting and weeks after news of Roe, Democratic Party leadership rallied for a pro-NRA, anti-choice incumbent under investigation in a close primary. Robocalls, fundraisers, all of it,” Ocasio-Cortez, who is backing progressive Jessica Cisneros in the primary, said in a tweet on Tuesday.

“Accountability isn’t partisan. This was an utter failure of leadership,” she added.

Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet follows an effort from establishment House Democrats to pull Cuellar over the finish line in his primary runoff against Cisneros.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ran robocalls for Cuellar in the district earlier this week. Earlier this month, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) traveled to Cuellar’s district to campaign for him.

Cuellar is in a fight for his political life in the primary runoff against progressive Cisneros. Cuellar declared himself the winner of the race early on Wednesday morning. According to unofficial results from the Texas secretary of state’s website on Wednesday morning, Cuellar received 50.2 percent of the vote, while Cisneros garnered 49.8 percent, with only 177 votes separating them.

Cisneros has not conceded.

“This election is still too close to call, and we are still waiting for every ballot and eligible vote to be counted,” she tweeted.

A leaked draft Supreme Court opinion published by Politico earlier this month showed five conservative justices are ready to strike down Roe v. Wade.

Cuellar has opposed abortion rights legislation backed by his party.