‘Squad’ members cruise to reelection

A group of six progressive House lawmakers known as the “squad” are all projected to cruise to reelection in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Various outlets have called the races for Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Cori Bush (Mo.) and Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.).

Their victories come as little surprise, however, as all of the lawmakers are from districts that voted for President Biden by double digits in 2020.

Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley and Tlaib all gained notable attention and large social media followings as a group of first-term lawmakers after they were elected in 2018.

“Thank you to every member of our community and every grassroots supporter for entrusting me with the great responsibility of representing NY-14 in Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. “We do this with small dollars, every time. I remain grateful to all of you who make a new kind of governance possible.”

The four lawmakers were later joined by Bush and Bowman, who were elected in 2020. 

All six of the lawmakers are relatively young and have shown a willingness to break with the party establishment.

They became the sole House Democrats to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure law, a major piece of legislation that Biden and many Democrats repeatedly touted in the months leading up to the midterm elections.

They also caused House Democrats to delay a debate over four policing and public safety bills that were set to come to the floor in September, citing a lack of “accountability measures” in one of the bills.

Some members of the group had faced primary challenges from more moderate candidates, including Bush and Tlaib. Both incumbents easily won those contests.

“To every single volunteer, thank you for protecting people’s right to vote,” Tlaib wrote on Twitter. “Thank you for caring enough. Thank you for showing up with joy and love. Tonight, we will show folks that our community is beautifully loud and powerful. We aren’t going to be silenced.”