Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday that she will support President Joe Biden’s reelection bid given the challengers he currently faces in the primary.
Author Marianne Williamson and environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have launched campaigns for the 2024 Democratic presidential domination.
When asked on the “Pod Save America” podcast whether she would back Biden, Ocasio-Cortez said, “I believe, given that field, yes.”
The New York congresswoman’s remarks comments mark a shift in her position on Biden’s reelection campaign. A prominent progressive voice on Capitol Hill, Ocasio-Cortez told CNN in February ahead of the president’s State of the Union address when his reelection announcement was looming that she would let the Democratic primary process play out before endorsing a candidate.
“I got here through a primary process,” the congresswoman said at the time, referring to her upset primary victory in 2018 over Rep. Joe Crowley, a 10-term incumbent. “And out of deep respect for that, I never try to jump ahead of it.”
“But, I would enthusiastically support him if he were the Democratic nominee,” she said of the president in February. Biden made his reelection bid official in April.
Since she was first elected to Congress, Ocasio-Cortez has garnered a strong following among progressives, and, subsequently, has become a coveted endorsement for many Democrats. In 2020, she threw her support behind Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary and later backed Biden in the general election.
Two other members of “The Squad” – a group of progressive House lawmakers, including Ocasio-Cortez – have also backed Biden’s reelection bid: Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Greg Casar of Texas.
