In 2018, when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated Joe Crowley, the presumptive next-in-line after Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker of the House, it was reminiscent of Virginia Republican Dave Brat’s 2014 unseating of then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Brat rode a wave of Tea Party support, while Ocasio-Cortez was a darling of the progressive left.
Progressives weren’t united behind AOC, however. Crowley had the endorsements of New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, the Working Families Party, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, the Sierra Club, and many union leaders. He also enjoyed institutional backing from Pelosi, Governor Cuomo, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, and most members of the state’s congressional delegation. It was a true David and Goliath story. After securing the Democratic nomination, the general election was a formality in her Queens-Bronx district, as she beat the Republican 78 percent to 14 percent.
There are some parallels to the story of Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, but also some important differences.
One difference is that Greene originally intended to run for Georgia’s 6th congressional seat where she lived, but decided to change course and run in the 14th congressional district after the incumbent Tom Graves announced his retirement. For another, Greene’s endorsements were even sparser. She was backed by far-right U.S. representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio and Andy Biggs of Arizona, as well as the House Freedom Caucuses’ political action committee. Her most significant supporter was White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
The Republican establishment was generally appalled by Greene but only House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana had the cojones to openly support and raise money for her Republican primary opponent, physicist John Cowan. This is in spite of Greene appearing on the campaign trail with a Grand Klaliff of the Ku Klux Klan and revelations about her racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and conspiratorial social media postings.
AOC did nothing comparable to create controversy during her campaign, and while there was some national buzz about her prior to the primary election, she wasn’t a major national story like Greene. Still, both races were held in heavily partisan districts. Greene was effectively unopposed in the general election because her Democratic opponent dropped out. Still, she was so toxic that she carried only 74 percent of the vote.
Once in office, Ocasio-Cortez joined up with several other freshman women of color to form “The Squad,” and individually and as a group they began to stir a bit of controversy. As her fame rose, so did her fundraising. In the first quarter of 2019, AOC raised a staggering $728,000, mostly for small admiring donors.
By contrast, Greene’s behavior in the Capitol was so radioactive, and her past social media postings, which continued to be unearthed, were so deplorable, that she was quickly stripped of all her committee assignments. This didn’t put off former President Trump, however, as he hosted her at Mar-a-Lago in late-March. Evidently, it didn’t put off the Republican base either.
Freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), the controversial MAGA firebrand, raised over $3.2 million in the first three months of this year, according to a source close to her campaign. That eye-popping haul came from over 100,000 individual donors, for an average donation of $32.
This is more than four times what AOC raised.
What’s interesting is that Greene is still treated as an outcast, or at least someone operating on the far periphery of the Republican Party. AOC, on the other hand, is increasingly seen as a future leader within the Democratic Party and even as a somewhat plausible primary challenger to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. It’s widely accepted that Ocasio-Cortez is charismatic and gifted at using modern social media tools to communicate her message. That’s not how Greene is typically depicted.
Yet, by the numbers, it appears that Greene is significantly more stimulating to the conservative base than AOC is to the progressive base.
Both Greene and AOC have been highlighted by the other party as extremists, which undoubtedly helped each of them raise money. Both have branded themselves as insurgents looking to shake up a stale and timid party leadership. Yet, AOC has proved to be a practical politician–too practical for some of early supporters, in fact. Greene has been the opposite of practical, unless you consider raising money to be the goal of getting elected.
The bottom line is AOC promotes some socialistic policies and a very bold effort to combat climate change, and these policies make some elected Democrats uncomfortable. But she’s not a pariah or embarrassment for the party, despite the Republicans’ best efforts. Greene is much more popular despite her record, which is among the most shameful of any recently elected member of Congress.
This is really instructive for considering the present condition of the two major parties.
