AOC defends "woke" politics after Democratic election blunder

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed progressive political strategist James Carville for attributing Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s loss in Virginia to “stupid wokeness.”

Carville, who managed Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, was asked in an interview on “PBS NewsHour” about Republican Glenn Youngkin’s win in the Virginia gubernatorial race — a state President Biden won by 10 percentage points only a year before. 

Latino voters formed an important part of the coalition that helped elect the Republican candidate, ADN America recently reported.

“Well, what went wrong is this stupid wokeness,” ​Carville told PBS NewsHour. “Don’t just look at Virginia and New Jersey.”

“Look at Long Island, look at Buffalo, look at Minneapolis. Even look at Seattle, Wash. I mean, this ‘Defund the police’ lunacy, this ‘Take Abraham Lincoln’s name off of schools,’ — people see that.”

Although left-wing media pundits blamed racism and "white supremacy" for McAuliffe’s loss, Winsome Sears became the first Black female lieutenant governor in Virginia’s history.

Ocasio-Cortez, however, focused on Carville’s word choice — disregarding the pundit’s noteworthy concern.

​“Before people disingenuously complain ‘woke’ is denigrating to older people, it’s actually pundits like Carville using terms like ‘woke’ to insult voters under 45 that’s denigrating,”  Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter.

“​Don’t wonder why youth turnout falls when Dems talk about them like this. We need everyone​,” she said. ​

Carville’s complaint is not one that should be overlooked, however. As Nov 2. elections showed, voters did not favor campaigns that focused on defunding the police or tearing down statues of historical figures.

“I think perhaps Washington has focused too heavily on left-leaning policy priorities and need to come back to the center, focusing on the kitchen-table issues that can really transform lives,” Libre Initiative Coalitions Director Michael Monrroy told ADN America.

“Families have been hurting during the pandemic and want economic relief along with a better future for their children.” 

Although Carville advised against focusing on “woke” politics, Democratic strategists such as David Plouffe pushed back, saying Democrats should "go on the offense" in regard to critical race theory.