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AOC blames moderate Democrats for the loss in Virginia because they let the GOP 'race-bait' and compares in-fighting over Biden's stalled agenda to middle school

  Rep.   Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez   blamed moderate Democrats for the party's loss in   Virginia , saying they did not handle   Republic...

 Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blamed moderate Democrats for the party's loss in Virginia, saying they did not handle Republicans' 'race baiting' and acted like middle schoolers with their fighting over President Joe Biden's Build Back Better agenda. 

The progressive Democrat from New York took to her instagram stories to discuss Democrats' losing the governorship of Virginia - a state Biden won by 10 points in the 2020 election.

She called the loss a 'bummer' but blamed it on a moderate candidate - Terry McAuliffe - who failed to 'energize' progressives to come out and vote.  

Progressives claim the loss is a sign they need to speed up passage of Biden's $1.75 trillion social agenda while moderates are asking the president to focus on the econony and jobs, arguing Democrats missed the message voters were sending. 

Ocasio-Cortez also brought up the race issue, saying McAuliffe didn't handle 'race baiting' from Republicans well - a likely reference to Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin attack ads on the use of Critical Race Theory in schools and how he took advantage of a McAuliffe faux pas, where the Democratic candidate rejected the idea that parents should have more control in a child's education.

'Historically moderate Democrats have believed the best way to respond to race baiting by the right is to say little/nothing,' Ocasio-Cortez wrote in an Instagram stories Q&A. 'We see how that demoralizes the base you're supposed to protect and turn out while also ceeding white swing voters to the right w/ inadequate responses or silence.'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blamed moderate Democrats for the party's loss in Virginia, saying they did not handle Republicans' 'race baiting'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blamed moderate Democrats for the party's loss in Virginia, saying they did not handle Republicans' 'race baiting'

AOC blames moderate Democrats for the loss in Virginia
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Youngkin turned education into a winning issue, saying he would ban the teaching of critical race theory in Virginia classrooms even though it is not a part of the curriculum.

Exit polls showed a quarter of Virginia voters said the debate over teaching critical race theory in schools was the single most important factor in their vote - and 71% of those voters backed Youngkin.

And slightly more than 50% thought parents should have say over what their child is taught in schools - while  8 in 10 of Youngkin supporters think they should have 'a lot' of say. Only 25% of McAuliffe voters said the same.

In the final weeks of the campaign, Youngkin took advantage of McAuliffe's response during a debate on whether parents should be able to opt their children out of reading certain books. 

'I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,' McAuliffe said. 

Youngkin quoted McAuliffe repeatedly on the campaign trail and in ads, which boosted him among parents. Youngkin also won 58 percent of men with children, compared to the 49 percent Trump took last year.

Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged the disappointment of losing the Virginia race but echoed the argument of many liberals - that is was a sign Democrats in Congress need to pass Biden's package of social safety net programs.

The legislation has been held up because of an intra-party war between moderates and liberals in the Democratic Party over both its final price tag and whether it should include items like paid family leave, expanded medicaid and combatting climate change. 

'I know that Virginia was a huge bummer,' she said. 'And honestly, if anything, I think that the results show the limits of trying to run a fully 100 per cent super moderated campaign that does not excite speak to or energize a progressive base and frankly, we weren't even really invited to contribute on that race.'

McAuliffe floundered in what were deemed blue strongholds in Virginia in a bleak showing for his party. For example, in the heavily blue Northern Virginia area, McAuliffe's support margin was by 26 points compared to Biden's 38 points in 2020. And Loudoun county, just outside of Washington, D.C.,  went for McAuliffe by about 11 points - but Biden carried it by 25 last year.   

Ocasio-Cortez went on to say she wasn't trying to start any arguments as she tried to help pass Bide's agenda - even as she compared her fellow Democrats to middle schoolers.

'I'm not trying to beef with people over silly arguments right now when we need to hold the caucus together to pass Build Back Better,' she said.

'One thing about politics that I wish people understood more but often don't want to accept is that a lot of decisions aren't always about ideology or even money but ego. It's like middle school sometimes. People will straight up kill legislation because their ego got hurt or they have some weird beef going back 20 years,' she noted.

She added: 'I do pick my battles because sometimes winning a news cycle is not as important as winning universal pre-K.'

Moderate Democrats, meanwhile, are asking Biden to deal with issues directly affecting voters right now - the economy and inflation - instead of focusing on his social programs. 

'We were so willing to take seriously a global pandemic, but we're not willing to say, 'Yeah, inflation is a problem, and supply chain is a problem, and we don't have enough workers in our work force,' Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia told The New York Times. 'We gloss over that and only like to admit to problems in spaces we dominate.'

She also said Biden needs to reminder why voters put him in the Oval Office - to counter Donald Trump's four years in the White House.

'Nobody elected him to be F.D.R., they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos,' she said, referring to the sweeping net of social programs Biden is seeking to make into law. 

Inflation in the United States has jumped to a three-decade high while wages haven't kept pace and prices for food, gas and rent are rising - all putting a growing economic burden on households.  

Biden and his administration has argued that as the pandemic fades, the supply chain bottlenecks to unsnarl, more people will return to the workforce, the economy will strengthen and inflation will begin to ease.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to Instagram to say Democrats acted like middle schoolers with their fighting over President Joe Biden's Build Back Better agenda

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to Instagram to say Democrats acted like middle schoolers with their fighting over President Joe Biden's Build Back Better agenda

Republican Glenn Youngkin won Virginia's governor's race, which AOC called a 'bummer'

Republican Glenn Youngkin won Virginia's governor's race, which AOC called a 'bummer'


The president also touts his Build Back Better package, which he argues multiple Nobel Prize winning economists say would reduce inflation. 

But his signature package of social safety net programs has yet to pass Congress and his aides concede that Americans would not see its benefits until next year. Moderate Democrats have raised concerned about its overall price tag, which Biden has cut nearly in half to $1.75 trillion as he tries to get it through the legislative branch. 

Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Democrat from New York, told the Times she fears that Biden's message isn't resontating with voters. 

'I don't understand some of my more progressive colleagues saying last night now shows us that what we need to do is get both of these bills done and shove even more progressive stuff in,' she said. 'What we're talking about is not resonating with voters.' 

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