CNN senior correspondent Scott Jennings suggested that Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) and Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) are the “true leaders” of the Democratic Party.
Jennings participated in a panel on CNN News’s State of the Union on Sunday that followed a Democratic rally in South Carolina on Saturday where Govs. Wes Moore (D-MD) and Tim Walz (D-MN) spoke. Both are considered to be prospective leaders for the Democratic Party as it seeks to find a new vision and branding ahead of the 2028 elections, but the panel, which included Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) disagreed about who is ready to lead.
“Democrats have to stop being against Donald Trump and start being for something. We‘ve got to lay out our agenda for what we‘re going to do. We need our project 2028,” Dingell said. “I love Wes Moore, and he is doing a good job. But, you know, just to remind everybody here, I told you Hillary Clinton was going to lose in 2016.”
Jennings quickly pushed back on Dingell’s idea that Democrats are not “for something.”
“I’ll defend the Democrats. They are for things: illegal aliens. You’re for boys in girls sports. I mean, you are for things. And that’s why you have such struggles right now in your party. Because you’re not for anything that‘s on the right side of any of the 80/20 issues that are driving this cultural divide in America,” Jennings said. “I think Wes Moore is actually a pretty talented communicator. The other person who spoke in South Carolina, Tim Walz, is a special mixture of extreme buffoonery and a mean spirit, which is a toxic brew. He is not the future of the Democratic Party.”
“Moore is interesting, probably more interesting than some of the radicals you have out there. Crockett, AOC I mean, these are the true leaders of your party right now, but it’d probably be better off replacing them,” Jennings went on before Dingell interrupted him.
“No, that’s not true. And I‘m not going to even let you get away with it,” Dingell said.
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Ocasio-Cortez has attended rallies put on by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that have drawn large crowds in traditionally red states. The rallies have been located in districts held by Republicans in Congress, such as Utah, Arizona, Iowa, and Wisconsin.
While Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t confirmed her political intentions for 2028, the New York representative is being floated as the successor to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Sanders himself ran for president several times but has never won the Democratic Party’s nomination. As for Crockett in the near future, she recently said she “absolutely” has her eyes on leading the House Oversight Committee should Democrats retake control of the House in the midterm elections.