Ocasio-Cortez urges DCCC donations halt over "harmful" blacklist rule

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says donors should give directly to swing candidates. Photo: Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) urged small donors Saturday to pause Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee donations, as she became the latest Democrat to criticize a new DCCC policy blacklisting anyone working with primary challengers over sitting Democrats.

The @DCCC’s new rule to blacklist+boycott anyone who does business w/ primary challengers is extremely divisive & harmful to the party.

My recommendation, if you’re a small-dollar donor: pause your donations to DCCC & give directly to swing candidates instead.

Some great ones:

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 30, 2019

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The big picture: The new DCCC policy requires vendors to sign a form outlining the committee's "core mission" of electing House Democrats, including "supporting and protecting incumbents."

[T]he DCCC will not conduct business with, nor recommend to any of its targeted campaigns, any consultant that works with an opponent of a sitting Member of the House Democratic Caucus.

DCCC form

What they're saying: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Congressional Progressive Caucus vice chair, told The Intercept this week the policy was "tone-deaf." He said he and Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) had met with DNCCC chair Cheri Bustos to make clear their opposition to the form.

• Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), a fellow Democratic freshman who beat an incumbent Democrat, said in a tweet Saturday the policy risked undermining women and people of color.

Our diversity is our strength. When a candidate takes the risk to run, Democrats should not be in the practice of creating litmus tests or roadblocks that have a chilling effect on new candidates or those who would invest their sweat equity in support.

Ayanna Pressley