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The Squad Continues to Grapple With Democratic Party Leadership
A vote on keeping the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem is only the latest to pit party leadership against progressive members.
That all four original members of “The Squad”- those four female progressive lawmakers elected to the House of Representatives during the 2018 mid-terms- survived their most recent election challenges is hardly surprising.
Of course Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) all won reelection in their deep-blue districts.
The Squad even managed to recruit new members in 2020, and that should be of no surprise, either. Not since Rep. Ocasio-Cortez herself unseated, without warning, a Democratic Party leadership titan.
New York’s 10-term incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley was third in the ranks of House Democratic Party leadership in 2018, but it did not save him. He was taken by surprise and defeated by AOC. Other veteran Democratic lawmakers took note and have taken progressive primary challengers a bit more seriously in the years since.
In 2020, however, the Justice Democrats still managed to defeat another major Democratic Party leader. Justice Democrat-backed Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) defeated longtime Congressman and Foreign Affairs Committee…