Joe Crowley Just Played Into Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Hands
It shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone that former Representative Joe Crowley, the New York Democrat who was famously dethroned last summer by the progressive political rookie Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is taking on a new role as a government lobbyist. It’s a pretty standard career move in Washington, D.C., with many retiring lawmakers from both parties getting hired to stick around Capitol Hill.
But Crowley’s decision is noteworthy because it’s exactly the sort of move that Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow progressives have been advocating against—and offers a tidy encapsulation of the system they say they’re trying to upend.
Crowley had been in Congress for two decades before he was toppled by Ocasio-Cortez, Ocasio-Cortez accused him of being out of touch with his majority-minority district, and labeled him a corporate Democrat for accepting support from Wall Street. The 29-year-old styled herself as a more authentic, progressive alternative, pointing to her and publicly rejecting contributions from corporate political-action committees.
