During an appearance on CNN, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. (AOC), the freshman congresswoman aligned with the Democratic Socialist Party, mentioned Iowa’s U.S. Senate race and said Democrats face a “once in a generation opportunity” for a Democratic trifecta.
“If we have an opportunity if we work hard enough to elect folks like Jamie Harrison, to make sure that we protect seats like Gary Peters, and to make sure that we unseat Republicans like Joni Ernst. And we have a unique, frankly, once in a generation opportunity to have the White House, the Senate and the House majorities democratically controlled,” she told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“Then I believe we have an obligation to the American people to show what a Democratic administration can actually accomplish and that we can govern, and that we can truly have leaps in policy that people can feel in their everyday lives that makes voting Democratic not just worthwhile, but a memorable shift from just a flatline of this idea of bipartisanship, which often just becomes Republican manipulation,” Ocasio-Cortez added.
In the last forty years, Americans demostrated they prefer divided government.
Democrats last controlled the White House, the House, and Senate during the first two years of President Barack Obama’s first term from 2009-2011. Before that, Democrats controlled a “trifecta” during the Clinton Administration from 1993-1995 and throughout Carter Administration from 1977 to 1981. Republicans enjoyed a “trifecta” from 2003-2007 during President George W. Bush’s administration and from 2017 to 2019 during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Democratic losses in mid-term elections have followed “leaps in policy,” such as, Obamacare.
Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush had to deal with divided government their entire time in office.
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Ocasio-Cortez proposed the Green New Deal and has backed Medicare-for-All. The Ernst campaign said that AOC’s support of their Democratic challenger, Theresa Greenfield, demonstrates the type of policy she would pursue.
“Theresa Greenfield lied; she’s a dye in the wool liberal who has the full support of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, the author of the Green New Deal,” Melissa Deatsch, Ernst campaign spokesperson said. “With Theresa Greenfield supporting extreme new environmental rules that would kill American jobs and hurt Iowa farmers, it’s just another reminder that Greenfield is perfect for New York or California, but wrong for Iowa.”
Over 92 percent of Greenfield’s fundraising has come from out-of-state.
Greenfield has said she supports gun control legislation recently passed in the House. She has also championed the United States rejoining the Paris Climate Accords.