Ocasio-Cortez weighs a new primary target: Hakeem Jeffries

Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is eyeing a new member of House Democratic leadership as a 2020 primary target: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

Ocasio-Cortez, who ousted House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley earlier this year in a shocking primary victory, put colleagues on notice for future primaries just days after the November election, telling a livestream audience that she and an allied group, Justice Democrats, would keep working together to boost anti-incumbent challengers — though she didn’t name names. But a person who has discussed the project with Ocasio-Cortez and her team said the congresswoman-elect has recruited an African-American woman to challenge Jeffries, who was just elected to replace Crowley as caucus chairman — the No. 5 House Democratic leadership position.

The person who spoke with Ocasio-Cortez and her team, who asked for anonymity to discuss a private conversation, called Jeffries the “highest priority” primary target of Ocasio-Cortez.

A second person with direct knowledge of Justice Democrats’ primary plans said the group is “looking” at Jeffries’ seat. Since Justice Democrats put out a call for potential targets, the group's supporters have singled out Jeffries as a member they would be “excited” to oppose. “We’re not going to shy away from New York,” the second person said.

Challenging Jeffries would open an audacious new front in Ocasio-Cortez’s efforts to steer the direction of the Democratic Party, pitting her and allies against a rising-star African-American Democrat seen by some as a potential future speaker of the House. It would also set off another intra-party New York City brawl — Jeffries’ Brooklyn district is just a few miles south of Ocasio-Cortez’s Bronx-and-Queens seat — that would peak just as Democrats hope to rally around a presidential nominee in mid-2020.
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“It’s personal for Ocasio,” said the person who spoke with Ocasio-Cortez and her staff. "And she’s going to go all out to take him out."

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/18/ocasio-cortez-hakeem-jeffries-2020-primary-1067107

One Of The Democratic Stars Of 2018 Sharply Rebuked Her Party In A Private Meeting

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/darrensands/one-of-the-democratic-stars-of-2018-sharply-rebuked-her?__twitter_impression=true

Ayanna Pressley, the Representative-elect from Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District, offered a sharp rebuke of the Democratic Party in front of the party’s biggest donors Tuesday, saying that she discovered a “mandate for hope” over the course her efforts to unseat an entrenched Democratic incumbent and campaigning for insurgent candidates around the country.

The Boston Democrat told donors gathered for a Democratic National Committee fundraising meeting in Washington that the 2018 election cycle had “altered the course of history,” and that Democrats need to ask themselves “if we are simply content with making history, or if want to commit ourselves to working together to make a lasting, transformative change.”

Pressley, who beat 10-term incumbent Democrat Rep. Michael Capuano in a September primary, told Democratic donors that the party needs to figure out how best to support women candidates of color, like herself and other newly elected members of Congress, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar.
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The address was perhaps the most poignant of any from a litany of Democratic speakers at the Tuesday meeting, several people who were in attendance said. Pressley, who is already making her presence felt on Capitol Hill, touched on the importance of having close proximity to marginalized and vulnerable communities and offered a vision of a party that puts the needs of those communities at the forefront of the agenda.
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Pressley offered a concise vision for the future of the Democratic Party. She told donors that she had conducted a hearing on gun violence the previous evening and brought a message from a young person to the floor, one that the Democratic Party has grappled with for a generation: “Do black lives only matter in election years when our votes are at stake?”