WASHINGTON — “The Squad” — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) tight knit band of progressive rabble-rousers — is still making headlines.
But lately, it’s for all the wrong reasons.
After a string of scandals, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) are both facing AIPAC-backed primary challengers this year. Bowman’s troubles include pleading guilty to pulling a fire alarm in the Capitol, over which House Republicans censured him. Bush, meanwhile, is under investigation by the FBI for paying her husband for security services.
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Of The Squad’s two Muslim American members, one, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), was removed from a key foreign policy-focused committee. The other, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), was censured by the full House. Both situations involved anti-Israel comments.
Republicans, meanwhile, have placed a target — figurative and quite literal — on The Squad, sensing a grand opportunity to weaken an arch political enemy.
Squad members, however, laugh off critics who are counting them out. They instead warn that their own Democratic Party leaders better start listening to them soon, or the party risks suffering another defeat at the hands of Republicans come November.
Three members of "The Squad" — Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) — arrive before participating during a town hall hosted by the NAACP on September 11, 2019, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
“Is The Squad on the ropes?” Raw Story asked Bowman, the first male member of The Squad.
“S—. The ropes? F— you talkin’ about, dog?” Bowman told Raw Story through a broad, if skeptical, smile. “What you mean, ‘the ropes’? We running 1,000 miles per hour. They tryin’ to figure out how to stop us, man.
“The ropes?” Bowman again protested.
“So you feel like you are pulling the party in your direction?” Raw Story countered.
“I don’t know if we’re pullin’ no party or none of that, I know we're serving the people in our district. I know that,” Bowman said. “I know we’re showing up.”
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Opponents are also showing up, with some Squad members — particularly Bowman and Bush — drawing serious primary challenges.
That’s why Raw Story asked six of the group’s now eight members) whether The Squad really is on the ropes.
“I don't think so, but I think we're always the little guy because we fight for the little guys — that's actually what a constituent told me,” Ocasio-Cortez — who first used the term “The Squad” in 2018 to describe herself and three other progressive women who came to Washington intent on overhauling politics as usual, including in the Democratic Party — told Raw Story.
“We're underdogs, because we fight for underdogs,” Ocasio-Cortez added. “And that doesn't mean we're on the ropes, but it means that we know what we fight for.”
Dem-on-Dem battles
Ocasio-Cortez's own rocket-like political rise was birthed out of a bloody Democratic primary.
Her surprise 2018 defeat of former chairman of the Democratic Caucus, then-Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) — the fourth most powerful House Democrat, at the time — still stings some more senior Democrats.
That’s partly why Ocasio-Cortez brushes off this year’s primaries against her fellow Squad members.
“Just by virtue of the positions that we have, I think, we expect at the very least a primary challenger for each of our re-elections, especially our first reelection,” Ocasio-Cortez said while walking through an underground tunnel to the U.S. Capitol.
Some Democrats in Congress are still upset with Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive Squad members for what they consider a betrayal: backing their more liberal primary opponents in recent elections.
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“They’re being primaried where in the past they primared me, [former Reps.] Dan Lipinski, Kurt Schrader — a whole bunch of folks,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) — the last anti-abortion Democrat left on Capitol Hill — told Raw Story. “I always said, they ought to focus the resources on the other party, but they did that so now they're getting the same.”
Lipinski — an eight-term, socially conservative Democratic lawmaker from the suburbs of Chicago — went down in 2020.
U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), left, and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), right, depart a leadership election meeting with the Democratic caucus in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill November 30, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Then, in the 2022 midterms, Schrader — a seven-term Oregon centrist — lost in a primary to liberal Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who herself lost in the general election to now-Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR).
Cuellar eked out two nasty primary victories back to back those years; one by a mere 300 votes.
In 2022, more than $16 million was spent on Cuellar’s seat, making it the 8th most expensive House race in the nation in the midterms, according to nonprofit research organization OpenSecrets.
“I’m not getting involved. Even though a few of them got involved with mine, I'm not gonna,” Cuellar said. “I don't do that.”
Cuellar likens these progressives and their purist positions, such as the Green New Deal they forced into the Democratic mainstream, to the demands of the GOP’s far-right, which includes Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
“The far-left and the far-right are the loudest. We're seeing the same thing right now with the Republican caucus,” Cuellar said. “Where they pushed us, some of the positions they took, like, the ‘defund the police, ‘say no to I.C.E.’ — you know, say no to Border Patrol — all that affected the Democratic Party.”
President Joe Biden may have been pulled further to the left by young, energetic progressive voices like those of The Squad, but Cuellar says that’s now tarnished moderate Democrats.
“It affected the Democratic Party. It affected the brand of the Democratic Party,” Cuellar said. “This is why they need to understand that, if you're going to build a big tent, you need to have progressives and you got to have moderate, conservative Democrats. That's how you do it. You add to make it bigger, you don't subtract.”
Squash the Squad?
Outside forces are trying to subtract two Squad members from the congressional rolls ahead of November.
In Missouri, Bush faces a three-way August 6 primary. A poll last month from the Republican firm Remington Research Group showed Bush down 22 points to St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell. Former state lawmaker Maria Chapelle-Nadal is also running.
Latest fundraising numbers showed Bush’s campaign had roughly half as much cash on hand as Bell.
Raw Story asked Bush if she’s worried about her campaign money.
“Oh, no. Not at all. No. When Republican ‘dark money’ funds the campaign for someone who was supposed to be a Democrat against the Democratic incumbent who was actually working in taking care of the community when their money is tied to the people that want to see national abortion bans and all this,” Bush told Raw Story. “I can't really get into it right here, but I would just say: no.”
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In New York, ahead of the state’s June 25 primary, Bowman is up against American Israel Public Affairs Committee-backed George Latimer, county executive of Westchester County, N.Y.
Recently, after speaking to a crowd of a few dozen youth activists gathered outside the Capitol, Bowman was fired up after telling the young voters focused on the plight of Palestinians that his campaign is “against AIPAC.”
“They're trying to hit us with metaphorical political bombs to stop us, but we're like, we're out of here, son. We’re on a whole nother level than that,” Bowman told Raw Story. “Historically,
U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) speaks as supporters of social media app TikTok listen during a news conference in front of the U.S. Capitol on March 22, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
anyone who fights for justice, what happens? People go after them.”
Bowman has endured a particularly difficult 2023-2024 congressional session.
In October, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and paid a fine related to his pulling of a fire alarm in a Capitol office building.
Bowman has also faced criticism after The Daily Beast unearthed old blog posts of the former school teacher and principal that espoused 9/11 conspiracy theories, which he’s since disavowed. He blames his critics for uncovering the old posts in spite of them being deleted.
“So the power structure doesn't want voices like mine, Cori [Bush (D-MO)] and Summer [Lee (D-PA)] fighting the way we're fighting without fear, with humanity and love in our hearts. So they're going to come with, you know, bring up some s— I did 15 years ago,” Bowman said. “It’s like, what? That’s all they got? I wasn’t even in Congress. Y’all crazy. But it’s because they didn't want to focus on the work we're doing here. They’re the Wizard of Oz, man.”
Tlaib, Omar and ‘uncommitted’ movement
Last February, Republicans removed Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee over past comments — ones she later apologized for — about Israel where she accused U.S. lawmakers of pledging their “allegiance to a foreign country.”
Then, at the end of last year, Tlaib — the lone Palestinian-American in Congress — became the 26th person ever to be censured by the House over what Republicans and 22 of her fellow Democrats deemed her anti-Israel rhetoric.
But the effort seems to have only emboldened Tlaib.
During the last quarter of 2023, Tlaib pulled in $3.7 million after House Republicans censured her.
“Rashida Tlaib outraises entire Michigan congressional field,” an Axios put it.
At a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol recently, Tlaib recounted the pleading she heard from one of her constituents with family in northern Gaza.
“The grandfather lives in my district and he’s saying to me, ‘My grandson has a fever, Rashida, how do I get him medicine? How do I save his life? We don't know what to do.’ Using starvation as a weapon of war is undeniably a war crime,” Tlaib told Raw Story in a passageway underneath the Capitol. “It is a war crime that we continue to be complicit in those decisions.”
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) (C) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) hold up signs as President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address during a joint meeting of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol on March 7, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Tlaib helped spearhead the effort to protest President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza by getting Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in the state’s Feb. 27 primary.
This proved to be a wake up call to Democratic Party leaders after more than 100,000 Democrats — upward of 13 percent of Michigan Democrats — voted “uncommitted” in the primary. Biden’s campaign is treating Michigan, a genuine general election swing state, as critical to the president’s reelection prospects.
In Minnesota, about 46,000 Democratic voters — or 19 percent — protested Biden by voting “uncommitted” on Super Tuesday. In Omar’s district, 25 percent of Democrats joined the Biden protest at the ballot box.
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“Of course, there needs to be a real shift. We’re saying we’re the party of the people, we have to start listening to the people,” Omar told Raw Story. “We are going to stand up to AIPAC. We’ve always stood up to them, and it's not going to be any different cycle.”
Just this week, a "Reject AIPAC" coalition of progressive political groups launched with the stated intention of boosting Squad members and other like-minded Democrats during 2024 elections.
“I think there are people who try to make it sound like we are not in a good position, but we have great fundraising numbers. We have the support and endorsement of all of the leadership. I think we're in a great place,” Omar said.
As for whether The Squad’s role has changed?
Omar says not at all.
“I think it's the same. We've always had primaries. I think we're in a unique place. I think this is probably going to be a primary cycle where we all squash, I think, our challengers in a great way,” Omar said. “No, I mean, I think our role is still the same, you know, defending democracy, fighting for the advancement of our country through policies like the Green New Deal, Homes for All, taking on big corporations.”
‘Yeah. No. We’re good.’
“So is the Squad hurting these days?” Raw Story asked Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA).
“Let me just say this: We're used to being targeted. We're doing transformative work, disrupting the status quo, and we're all BIPOC. Nothing new,” Pressley told Raw Story while riding an elevator in the Capitol. “You know what we're hurting from? We're hurting from — our communities are hurting because we're here in this dysfunctional place and we're not lifting up, centering and working on the things that matter to them, like housing.”
“Yeah. No. We’re good,” Pressley said. “Focused on the people.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) speaks at the National Council for Incarcerated Women and Girls "100 Women for 100 Women" rally at Black Lives Matter Plaza on March 12, 2021, in Washington, D,C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
While The Squad has moved the party further to left on many issues, its unofficial leader, Ocasio-Cortez says their work isn’t done yet, especially when it comes to Gaza.
“It is moving. I think we've certainly had major policy concessions on everything from climate to student loans,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I think we do need to see some of those real policy concessions on foreign policy in Gaza, for sure.”
As for all the negative attention that The Squad is receiving — from censures to primaries — that’s the world they inhabit. Together.
“I guess I’m less fazed, because this is the way it's always been,” Ocasio-Cortez told Raw Story. “I don't know any other way.”
