New York’s Democratic Socialist congressman, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is defending her role in helping end the planned creation of 25,000 jobs in The Bronx.
Voters in the area where the investment was being planned — Long Island City — opposed the deal, she said.
Polling data, though, tells another story.
“I was listening to that pocket of the community where that was going, and it was very clear and decisive feedback," Ocasio-Cortez told NY’s Errol Louis.
But as the editor of the polling data site Five Thirty Eight, Nate Silver, noted, the deal was supported by those in the impacted area; support was higher among minority groups.
AOC initially downplayed her role in ending the deal, saying she merely “sent three tweets,” but later acknowledged playing a more prominent role.
Here’s a transcript of the exchange:
LOUIS: "The Amazon deal collapses and people say, you know, Ocasio-Cortez —"
OCASIO-CORTEZ: "Yeah."
LOUIS: "And I've been following a reporting and I said, wait a minute she does a lot of stuff but I don’t think she was involved in this one.”
OCASIO-CORTEZ: “Yeah. I sent like 3 tweets.” (Laughter)
LOUIS: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean — but — so some of that sort of continues right? I mean —"
OCASIO-CORTEZ: "Yeah."
LOUIS: "— people will ask you, you know, who do you like for mayor in 2021?"
OCASIO-CORTEZ: "Right."
LOUIS: "Are you going to run for mayor in 2021.”
OCASIO-CORTEZ: “Well no. That’s for — that's — that's for sure."
LOUIS: "That's a definitive one. OK."
OCASIO-CORTEZ: "That’s a definitive one. And I do recognize that there is that symbolic power because — not — not just because of me or my name but I think because people do trust that we try our best to do things with integrity and we’re at least trying to make our system transparent and more accountable to everyday people. So I am aware of — of that. And you know with Amazon one of the big reasons I took the position that I did was because I was listening to that pocket of the community where this was going. And it was very clear and decisive feedback and as an elected official for that community I felt a responsibility to say this is what I’m hearing."