A senior adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign defended Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) after the lawmaker threw her support behind Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in the Democratic presidential primary this week.
“It’s hard to go against your home state senator — it’s just hard,” Chuck Rocha told Hill.TV on Thursday. “We’ve honestly had conversations and we respect her tremendously.”
“She did what was best for her,” Rocha added. “We think that the Squad as a whole — all of them are great, no matter who they endorse.”
In a video announcing her endorsement, Pressely praised Warren for “fighting for fundamental change that restores power to those who’ve been left behind.”
“You’ve all heard about the senator’s plans but here’s the thing: The plans are about power, who has it, who refuses to let it go, and who deserves more of it. For Elizabeth and for me, power belongs in the hands of the people,” Pressley said.
Her endorsement comes after the other three members of “The Squad” of progressive freshman congresswomen — Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) — endorsed Sanders.
Both Omar and Ocasio-Cortez, however, tweeted heart emojis in response to Pressley’s video announcing her support for Warren in the 2020 race.
And Tlaib retweeted a video of Pressley’s endorsement that was accompanied with a tweet that read: “I have the deepest respect for the entire squad-and their ability to operate and function as four independent women of strong mind and informed principles.”
—Tess Bonn
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