Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has yet to take office, and she’s already gunning for . . . fellow Democrats.
The Bronx-Queens representative-elect joined a video conference call hosted by the lefty Justice Democrats to urge more people to challenge moderate incumbents, saying, “Long story short, I need you to run for office.”
And her incoming chief of staff — a co-founder of Justice Democrats — was even more vehement: “We need new leaders, period,” said Saikat Chakrabarti. “We gotta primary, folks.”
OK, AOC was partly just repaying a group key to her rise. But this follows her role last week in a green sit-in protest at the office of Speaker-in-waiting Rep. Nancy Pelosi. When does the new congresswoman stop lecturing and do a little listening?
It’s fine to bask in the media spotlight after ousting No. 4 House Democrat Joe Crowley in a huge primary upset. But AOC owes that win in good measure to gentrification that brought a host of young white progressives into the district. Very few other seats present the same opportunity for the left.
And a ton of her fellow House freshmen won office as moderates in swing suburban districts. Meanwhile, most of the Democratic Socialists that AOC endorsed … lost.
If AOC burns all her bridges before the 116th Congress convenes in January, she’ll have big trouble delivering for all the voters back home.
A showboat who gets nothing done is just begging for a serious primary challenger of her own come 2020.



