Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticized Democratic strategist James Carville for blaming Democrats’ impoverished showings on Election Day in many states on the “dumb awakening” of progressives, with a member of the “Squad” saying the term is popular among elderly people.
“Like the average audience, the people who seriously use the word ‘woke’ in political discussions in 2021, are the pundits at James Carville and Fox News, so they should be telling you everything you need to know,” Ocasio-Cortez said in Twitter thread Friday.
“And before people brazenly start complaining that the word ‘woke’ is denigrating to older people, the reality is that experts like Carville are using terms like ‘woke’ to insult voters under 45, which is demeaning,” she continued. “Don’t wonder why young people’s turnout is down when Democrats talk about them like that. We need everyone.”
This came after Carville, who managed former President Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, said during an appearance last week on “PBS NewsHour” that the cultural policies of far-left Democrats could be attributed to the party’s impoverished showing in Tuesday’s election.
“Well, it’s gone wrong, it’s a stupid awakening,” he said. “Don’t just look at Virginia and New Jersey.”
“Look at Long Island, look at Buffalo, look at Minneapolis. Even look at Seattle, Washington. “I mean, this ‘defund the police’ crazy, this ‘removing Abraham Lincoln’s name from schools’ – people are seeing it,” he said, before pointing out that progressives should check themselves into a “woke detox center.”
Republican Glenn Youngkin won the Virginia governor’s race over Democrat Terry McAuliffe, even though President Joe Biden won the commonwealth by 10 percentage points in the 2020 election. Meanwhile, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.Y.) narrowly won re-election in a race he was expected to win in a landslide.
Republicans also won the lieutenant governor and attorney general races in Virginia and took control of the House of Delegates. The party also won state seats in many other states, including New Jersey, Texas and Ohio.
Additionally, voters in Minneapolis and Seattle rejected the idea of defunding the police following the anti-police protests that plagued their cities following the death of George Floyd. Minneapolis voted against a resolution to replace its police department, while Seattle elected Republican Ann Davidson as city attorney in a race against anti-police Democrat Nicole Thomas-Kennedy.
