Progressive Group Behind AOC Sets Sights On Two More Entrenched Democrats

The progressive group that propelled Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to victory announced Wednesday that it has set its sights on unseating two more entrenched Democrats.

Justice Democrats endorsed Holyoke, Massachusetts, Mayor Alex Morse, who is challenging Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, and ex-Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employee Morgan Harper, who is challenging Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty. Justice Democrats also endorsed Kara Eastman Wednesday for her second bid to unseat Republican Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon.

“We are honored to endorse these three candidates as part of a new generation of Democrats who will fight for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, free college, and ending mass incarceration and deportation,” Justice Democrats executive director Alexandra Rojas said in a statement, according to The Hill.

Neal has been in office for 30 years and is chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. He has been attacked from the left for not going after President Donald Trump’s tax returns quickly enough.

Neal’s challenger was born the same year that the congressman took office. Morse, a millennial, is openly gay and declared his city a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants, according to The Hill.

Beatty has been in office for six years and is vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Her challenger, Harper, was in foster care as an infant and grew up to earn degrees from Princeton and Stanford, according to her website.

Justice Democrats also announced in June they are supporting Jamaal Bowman, an educator challenging long-serving Democratic New York Rep. Eliot Engel. The congressman, who is Jewish, criticized Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar after she slammed “the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country,” referring to Israel, in March.

Omar is one of seven incumbents endorsed by Justice Democrats.