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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told a Texas crowd Saturday that it is inevitable that Texas will turn blue as she endorsed two candidates for Congress prior to the primary next month.
Ocasio-Cortez, who has had mixed results when endorsing candidates, was in San Antonio to support the campaigns of Jessica Cisneros and Greg Casar. MySanAntonio.com reported that Ocasio-Cortez told the crowd that the two have her backing because they back Medicare for all, unions and reproductive freedom.
“Here’s what’s exciting about Jessica’s race and Greg’s race … is that if we flip Texas, we flip the country.” She continued, “Texas turning blue is inevitable. The only question is when. We are going to fight for a living wage, we are going to make sure we unionize the hell out of this state … and we’re going to make sure that not one dime is made exploitatively across any worker, especially the undocumented.”
Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to an after-hours email from Fox News.
The New York representative is not the first politician to imagine a world where the Republican Party loses Texas’ crucial 38 electoral college votes, which is a nightmare for the party. In September 2019, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the state would be close in the 2020 presidential election. (Former President Trump carried the state, winning 52.1% to President Biden’s 46.5%.)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks during a news conference at the “Get Out the Vote” rally on Feb. 12, 2022, in San Antonio, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“If we lose Texas, it’s game over,” Cruz told a Christian Science Monitor breakfast at the time. “I don’t believe Texas will turn blue, but central to that is we’re going to have to work to communicate and turn people out.”
Democratic candidate Greg Casar addressed supporters at the “Get Out the Vote” rally. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Macarena Martinez, the Republican National Committee’s Texas communications director, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview that the RNC’s investment in the Lone Star State is the largest in the organization’s history.
Cisneros is looking to unseat incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, in Texas’ 28th Congressional District. Casar is running for Texas House District 35.
Fox News’ Michael Lee and the Associated Press contributed to this report