reported<\/a> that Mamdani met with Schumer in September \u2014 and Jeffries earlier in the summer \u2014 but neither have issued a formal endorsement of the self-proclaimed democratic socialist.<\/p>\nWhen asked by Collins what she thought about Jeffries and Schumer\u2019s decision to hold back from endorsing Mamdani, Ocasio-Cortez repeated her previous public statements that she believes it is crucial for the party to endorse its candidate once a primary has ended.<\/p>\n
\u201cDemocrats have primaries for a reason,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez said. \u201cWe may have our differences amongst one another within the party \u2014 some may be more conservative, some may be more liberal, or any other number of differences. That\u2019s what we have primaries for. I believe in endorsing the nominee of the party after a primary has resolved itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ocasio-Cortez gave a related example: her decision to endorse former President Joe Biden after he won the Democratic primary in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all had to come together and do the work of supporting our party\u2019s nominee in order to make sure that we win,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I do worry about the example it sets when our leaders do not support the party nominee, because in the future, we will need folks to rally behind the presidential nominee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez spent the majority of the town hall discussing the ongoing government shutdown. During one particularly heated exchange, the pair called out their Republican colleagues for refusing to negotiate on measures that would end the standoff \u2014 namely, extensions to Affordable Care Act subsidies that would stave off massive increases in health insurance premiums.<\/p>\n
Ocasio-Cortez said Republicans need to get to work, pointing out that House Republicans have been absent from Capitol Hill while House Speaker Mike Johnson keeps the chamber in an extended recess period.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is actually an unconscionable abdication and refusal to work,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen people who hate working so much in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added, \u201cMike Johnson, you should be in that office negotiating with Hakeem Jeffries every damn day until we reopen this government, and any day that you don\u2019t do that is a failure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders echoed the sentiment, stating, \u201cIn the Senate, they need 60 votes. They don\u2019t have 60 votes. They\u2019ve got 53 or maybe 52 \u2014 that means you have to sit down and talk to the other side. It is not complicated. They are not doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, greets Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., as they speak during a stop of their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[878,5057,5058,651,9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-5202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-alexandria-ocasio-cortez","9":"tag-bernie-sanders","10":"tag-cnn","11":"tag-democratic-party","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-nyc-headlines","16":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AP-Sanders-Ocasio-Cortez-2025-1200x741.jpg\")
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, greets Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., as they speak during a stop of their \u201cFighting Oligarchy\u201d tour at Civic Center Park, March 21, 2025, in Denver. Photo by David Zalubowski\/AP<\/p>\n