Since her shock primary win over Joe Crowley in 2018, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has often butted heads with Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), arguing over everything from policy to age gap. According to an upcoming book written by The Intercept’s Ryan Grim and reviewed by The Guardian, Ocasio-Cortez once complained about Pelosi in a text, writing, “The amount of times she told me that stupid ‘I have protest signs older than you in my basement’ shit. Like yeah but mine don’t collect dust.” In a text from spring 2023, Ocasio-Cortez reportedly expressed concern that her job would get more difficult after Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) replaced Pelosi as Democratic minority leader. “I thought a lot of my misery was due to leadership more broadly having a thing against me,” she was quoted saying, adding that she was relieved to realize that her issues with leadership “was kind of just [Pelosi] the whole time.” She continued, “Senior members talk to me, chairs are nice to me, people want to work together… I couldn’t even get floor time before.”
