Author's note: Earlier this week, I wanted to pause writing to pursue a few history books from the 1990s related to Congress. I watched interviews on C-SPAN's Booknotes, where the host, Brian Lamb, interviews the author(s) and their experiences related to the written subject matter. One episode caught my attention: former Democratic Rep. Tim Penny from Wisconsin and journalist Major Garrett for their book "Common Cents," which the transcript can be found here.
Recently, there was an interview published by the New York Times, and earlier in the year, an article by Politico about the rise of the Democratic congresswoman from New York, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). From being a rabble-rouser to a party team player, she has transformed in such a short period. Shy from calling herself an insider, she has gained ground in Democratic establishment circles, and has even endorsed President Biden for re-election before the primary races have begun. Looking back into history can expose a few clues as to why lawmakers go through this change, for the interview between Penny and Garrett was a tell-tale sign of this type of substance.
In a book best described as focused on the very culture of Washington and its politics, varying from its activities and practices, authors Penny and Garrett spoke about their view on what goes on in the nation's capital, particularly in Congress. Late into the interview, Lamb [the host] asked if they noticed members of Congress changing from the start of their first year as a freshman to the following years ahead.
Garret responded that the course of change happens gradually, just as if it were to be raising a young child, for it is hard to know when the change instantly occurs. When it comes to lawmakers, however, the instance usually happens when "the first real rung of power is lowered to them -- that is to say, a really prized committee seat," such as Ways and Means, Appropriations, or the Commerce Committee.
Or it could be that someone becomes part of the leadership organization, where they may be placed in a small role such as an at-large whip or a vote counter, which may entail belonging to the leadership dynamic. Doing so would establish a sort of entree, if you will, where this "begins to move them slightly away, very gradually away from the original agenda they came with and more toward the leadership agenda because they're at the sufferance of the people who chose them to be in this little group."
Lamb followed up by asking when they noticed a feeling of a change. Penny responded that once you've become an incumbent member of Congress, raising money on Capitol Hill from particular interests and PAC groups is easy. "But then the point is, at what point do you become too reliant on those special interest contributions, and at what point does that complicate or compromise your larger agenda? But I think that's a part of it."
In an example of a first-year class, Penny pointed to the enormous pressures to conform and to go along with business as usual by leadership, partially the freshman class in 1992:
"Around 60 freshman Democrats arrived, and before they even came to Washington, DC, the leadership traveled to hold regional meetings around the country in which freshmen were told, basically, 'This is no time to rock the boat. Don't come rushing through the door with this reform agenda, which only will serve to embarrass us as a party, because a lot of the senior members aren't going to vote for your kind of campaign reform. They're not going to vote to eliminate committees. Let's get that out of your heads. Now we've got larger issues to worry about. We've now won back the White House. We've got to get together on, you know, a whole range of issues, and in order for you to have a role in that, you need good committee assignments, and we can give you good committee assignments.'"
For emphasis, the party leadership explained to new members that they needed to have a good committee assignment to have a role in congressional workings.
But here's where the kicker comes into play, as Penny said, "So all of a sudden, these legislators, well intended, are sort of putting this on a scale and saying, 'Well, I've got this reform agenda, and it's a big part of the reason I came here, but I don't want to be a non-player. And these committee assignments are pretty important.' And so the compromises begin before you even get in the door."
Before a freshman member is sworn in, before they even enter into a new political reality, they've already been compromised because to advance their legislative prospects, committee assignments are a vital part of being in Congress, primarily if one seeks to be close with party leadership.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is a modern-day case, particularly among Democratic circles, when it comes to lawmakers who've arrived seeking to challenge the status quo. Only to be swept by the first real rung of power lowered upon them, now into her third term.
The first publication from Politico, written by Nicholas Wu, and Jordain Carney, "From Agitator to Insider: The Evolution of AOC," briefly tells about an embracing new role AOC has as a team player.
The foremost person of the Squad, she has recently shown "her willingness to take on party leaders when others on the left would not — is acquiring power via more traditional means now. She snagged a senior position on a plum committee [Oversight], putting her in closer proximity to top House Democrats." With Democrats taking the back seat after Republicans gained a small leverage during the 2022 midterms, some of her next steps include creating a relationship with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
"There's a world where I'm here for a long time in this seat, in this position,” she said. “There's a world where I'm not an elected official anymore. There's a world where… I may be in higher office."
While the base amongst a progressive crew inside the Democratic party may not reward those who work the levers inside Congress, influence, however, can be picked up if one, such as AOC, can latch onto the party's inner workings. Doing so would create the media exposure necessary amongst establishment lanes, give or take.
Those who've followed AOC's media hits have said she's given more time to mainstream media versus independent media outlets.
During her freshman term, she skipped party meetings, and was welcomed by other House Democrats "with a mix of admiration, disrespect, and fear." Oddly enough, in the NYT piece, she told of a more bitter encounter, calling it "extremely hostile."
More on that later.
Having to create her agency when dealing with media attention, she stated, "One of those things that I really learned during that period was that there was nothing I could do that would dampen that fervor. Whether I participated in it or not, there was just going to be all these stories and all of these things…"
As the authors explain:
"Ocasio-Cortez is operating in a much different place now, and nothing encapsulates that repositioning more than her ascension to a top role on the Oversight Committee. Her role as vice ranking member has helped Democratic leadership bring her closer inside their tent — and allowed her to assert herself as an institutional force, while still channeling the energy she brought as a 29-year-old newcomer in 2019."
To break this down, AOC is indeed working in a different place, but it's in a different realm of the Democratic party. Being part of the House Oversight Committee could be one thing, but being positioned as a vice-ranking member is a whole other meaning. This has enabled her to be closer to leadership, and as brought up earlier, it's that first real spectacle of power, that prized committee seat. Because if a member does play their cards well with party leadership, they can give you that good committee seat and may just speak kindly in return.
Go against the party, they may as well be bitter. But go along to get along; they'll likely be showing a warm welcome with open arms.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who serves as the Oversight Committee's ranking member, has said that AOC has an "academic nerd side to her," that people don't see. Raskin himself was a former law professor and attributed her skillset as such.
"I … own that I was very critical of our party's leadership," AOC said, reflecting on her past. Although she claimed that her relationship with the new batch of Democratic House leaders was "still evolving," she did indicate the dynamics of "a significant shift," likely due to new liberal members who seem to be younger and more diverse.
On the contrary, it can be explained she went to acknowledge this evolving shift because she has found that for her political profile to rise, she can't take her chances of rubbing her party the wrong way. Had she continued to do so, she may not have been able to get that committee spot, amongst other benefits party leadership may have in store.
AOC has been helping the Democratic party develop new ways to help shape their investigative strategy, such as teaching her colleagues how to ask better questions during a hearing.
Committees were a refuge to her, or at least, "one of the few refuges," when she arrived on the Hill just a few short years ago. In a place that could give more senior Democrats the benefit of the doubt, it was an area where she would be able to "demonstrate my capacities and earned respect based on my work," she said. Furthermore, ""It's understandable when I first arrived, if someone would try to question my substance and my commitment to work, but that commitment has always been there."
She's become a team player, and there's more that follows.
The second publication was from the New York Times by Lulu Garcia-Navarro, in a lengthy interview with the congresswoman. Various topics were discussed [such as the Biden administration, immigration, and her visit to South America], but for context, the focus here will mainly be about the relationship AOC has built within the House Democratic party.
Although progressives in the party may view it as "suspicious," her method to learn how to maneuver the halls of Congress is to get comfortable by having more influence on the inside.
Point blank, it is here where the gradual change occurs — away from an agenda one originally arrived with, and geared more towards the agenda brought by leadership.
At the beginning of the interview, Garcia-Navarro asked AOC that heading into a third term, where the job isn't considered new anymore, much has changed since her first election back in 2018, but since then, what has changed about herself since taking office?
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez noted it had much to do with steadiness and confidence in her own doing during a great political upheaval with a Trump presidency, and the Democratic party was lost in an ideological transition period between the old and new. "And even coming into Washington, not just figuring out how I orient myself politically, coming from a background of direct action and activism, but then also adding on the entire profession of legislating at a federal level," she said.
Heading into this new environment where many DC politicians tend to be wealthy, she understood that she would be around such a privileged environment.
When asked about personal changes, AOC responded how she felt she had to prove two things simultaneously that were at odds with each other:
"I had to prove to the people that elected me that I am committed and very well grounded in all of the values and issues and fights — from taking on a party establishment that can be very calcified to continuing to fight for landmark progressive issues like Medicare for all, and comprehensive changes to our immigration system or criminal justice reform. And the second was that I had to prove to this world of Washington that I was serious and skilled, and that I wasn't just here to make a headline, but that I was here to engage in this process in a skilled and sophisticated way. That I did my homework, so to speak."
While she did try to take on the establishment wing of her party early on, for her to prove herself in Washington as an elected official and to be engaged throughout its complex process — it's apparent that she chose to fall in line with the mainstream sector of her party, and away from her progressive bearings during her early years.
A follow-up question was about her brand as a political outsider, yet she has since moved on to serve as the House Oversight Committee vice-ranking member. Garcia-Navarro asked if AOC sees herself as an insider.
"I don't think so," she answered. "I mean, on a certain level, once you are engaged as a legislator, you are on the inside. That is a function of the role. And that grants myself or anyone else in a similar position the tools to be able to translate this outside energy into internal change."
Being a legislator does bring some sense of being on the inside; yet the point Garcia-Navarro may have been trying to refer here was if the congresswoman saw herself aligned with Democratic party leadership given her recent political profile in a highly-placed committee.
"When I first came in, I came into an environment that I sensed was never going to give me a chance, and into a party that was extremely hostile to my presence, extremely hostile to my existence. That's one of the reasons I dug so powerfully into my work," she said. However, this contradicts her previous statement in the previously mentioned article about noticing "a mix of admiration, disrespect, and fear."
AOC expressed she had to work hard to get half as far, and understood that relations and expertise were important. In her admission, the best thing she could do was to work as hard as she possibly could to where the benefit of the doubt was earned.
One of those moments was during her first committee hearing on the Oversight Committee in February 2019, questioning Michael Cohen, she said. "'She's just going to put on a show,'" AOC reflected upon the commentary at the time. "And I knew that I was capable of more than that. I think anyone who is used to being underestimated can relate to that experience."
Further into the interview, near its conclusion, Garcia-Navarro asked, "Do you feel more comfortable in the Democratic Party now?... So is it OK to be a regular Democrat now?"
The congresswoman responded:
"The activist in me always seeks to agitate for more. I think despite there being progress, many people are still woefully underserved in this country. But the Democratic Party has changed dramatically in the last five years. Even if you just look at the numbers, I believe it's something around 50 percent of House Democrats have been elected since 2018. And so what is considered center and moderate now is dramatically different than what it was five years ago."
It should come as no surprise in her last line how that seems to be misrepresented — about the change of center and moderates have become in the last five years, especially when compared to the Democratic party. Just take a look into a meme titled "My Fellow Liberal?" which was tweeted out by Elon Musk in April of 2022. Such a change occurred because the Leftists in the party seemed to have gone further down the spectrum, only to call out center or moderate members as part of the political right.
The last question Garcia-Navarro asked was, "We started this conversation talking about how you entered politics at a particular moment, and not a good one. And you acknowledged that your tenure has been tumultuous, with attacks on democracy and on your own person. Do you like your job?"
"I certainly think I like it a lot more than I used to," the congresswoman replied. "There have been times where this work has been extremely challenging, and I didn't know if I would survive in this position." Suffice to say, she seems to bear great responsibility because the working class is not well-represented in Congress, and she rated it to be extremely low.
One of America's most historical parties, which used to represent the working class, has now, in this day and age, lost its support amongst the working class.
Yet part of her motivation to pursue public office had to do with feeling a sense of responsibility, not only for the representation of Latinas and people of color, but on policy, too.
Having won her first election at just 28 years old, she understood that a large degree of learning comes with it. Even at 33 years old today, she still faces challenges, such as being hard on herself and comparing herself to her more senior colleagues, many of whom have been in politics for decades. "But again, it's something that is very important, and I maintain that one of my responsibilities is to hold the door open for those who are to come," she concluded.
The next time someone new gets voted into Congress, notice how they change from their first term, their second, and if democratically willing, their third or more. Adaptations won't happen overnight, for it will happen gradually. Whether it is that prized committee seat or a small role in a leadership capacity, so begins the slow away push of someone who came to Washington even with the best of intentions.
At what point does one's political agenda get complicated or compromised? They're at the sufferance of the people who chose them to be a part of this small yet vital political circle, even if they may not want to be a team player initially.
In the case described in the paragraphs above detailing AOC's evolution and growing role amongst the House Democrats, having influence is essential. While she may not publicly consider herself an insider, relationships amongst her more establishment colleagues have shown less hostility, and many are getting comfortable with her.
A fierce lawmaker has now made progress into becoming just another regular Democrat who is part of the inside.