After former Vice President Joe Biden won 10 out of the 14 states that voted on Super Tuesday, the media dubbed it a historic comeback.
However, not everyone shares that sentiment. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), said that Biden’s victories may not be indicative of a wave of new support that will carry Biden to the nomination.
In an interview on CNN on Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez said, “We want to be good sportsmen” about Biden’s victories on Tuesday. However, she said that the reason Biden seems to have had such a good night is that he had “low expectations.”
“He over-performed because he had low expectations. And I think that’s one thing that we have to clarify. It was kind of a last-minute consolidation of some of the more moderate and conservative Democratic candidates in the cycle, which happened right before this race. And for folks who are making that decision in the 72-hours before the race, where you have these dramatic developments, that is compelling.”
Additionally, she took a shot at Biden’s success, suggesting that it was the result of a”moment” and not a sign of a “movement:
“But, that is an event, and it is a moment. It is not necessarily a movement. Which is what the senator has been building.”
Watch the interview below:
The rapid consolidation of the moderate wing has been largely credited for Biden’s sweep on Tuesday. Exit polls show that voters who waited until the last couple of days to decide who to vote for broke overwhelmingly for Biden.
His success comes after he failed to win any of the first three primary contests and was seen as a “zombie Biden” who was all but finished in the race and might siphon votes away from other moderates.
However, after a roughly 30-point win in the South Carolina primary, polls showed a massive surge in support for Biden right before Super Tuesday.
While the moderates consolidated around Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who shares the progressive lane with Sanders, was accused of being a drag on the Vermont senator.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who also endorsed Sanders, didn’t mention Warren by name but suggested that she had split the progressive vote and cost Sanders’ some victories.
Imagine if the progressives consolidated last night like the moderates consolidated, who would have won?
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 4, 2020
That’s what we should be analyzing. I feel confident a united progressive movement would have allowed for us to #BuildTogether and win MN and other states we narrowly lost. https://t.co/lAj2mhI3GR
Sanders has routinely touted his coalition of young and Hispanic voters who have overwhelmingly supported his campaign. However, it appears that his coalition’s turnout was outpaced by older voters, who favor Biden.