'Removing the whole ticket': AOC warns 'elites' will try to bypass Harris if Biden steps aside

Top Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York), are reportedly urging President Joe Biden, in private conversations, to end his reelection campaign. The two Democratic leaders fear that, according to extensive polling data and research, he will be unable to defeat GOP nominee Donald Trump in November.

But if Biden drops out of the race, the burning question becomes: Who will replace him as the nominee? Some Democratic strategists believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is their best shot, and liberal New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has described Harris as the most logical choice.

However, progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), during an early Friday morning discussion on Instagram Live, stressed that Democrats are not universally sold on Harris as a Biden replacement nominee.

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AOC told fellow Democrats, "If you think there is a consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave, that they will support Vice President Harris, you would be mistaken. I'm in these rooms; I see what they say in conversations. A lot of them are not just interested in removing the president, they are interested in removing the whole ticket."

CNN's Julian Zelizer, in a July 5 op-ed, called for an all-female Harris/Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ticket. But Newsweek's Khaleda Rahman, on July 19, reported that Whitmer has ruled out running for either president or vice president this year.

Rahman, in a separate article, reports that according to AOC, Democratic donors aren't necessarily lining up to support Harris as the nominee.

"I'm here to tell you, a huge amount of the donor class and a huge amount of these elites, and a huge amount of these folks in these rooms that I see that are pushing for President Biden not to be the nominee, also are not interested in seeing the vice president being the nominee," the Bronx/Queens congresswoman said during the Instagram Live discussion. "Will they win out on that? I don't know. But I am here to tell you: do not take that for granted."

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