Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is bringing bicoastal fire power to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting push.
The New York Democrat is the latest party figure to put her seal of approval on the Nov. 4 ballot measure to redraw California’s congressional lines, further nationalizing a campaign that Newsom hopes to make a referendum on President Donald Trump.
The representative commonly known as AOC is featured in a direct-to-camera video, accusing Trump of initiating a mid-decade redistricting push “to force through a Congress that responds only to him.”
“If he gets away with it, all bets are off — for our health care, our paychecks and our freedoms,” she says in the video. “With Prop 50, we can stop him.”
Ocasio-Cortez also appears in a Spanish-language spot touting a similar message. The campaign plans to run the ads on broadcast television as well as digitally.
The ‘yes’ side has increasingly leaned on prominent Democrats to be the face of their campaigns. Chief among them is Newsom, who has surged in prominence as he has staked an increasingly combative posture against Trump. But the campaign has also looked outside California to well-known Democrats such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in hopes of further rallying their party’s base.
The measure’s opponents are trotting out their own high-wattage endorser. On Tuesday, the ‘no’ campaign debuted its ad featuring former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom they see as the most potent counterweight to Newsom and the Democrats’ efforts.
