Trump pokes at Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over possible AOC primary challenge in 2022

AOC Schumer — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Former President Trump teased Sen. Schumer over a possible progressive primary challenge by AOC.
In a statement, Trump said that progressives would gain more power by tanking the infrastructure legislation.
AOC, who was first elected to the House in 2018, has demurred when asked about a future Senate bid.
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Former President Donald Trump on Friday poked at Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York over a potential Democratic primary challenge from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2022.

In opining on the ongoing battle over the infrastructure bills currently being debated in Congress, Trump cheered on progressive angst over the size and scope of the individual pieces of legislation.

"The Progressives gain far more power with the legislation being currently talked about by failing than if it passes," he said in a statement. "It makes them a true powerhouse. Next up, AOC running against Chuck Schumer for his US Senate Seat!"

The statement from the former president comes as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delayed a vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill after progressives revolted over the legislation not being passed in tandem with a larger Democratic-led infrastructure package that is currently being held up by Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona over its $3.5 trillion cost.

Trump has been a harsh critic of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but his opposition did not deter 19 GOP senators from backing the legislation.

Ocasio-Cortez, a two-term congresswoman and one of the highest-profile progressive lawmakers in the country, told CNN in June that she had a good working relationship with Schumer, but did not rule out any future political plans.

"I know it drives everybody nuts," she told the network at the time. "But the way that I really feel about this, and the way that I really approach my politics and my political career is that I do not look at things and I do not set my course positionally."

She added: "I can't operate the way that I operate and do the things that I do in politics while trying to be aspiring to other things or calculating to other things."

Schumer, who was first elected to the Senate in 1998, will be running for a fifth term next year while also working to maintain a Democratic legislative majority.

In 2016, he was reelected in a landslide, winning nearly 71% of the vote against Republican Wendy Long.

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