Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-CortezLawmakers fear voter backlash over failure to reach COVID-19 relief deal Why Democrats must confront extreme left wing incitement to violence The Hill Interview: Jerry Brown on climate disasters, COVID-19 and Biden's 'Rooseveltian moment' MORE (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday sent out a fundraising email to supporters after The Hill reported that some Democrats hope the progressive freshman lawmaker faces a primary challenge in 2020.

“We expected pushback. Today we got it,” campaign manager Rebecca Rodriguez reportedly wrote in the email.

“We always knew the establishment would stand in our way,” she said. “We just didn’t expect them to come after us so hard and so fast.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Rodriguez asked supporters to donate at least $3 to the Ocasio-Cortez 2020 campaign to help “fight back against any primary challenge the establishment throws our way.”

The Hill reported earlier Tuesday that a Democratic legislator who spoke anonymously is pushing local politicians to find an opponent for Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic socialist who has ruffled plenty of Capitol Hill feathers after her election last year.

“What I have recommended to the New York delegation is that you find her a primary opponent and make her a one-term congressperson,” the lawmaker said. “You’ve got numerous council people and state legislators who’ve been waiting 20 years for that seat.”

Ocasio-Cortez fired back at those comments on Twitter, saying they show “how disconnected” Washington insiders can be.

“That broken mentality, that public office is something you wait in line for, instead of earning through hard organizing, is exactly what voters want to change,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Ocasio-Cortez has supported progressive groups that threaten to bring primary challengers to sitting politicians after herself unseating then-Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) in a 2018 primary.