Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive insurgent who stunned Rep. Joe Crowley last month, was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. But you’d barely have known it.

Ocasio-Cortez didn’t make an appearance at House Democrats’ meeting Tuesday morning, the weekly confab that Crowley (D-N.Y.), as caucus chairman, runs.


Nor did Ocasio-Cortez make herself available to POLITICO or other reporters for interviews, in contrast to the marathon of public appearances she’s made since her upset primary victory, including on late night TV and on the campaign trail with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Instead, Ocasio-Cortez quietly met with leading progressive Democrats one-on-one and mostly eschewed discussion of the controversial stances that have helped propel her to national stardom and roiled Democratic Party politics nearly overnight.

“I found her very idealistic, very passionate, very interested,” said Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who met with Ocasio-Cortez over lunch at Tortilla Coast, a popular Capitol Hill Mexican restaurant. “She asked a lot of questions. She’s really interested in, I think, in getting to know other members and working with them.”

Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The progressive freshman, who himself took down a Democratic incumbent in 2016, was the only congressional Democrat to support Ocasio-Cortez’s longshot campaign.

Khanna notably offered a “co-endorsement” of both Ocasio-Cortez and Crowley, prompting private mocking from his Democratic colleagues at the time. No one else thought Crowley, a 20-year incumbent, No. 4 House Democrat and Queens party boss, could lose to Ocasio-Cortez, a first-time candidate and self-described democratic socialist.

But while Democrats were quick to embrace Ocasio-Cortez after the upset victory, and her calls to abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been adopted by 2020 presidential hopefuls, her actions since the primary have alienated many of her likely House colleagues, prompting questions about how much of a force she’ll be on the Hill.

Ocasio-Cortez attacked Crowley on Twitter earlier this month, accusing him of trying to mount a third-party bid against her. The move didn’t go over well with other House Democrats, who saw the play as an unnecessarily personal attack on Crowley, a well-liked member of the caucus who said he wasn’t going to run against her in November.

Since then, Ocasio-Cortez has continued to ruffle feathers by endorsing primary challengers to other Democratic incumbents, from veteran Reps. Mike Capuano of Massachusetts and Lacy Clay of Missouri to freshman Rep. Stephanie Murphy of Florida. Ocasio-Cortez campaigned with Clay’s challenger, Cori Bush, in Missouri over the weekend.

But on Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez, who is expected to win in November, appeared to avoid any potential controversies. She notably did not meet with members of House Democratic leadership, although House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) chatted with her via phone last week.

Instead she huddled with friendly faces — fellow liberals including Khanna, Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chairs Mark Pocan of Wisconsin and Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state.

Those members said the discussions were mostly focused on practical things — advice for the swearing-in ceremony, committee assignments Ocasio-Cortez should try to get and how to work within, not against, the current Democratic Caucus structure.

“I didn’t get into that,” Grijalva said when asked whether he brought up the current members she’s campaigning against. “I think she’s heard from many on that, and I didn’t get into it.”

Grijalva said he knew of Ocasio-Cortez when she worked as an organizer during Sanders’ presidential campaign. But his “introductory meeting” with her on Tuesday was different.

“Now she’s a colleague, and I think she deserves to be treated as such. I hope I did that,” Grijalva told reporters.

Nor did he bring up an idea Ocasio-Cortez floated publicly recently — forming a “sub-caucus” of progressives who would stick together to force liberal priorities on the House floor, similar to what the GOP’s hard-line Freedom Caucus tries to do on the right.

Instead, Grijalva and Pocan said they separately stressed to her that the real opportunity to make change will occur only if Democrats are able to win back the House and work together.

“I think she’s understanding a lot of our priorities are the things she’s also been advocating for,” Pocan said in an interview. “She wants to be part of any conversations we have — she’s in this transition period — with what the progressive caucus, what we’re working on.”

Khanna had his own advice: “I said she should continue to be bold in her platform and disregard anyone who tells her to keep her head down,” he told POLITICO.

“Come here from Day One, hit the ground running with ideas, be visible,” Khanna added. “She’s bringing new energy, organizing people, and I love it, keep going.”