Instagram remarks by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, July 17, 2024
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9l41vgOAGj/
[Introduction and hello.]
I'm here in Puerto Rico right now because we've been doing some work. I've been selling solar batteries to homes of vulnerable families that have been failed by the electrical grid here. So I am have been having a lot of long days this week. Just a quick wrap up. I'm just letting you real quick, a lot of long days this week. I've been here with the Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, and I've been working over the last year to develop a $400 million grant program, solar energy deployment program in Puerto Rico, so that families of vulnerable people, people with disabilities who rely on on health machines, oxygen machines, CPAP machines, etc, as well as rural families, vulnerable families, low income families, can get access to fur and battery backups in the event or outage. Of course, we want everybody, especially my preference, is that everybody on the island can have who wants to have access can have a solar panel and battery backup installed, because after Maria has just and horrible and people need to have backups or alternatives to a centralized fossil fuel energy grid. But that's an aside. That's what I'm here for. Work.
I'm here because I want to talk to you all about all of this craziness that you see in the media about Joe Biden, and I'm just ripping the Band-Aid off, because I think that is really important that people get the straight truth. And I feel like there has been a lot of smokescreens that have been going on about this and that people have not been getting told the full story here, and I want to put all my cards out on the table. Know what's going to happen. I'm telling you that as who I am, I don't have any I do not have a crystal ball. I don't know what's going on, but I believe that you all deserve to know what I see in this moment as and I'm gonna take you through my thinking, and if you disagree with it, and if you think it's terrible, And if you think I'm wrong, that's fine, but I at least want you to know what I see, and I'll come to our own conclusions. Let's get into it.
We saw what two, three weeks ago, the President debated and and that sucked, okay, it sucked for everybody. Donald Trump sucked. Joe Biden didn't do well, to say the least, and it was just like, not great. I think, to be very frank, it closely, capitulate, pretty closely. What I think a lot of the mood in the country is right now, which is that people don't love where we're at. They don't love our options. A lot of people don't love that we have the same exact matchup all over again, the debate didn't change much at all. It didn't really change a lot in terms of people's perceptions, in terms of where the electorate is at and going into the debate, I'm pretty sure a lot of people knew that the President is old. President is very old. Donald Trump is also very old and a racist and but anyways, I'm not even going to talk about Trump right now. I Trump right now. So we knew that going into it, and I feel like people knew that coming out of it. Now, what we also saw, and what I've seen, is that a lot of people who follow politics that I've noticed this, like, class of people above, I should say above, but like, separate from voters. Like, we all know we live in this country, there's voters, and then there's people with power and there's people with a lot of money, and there's people with a lot of influence, and in the country that we live in, we have everyday people, and we have voters, and we have government, and then you kind of have this class of people in between, from pundits and media and wealthy people and donors and organization leaders and whatever, and they kind of occupy this space in between. Oh, look at that. They kind of occupy this space in between voters and the policies that we get. And a lot of times, that's why government sucks, right? Like, because lobbyists are there and whatever's happening anyways. So the debate happens. It doesn't go well, and then all of a sudden, words, you get a lot of people in this strata, and I, I'm not here to dismiss if you think, for example, if you are of the opinion that Joe Biden should be replaced as a nominee, I'm not here to attack you on that. I'm not here to like, whatever, but I just what I'm seeing. And this group of people, right? Like, if you believe this before, that didn't change anything. What changed was this class of people after that debate, fine, valid.
Now, what I am concerned by when it comes to this case is that they are the case for this is about polling like there's someone here in the chat right behind in every swing state. This isn't an argument. Others may be polling better, etc. I think this is cases being laid out right? It's about the polling. It's about the data. And again, I'm not here to dismiss people, and I think it's very important to say that, and I think it's very important to say, in general, that here to question or attack the motives of people, regardless of their position on this like I'm not I think what is motivating every [Instragram graphics pop up on-screen.] I'm sorry, why these Things keep popping on. I don't know why.
I think what I think, what is legitimately motivating all of this conversation is that everybody is terrified of a Trump presidency, and everybody wants to do everything and anything possible to prevent that from happening, and that regardless of your position on that overwhelming amount of people are motivated by that, and we are in an age and in a digital culture where people have gotten way too comfortable and gotten way Too reflexive in this habit of anyone who doesn't agree with me, it's stupid, or everyone who doesn't agree with me doesn't see the full landscape of things, or everything that doesn't, or anyone who doesn't agree with me is a bad person or lazy. And I legitimately believe that this is a situation where people, a lot of people are motivated by a very shared goal, and they look at the landscape of things and come to different conclusions. So I want to say that, because I want you to see what I'm seeing.
This class of donors, decision makers, power players, etc, started to waiver after the debate, and looking at the polling and their performance and the same all of these things, and they're saying, we need to jump ship. Now, I think there's a couple of things there, but let's say they are convinced by that argument. I'm not entirely, by the way, because I have not seen the fully laid-out, bulletproof data case. It's also July, but I totally can concede that a person very invested can have all these counterpoints to that.
Now, to me, like, brass tacks, when I think about the case in terms of supporting a Joe Biden presidency, or being okay with Joe continuing to be the nominee on a watch, and I'm looking at a clock and looking at a calendar. And I think that if personally, people want to have this conversation six months ago, eight months ago, a year ago. It's a very different landscape of logistics. Every single person, not I shouldn't say every single person. I'm gonna say in this class of people that you see coming out now, right? If you're an everyday person that has this opinion. I'm not, I'm not coming for you, but this whole class of people who are coming with this other opinion now have supported the president the entire time, and many of those people are the same people who closed ranks around anybody who even wanted to raise this conversation a year ago, fine, but to me, like I'm looking at a lot of different and I want to communicate some things, even if you don't particularly the case or even don't support the President continuing as the nominee on substance, merits, policy, etc. Let's take that aside, right? What day is it right now? With July 17, I've been working like a month, so I think till today is July 17. I'm sure someone will correct your comments if it's not. But the point is, even when this conversation was like really kicking up July 13. I think people need to understand the reality and the gravity of what is being what these people are proposing. And I'm not saying this is all a reason not to do it, but I do think that people are talking about this without having to wide open as to what this really means.
The democratic convention is in what four weeks or so. The state of Ohio has legal access issues that require a name to be enrolled and certified on their ballot even before the convention. And that's not because of Democrats. That's because of Republicans and to people, there are some people that quibble and they say, “Oh, well, that's not really true, because they actually passes their law that allows the deadline to change.” That law that allowed that deadline to quote, unquote, change also gets enacted and enrolled something like 60 or 90 days after passage, which now puts us in a legal gray zone.
So whether you think it's above board or whether you don't think it's above board, I can tell you that guaranteed, and is virtually guaranteed, and it has been confirmed by the Republican Speaker of the House that Republicans are already preparing legal challenges name change on the ballot that may happen, occur, arise or be possible.
And so for us, I want us to, like opening this conversation, I think it's important for us to consider the stakes. Okay, before you can get into the merits, talk about the stakes, if this is even something that could be open, right? And what we know is that we can virtually guarantee, you know, Mike Johnson came out and said that they're absolutely preparing legal challenges wherever it's possible, and I want to tell you those legal challenges are most viable where the swing seats that are needed to win the presidency. I'm not saying every single one is counted out, but I am saying that's at that table.
And guess what? Republicans they mount that will challenge the possibility of our elections being decided by the Supreme Court ruling skyrocket. Okay, I'm not here to use fear. I'm not saying this to use fear to dissuade people out of their position, but I need us to understand the stakes. Okay, and that's point number one, like I can tell you, and I want to tell you also why I'm telling you this is because the last two or three weeks of members of Congress, or, quote, unquote, democratic sources, or what have you going on background [Instagram filter turns on] and filters. How did a filter get on here? Oh, my God. Okay. I mean, I turned off, sorry, guys, the the possibility and Okay, sorry.
So what's really upset me is that these conversations, I believe in transparency, at the same time litigating like huge conversations among people of power in public can dramatically hurt our chances, depending on the outcome of that conversation. And so sometimes certain conversations are best held in private, especially if there's or a lack of decision on it.
And so what I see right now, and I want you to you all to know is that over the last several weeks, there have been lots of Democrats who have been giving little anonymous quotes to the press, to some journalists to print. And I'm not here to knock the press on it. I'm here to knock my colleagues on it, because, to me, I think that's and I'm sorry I'm gonna say because it's after midnight, that's bullshit. If you have an opinion, say it with your chest and say it in public. But the idea that you are an elected official and you are supposed to be responsible for a community, and you're just gonna, like, text a journalist on the low and say, “This is what I think, but don't put my name next to it.” What are you here to do? If that's your opinion you think is best for the country, put your name on it. Okay? But instead, it's all this little pick, a little talk, a little to what I'm texting some pundit about what they think, because they're too cowardly to come out with a public opinion.
I'm not coming for the people who have made a public statement and put their name on it, like, Lord knows, I've done plenty of that myself. I'm talking about people who are too scared to say they want to say in public, but somehow not afraid to say what they want to say to a journalist, so long as they promise not to use their name. That's a bunch of horseshit.
And if then there was recently a quote, unquote senior Democratic leader that said, “Oh, I'm just resigning myself to a Trump victory.” Leave, just leave. Like that is so garbage. That is such a fundamental lack of leadership. And I don't care what party or from like, just leave like, just go work for a lobbyist, go go cash and on Wall Street. If that's what you feel like, why keep that seat warm? This job is hard. It takes a lot of effort. You're resigning yourself to losing. Why don't you just, why don't you just turn in your keys early and give it to someone who gives in anyways?
Moving on, number one is the legal viability. Number two, I don't think people understand what it takes in terms of running a presidential campaign. And I'm gonna say what a lot of these folks aren't saying. I'm just gonna say if that there is consensus among the people. Joe Biden to leave that Kamala, that they will support Kamala, Vice President Harris, you would be mistaken. And I'm going to say that, because if they're going to come out and say all their little things on background, off, off the record, but they're not going to be fully honest, I'm going to be honest for them.
I'm in these rooms. I see what they say in conversations. You a lot of them are not just interested in removing the president, they are interested in removing the whole ticket. Am I here to guarantee that that is what is going to happen, or that was, that is what will happen. I can't tell you that, because politics, as we all know, politics, is insane. Anyone who tells you 100% what's going to happen is lying to you or engaged in an enormous amount of hubris. I'm not here to tell you that if Joe Biden is a nominee, he's definitely going to win, but because I don't think if anybody is the nominee, we're definitely going to win. Okay, and I understand where we want to talk about hedging bets, but I do want you to know what gets on court, because if you think that's going to be an easy transition, I'm here to tell you that 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 to not be the nominee, also are not interested in seeing the Vice President being the nominee. Will they win out on that? I don't know, but I am here to tell you, do not take that for granted. Do not take that it may make sense to you.
It may be the sorry guys, it may make sense to you. It may be the logical thing. But I'm here to tell you that that is not a sure thing. And so what is the other op? It is still a possibility, right? Let's look at our open possibilities, right?
And by the way, President Biden and Vice President Harris have been campaigning their behinds off, and there is a war chest of at least $100 million prepared for the general election. If there is a new Democratic nominee, that money cannot be transferred. Okay, I'm just like telling you what I know. All right, it can be transferred from it to number two on the ticket. It cannot be transferred to someone else.
All right, from what I have known, I can also tell you that I have stood up in rooms with all of these people and I said, and I have said, game out your actual plan for me game it out. Have you looked in like, what are the risks of this going to the Supreme Court? Like, what are these things? Right? And I'm not here to, like, assert any major thing. If y'all want to come with the receipts in the comments, that's fine. But what I can tell you is that I have stood up in rooms of folks making these decisions, and I have raised these questions, and no one had an answer for me. Maybe they have an answer now, I don't know, no one's gotten back to me, but like nobody responded. Nobody has responded to me.
And I'm not talking about some pundit with a column in a newspaper saying, theoretically, it's possible. I'm talking about the lawyers. I'm talking about the legislatures. I'm not talking about here's how an open convention would go down. I'm talking about people whose job it is to look at the letter of law and the letter of many different states, state laws, and take a look at this.
Okay, so while I understand the case that some folks may be making a theoretical perspective, and from even me, I don't know, a polling perspective, I'm here to also like as a person who is responsible for executing decisions and not just opining on them. I can tell you that I have not seen [Instragram fireworks appear on screen] I don't know why the fireworks.
I have not seen the plan, and when a convention is in four-ish weeks when Michigan has to finalize their ballot two days after the convention. After the convention concludes, which mind you, you have an open convention, the convention could then go on for days if you have a bunch of nominees, and then before you know it, you blow past the Michigan deadline if you don't have a nominee in two days, or whatever it may be, and then we start the legal problems start to mount. Okay, and so I am concerned about the lack of thought that I have seen from the individuals that would be responsible for executing on this, okay.
And so like that is before the fact that, you know, people want to talk about polling, polling, polling. I'm not here to tell you like polling is amazing. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if there was a candidate that the polling was like a slam dunk on maybe all this would be going down differently right now. But there is no safe option. There's no safe option.
And I think given the stakes of this moment, we all want to run to safety, and we want to run to the sure thing, and I think it's important to operate with integrity and you 10,000% are super convinced that that the candidate or the president cannot beat Donald Trump, then like do what you think is in your your good conscience, but I have not seen a scenario, an alternative scenario, that I feel does not set us up for enormous peril based on what I'm noticing privately and what I see publicly.
And I also see a lot of wishful thinking about what constitutes a presidential campaign when people want to talk about and I'm also going to let me give you some Realty, as well as someone who sees how elected officials, there are a lot of people that are like, even if they're like, Okay, I bet. Okay. We're going to switch out Biden. Okay. Hey, but we don't want Harris either, okay, so we'll just go for somebody else.
Let me tell you something about how politics works, all right? And again, anything is possible. I could be totally wrong. I can. So accept that about this because elections are chaotic, and I'm not here to tell you that I know exactly what's going to happen, but let's say there's like some blank question mark as a third, I can tell you that anyone who genuinely wants, like if you are the kind of politician that wants, genuinely wants to be president United States, a lot of those folks don't want that. They don't want to be chuted eight weeks before an election starts.
Because let me tell you something, people think this election is in November. The convention is in four weeks and early ballots go out, the first early ballots in this country go out four weeks after that, this election is not in November, it's in September. It's in the end of September, October. And so we're almost so I think we need to sit with the stakes, with the reality, and if you come to the same conclusion, fine, but I'm not seeing enough discussion, and I also don't want people to take for granted that the people in these rooms, like totally for sure, 10,000% have a plan. Maybe somebody does. I’m not hearing it, that's also a possibility. I'm not here to knock on anybody that has come to a different conclusion. What I'm here to say is that, as a person responsible for coming to a conclusion, I have not seen what I need to see to substantiate an alternative.
And what I will say is, what upsets me is people saying we will lose. For me, I don't care who, to a certain extent, I don't care what name is on there. We are not losing. I don't know about you, but my community does not have the option to lose. My community does not have the luxury of accepting loss in July of an election year like my my people are the first ones deported. They're the first ones put in Rikers. They're the first ones whose families are killed by war, and this is horrific.
I'm not here to like, say everything is amazing. Okay? I'm not here to say that like, oh, you know, to lie to people. What I am here to say is that we need to live. We need to make decisions in the conditions that we have before us, even if they're ugly, even if they're hard, even if what we don't want like, we don't get to run away. And I'm here no matter what, like, truly.
I do think that people underestimate Biden's performance. I think that is how he became president, is through a lot of people underestimating his performance with demographics that are not traditionally valued. And I think that people see where he's weak, they don't often see where he's strong, and just electorally, purely electorally, right? Like again, suspending some of the other arguments here.
I'm not a professional pollster, I am not a political pundit. I am a person whose job is to win elections. And people may say, oh, blah, blah, blah, like you're from whatever place you're from, and because you're from where you're from, like you don't deserve to have to be qualified in that. I can tell you that I have won elections that I have had no business winning. I can tell you that in my four actually in in like four primary elections and in several other general elections, but particularly my four primary elections, my my vote share has only gone up since I first, since I first won election, even with disinformation campaigns targeting me, even with like whatever from the left, from the right, whatever, saying, I ain't this, I ain't that. I want. I'm here's what I know. I won my primary election with 82% of the vote, 82% of the vote. I think I may have won with the highest vote share in terms of a primary, if not the entire city of New York, perhaps the entire state of New York, and so, you know, people only pooh-pooh where I'm from. I can't change where I'm from.
What I can say is that I run a campaign that doesn't, that's not based on big dollar donors. That's not my information input. I run a campaign that is not, surprisingly, like, entirely dependent on the internet. It's dependent on the streets, and it's dependent on presence on the ground. And sometimes my digital presence very often replaces and people's perception of me as a candidate. What we do in the ground? Like people don't know that. You know, I've run tutoring programs, mutual aid programs, deep canvassing, year round, all the time, etc. It doesn't matter.
But what matters is that what I'm seeing here in terms of how this decision is being made through a litigation among a certain class and conversation is concerning to me, and again, I'm not here to dismiss everyday people that have this opinion. What I'm saying is like the mechanisms by with which this decision is being made is concerning me. And when I'm talking to folks in rooms, I hear, “My donor, this. My donor, that.” Those are the inputs that I am hearing reflected by my colleagues. It's not, “My voters.” This my voters that every once in a blue moon. But from what I am hearing, my inputs a lot is donor, donor, donor. 2 million like, there was, like, some, you know, it's like, big donors are saying this. Big donors are saying that big like,
I couldn’t give two damns about what a bunch of rich people think. What I care about is about what the working class thinks and like, what a lot of people not on social media think, to be honest. And social media is important. It is incredibly important, but we need a full input of data. And for example, whether you like it or not, what you may think, whatever you may think about it, Joe Biden kind of like stomps with older people, like, electorally, which is one of the strongest and most consistent electorates, and it's actually a hard electorate for Democrats to win. You know, those are not people that are on Twitter, but they vote more consistently than almost any bracket. So you take that off the table, you cannot assume that that electorate transfers to any other candidate.
What I'm here to say is we can't just allow these decisions to be made by groupthink, momentum, inertia. We really need to consider the consequences and if the data, the logistics, what have you, supports another path, go ahead, like make that. But this idea that we're we're just going to talk about what theoretically is best. This isn't, this is not 2023 and so you know folks are saying the poll, and also, when folks are saying polling only has downward momentum, maybe that might be true.
Have we thought about what is leading to that? Because I think hundreds of millions of earned media from people like members of Congress saying things off the record, like I just And again, I could be wrong. I could be wrong. I'm not here to tell you this is what it is, but what I am here to tell you is some of the red alerts that I've seen on the dashboard in terms of things, concerns that I have not seen adequately addressed. And, you know, like, oh man, like, “You're a neolib sellout careerist.” Like, but, I mean, if I were here to sell out, I'd be making there are much more profitable, peaceful ways, I assure you. But, and it's not to say that, like the concerns are bad or without fault, and whatever you know it may be, I'm not here to dismiss people. I'm not here to tell people that they're wrong. I'm not here to say that their points are invalid.
I am here to say that, like, we need to look at what date it is and what time it is, and also like again, I also think that there's certain things about Joe Biden that, again, I'm not here to dismiss people's concerns, but I also think there are certain things about Joe Biden as a candidate and as a person that people often conflate with other issues. For example, he had the debate that he had, that debate had no people, there was no audience. It was like cameras and two pundits and the president and former President Trump. And then people went the next day, and they saw that he did amazing the day.
He did a rally, I believe, in North Carolina, and he did a rally the day after, and it went super, super well. And people were like, Where was this? Joe Biden, you have to understand like these people are human beings. And from what I assess, Joe Biden needs the energy of people around him, and he just did a rally in Detroit. And when he's around 1000s of people, He that is how he resonates. And again, I'm not here to like dismiss, and you can totally rake me over the poles.
Trust me, if I was trying to do something that was like that, I was that, I think was like, calculatingly, the best for me, I would not be on this live right now. You know, like, it's just easy to just hang back, but the reason I'm doing it is because I care about the future of this country. I care about the outcome of this election profoundly and deeply, just like all of you, and as a person that is invested in our success, I feel like I would regret not raising some of these matters that I feel are not getting appropriate consideration. And it kind of bums me out, because the vast majority of people are not following this conversation as closely as the people who are following this conversation think. And if the President makes a decision unto himself. That's on him.
But it bums me out when I see how many people and perspectives are not in the room and in the consideration of folks making these decisions and like, I know someone says, Hassan is beefing with you on stream. Love you, Hassan, like I could be totally wrong, like I'm not here. Hassan might be even with me, I'm not beefing with Hassan, like I can tell you, like I my everyday with reality is like, I'm and I'm not it. This isn't like a knock or anything like that, but like, my job every day is I'm, like, being so free right now. It's not watching TV, it's not obsessing over polls, like I'm telling you, I was just telling you at the beginning of this, like, I've been in Puerto Rico for several days, like, I'm I'm in, I'm helping. I'm trying to install solar panels in people who make less than $17,000 in an entire year, and try to make sure that, like, they can keep their oxygen machines on, like, that's, it's that a lot of that stuff is what is consuming the vast majority of my time. I'm not seeing things that other people see, and other people are not seeing things that I'm seeing. And so I'm not here to, like, have a debate.
I'm not here to argue. I'm not here to say that anybody is wrong with a capital W what I'm just humbly trying to do is just contribute some of these concerns, because it's real, and like what I think is, a risk, and maybe I'm wrong, but one thing I get very concerned about is this presidential election being decided by Clarence Thomas and the Supreme Court instead of the American people. And that’s already happened once in our history, and that’s how George Bush became president. And so the idea that that's not something that would happen like, let's not dismiss that possibility so readily. And maybe I'm being too risk averse, maybe I'm not seeing what other people are seeing. I leave space for that and like, whatever. Like, maybe I'm taking a big L, but, you know,
I think that these are just I think they're just real concerns. I think the concerns are valid. I also think that the concerns about the President are valid. I'm not here to, like, dismiss anybody, but, It's like, annoying me how this is being litigated on CNN, and a lot of people are just like, not on the ground and like, like, and like, listen, like, I've been on the left. I mean, I am on the left. I've seen the left be really wrong before electorally, and I've seen the left be really right electorally, but I've done this long enough that I've seen a lot of people speak with a lot of certainty and be totally wrong. And, you know, there's no sure ticket here, and I think that there's a lot of people and electorates that know the President.
We haven't even talked about unions like, whether people like it or not, President Biden has very strong, broad union support, and that is not something that just goes automatically to any Democrat, as we've seen this week. And whether it's right or wrong, these endorsement processes for unions take weeks, weeks if you're going at a breakneck pace, and they don't go to just whoever the Democrat is. And like, I think sometimes, like, the the theory of how labor aligns itself politically, versus the reality of it, and the process of it, it's, it's like, not a slam dunk, it's not super easy, and it's really, really hard earned. And like, I mean, listen, like, I'm I was elected as a Democratic socialist. Like, did that mean that unions just automatically supported me? No, I had to work for years and years and years and years.
And so, you know, again, it's like, I know all the points that I'm making are the kind that people go, “Boo, boo,” you know, “You're wrong. You're wack. You're boring. You're scared,” like whatever. But I'm like, in the muck with this all the time, like, it's my job to get these things, and I I have confronted and lived with the reality of how I think it works and how it actually works. I'm always trying to unite those things, but I just don't want people to, like, I just want people to at least come to their conclusions, eyes wide open.
This is regardless of what shakes out, we're gonna have to work harder than we've ever worked before. I don't care if you fall like if you're falling out of a coconut tree, God bless you. If you're riding with the President, God bless.
I'm not an open convention person. I think that is crazy, and I think that a lot of people may have their like niche politician that they stand that they maybe think is way more nationally popular and recognized than they actually are. But I don't think an open convention is the way. But, you know, I just, I think it's important. I'll do whatever needs to be done. I can say that. I think that. I do think there's a lot of misinformation going out. But again, like I trust people to come to the conclusions that they come to.
I just, like, don't get my — My opinion is to not get your opinion from whatever's on CNN or whatever's on like, like, watching whatever it is that you're watching, like, look at the facts of it. Answer some of these questions. Have a lot of inputs, but, like, it's kind of crazy to me that people are talking about this, like, without talking about how it would actually go down.
And let's say you totally disagree with me. I'm not here to make an enemy of you like I genuinely believe that we are all here with the same motivation. It's just like, you know, I just think that there's a lot under the hood here that people have not fully considered, and when it comes to polling like no other on the flip side, just as something, and again, I'd be wrong on this. People. You can argue about polling all day long, because, like, there's enough data and statistics that support tons of arguments.
But I can also tell you, from my perspective, I tend to be sometimes a polling skeptic, but that's like, baked into me as a person. My first election polls had me down 35 points. I won by 13. Okay, fine, like that was a whole different, unique situation I'm going to tell you this year, this year, I had a primary election, my polling had me down by like about double digits from where I ended up performing. So my own polling, private polling, had me underperforming. A lot more than what I actually ended up performing at. Now, I don't know what that means, right? Like, what I don't know what that means. I'm not here to say that that's every race, but I need people to understand that, like making a decision based on July polling like, I think if we could have just a little bit more dimensions to the case, that would be helpful.
Polling had a red wave in 2022 that did not happen. There is a Republican majority, but like that, we were the polling had us getting wiped, like wiped, and for a long time, that didn't happen. And I'm not, and I'm not, I don't want to be a data like denialist, either, right? Like I'm not here to say, oh, you know, I'm going to ignore trans I'm going to ignore data. But I think that's also what's contributing to the complexity of the situation, is that, to me, it's not the same thing.
And also the argument that certain Democrats, or a lot of Democrats, are pulling ahead of the President, that's not necessarily a bad thing in certain places, there are different strategies for going about things, and I can at least tell you, as a Democrat for my community, I try to outperform Joe Biden in every race, because my job is to specialize specifically in the 700,000 people that I am responsible for. I am a member of Congress that is supposed to be tailor made for this specific geography of people. And I don't know. Again, I could be wrong. I could be totally, totally wrong. People are saying it's cope or whatever, like, to me, it's not cope. It's not like, this is a moment of ambiguity, and like, I'm not like a fighting campaign co chair like I'm not, you know, I'll go out and I campaigned for the President, and I stumped for the President, and I have, I have done that because he is our Democratic nominee.
We need to fight the courts. We have passed an insane amount of productive legislation. So, also, a bunch of things that have happened that I don't agree with and that I find morally horrific.
Complexity is the job. So I don't know. Um, you may have, like, whatever opinions you have, but you know again, once again, also, if you think once again, repeat myself, if you think that a lot of the folks who are in charge of swaying this position are going, are defaulting to the vice president, you would be mistaken. That would be, that’s not something to take a for granted, and that would have to be a fight too. So all you folks that are coconut pills in the comments, as you are identifying, buckle up.
But you know it's I just want to be honest. Have to be wrong. You totally disagree with me, but I'm telling you straight up, I'm not coming in bad faith. I'm not coming with any ulterior motive here. I'm not incentivized by anything here, aside from wanting to win. And I don't think that people who come with a different opinion Don't, don't want to win. I think we all want to win. I think we're looking at different things and coming to certain conclusions, but like no that's what it is. We'll see you people bye, bye