LSC Statement on the Conditional AOC Endorsement and the NYC DSA SC
LSC is aware of the ongoing vote by DSA’s National Political Committee to revoke the conditional endorsement of Representative Ocasio-Cortez at the request of the NYC DSA Steering Committee. The NPC initially received an application for and approved an endorsement of AOC, but added the conditions that she publicly support BDS, participate in DSA’s Socialists in Office Committee, and oppose criminalization of anti-Zionism and all funding to the Zionist entity. We believe the NPC should stand by these conditions and ask Representative Ocasio-Cortez to accept or reject them despite the decision of the NYC DSA Steering Committee not to inform her of their campaign for DSA’s endorsement on her behalf.
While we opposed AOC’s endorsement, regardless of conditions, the retroactive withdrawal of the endorsement application by the NYC SC is a transparent maneuver to allow AOC to avoid responding to these requests. The NYC DSA Steering Committee was grossly malfeasant in applying for national endorsement without the knowledge or consent of Representative Ocasio-Cortez, but it remains necessary to answer the political questions which necessitated a conditional endorsement. To revoke that endorsement now without giving AOC a chance to respond would allow the malfeasance of NYC chapter leadership to negate the conditions the NPC saw fit to attach. We urge the NPC to stand by its original decision.