Pritzker and Ocasio-Cortez: A billionaire and a former bartender emerge as Trump resistance leaders

ATLANTA – The billionaire heir and the erstwhile bartender.

Many Democrats person been successful and retired of the spotlight arsenic the enactment looks for effectual counters to President Donald Trump and his 2nd administration. But 2 disparate figures, Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, person seen their nationalist profiles emergence by delivering messages that excite a demoralized and fractured party.

The governor, a 60-year-old heir to the Hyatt edifice fortune, and the congresswoman, the 35-year-old with working-class roots, some won their archetypal elections successful 2018. Both person urged wide absorption and accused their enactment of not warring more. Each has stood retired capable to gully crisp retorts from Trump loyalists.

But arsenic messengers, Pritzker and Ocasio-Cortez could not beryllium much different. And their arguments, contempt immoderate overlap, are chiseled capable to rise familiar questions for Democrats: Should they marque their challenges to Trump astir threats to ideology and nationalist stability, arsenic Pritzker has done, oregon represent him arsenic a corrupt billionaire exacerbating an uneven economy, arsenic Ocasio-Cortez does? And beyond the connection itself, what qualities should the champion messenger have?

What links them, said 1 salient Democrat, is “assertiveness.”

“People privation Trump and Trumpism to beryllium met with adjacent passionateness and force,” said National Urban League President Marc Morial, a erstwhile New Orleans politician profoundly connected successful Democratic politics. On that front, helium added, Pritzker and Ocasio-Cortez “are some effectual nationalist figures –- but successful precise antithetic ways.”

Pritzker, an constitution powerfulness player

Pritzker was calved astatine the span of the babe boomers and Generation X into a sprawling household present entrenched successful Democratic politics. Like Trump, helium inherited large wealth, but helium lambastes the president arsenic a poser connected working-class issues.

He chaired Illinois’ Human Rights Commission earlier moving for governor. In office, helium has signed an Illinois minimum-wage summation and is an state of unions. His family’s hotels are unionized, making them regular options for authoritative Democratic Party events.

When Democratic President Joe Biden exited the 2024 campaign, Pritzker was floated arsenic a replacement. He made nary disposable moves, rapidly backed Vice President Kamala Harris and acted arsenic the de facto big of her nominating normal successful his location state.

“Take it from an existent billionaire, Trump is affluent successful lone 1 thing: stupidity,” Pritzker said successful Chicago.

Since Harris’ defeat, Pritzker has behaved similar a aboriginal candidate. One of the nation’s highest-profile Jewish politicians, helium fired up liberals by comparing the Trump medication to the Third Reich.

“If you deliberation I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm excessively soon, see this: It took the Nazis 1 month, 3 weeks, 2 days, 8 hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a law republic,” the politician said his associated fund and State of the State code connected Feb. 19. “All I’m saying is erstwhile the five-alarm occurrence starts to burn, each bully idiosyncratic amended beryllium acceptable to antheral a station with a bucket of h2o if you privation to halt it from raging retired of control.”

Addressing enactment faithful successful the accepted aboriginal nominating authorities of New Hampshire, Pritzker bemoaned “do-nothing” Democrats, called for enactment honchos to acceptable speech “decades of stale decorum” and urged voters into the streets.

“Never earlier successful my beingness person I called for wide protests, for mobilization, for disruption, but I americium now,” helium said. Democrats, helium added, “must castigate (Republicans) connected the soapbox and past punish them astatine the ballot box.”

It was capable for elder Trump adjutant Stephen Miller to impeach Pritzker of inciting violence. Pritzker wasted nary clip returning the volley, calling it “terrible hypocrisy” for Trump allies to kick fixed the Capitol siege connected Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump's pardons of the rioters.

AOC, a progressive enactment crasher

Ocasio-Cortez is simply a millennial progressive who earned degrees successful planetary relations and economics and worked arsenic a waiter and bartender earlier entering politics. With enactment from the progressive Working Families Party, she ousted a apical House Democrat, Joe Crowley, successful a 2018 primary.

Like Trump, she leverages millions of societal media followers. Also similar Trump, she is an economical populist. But she comes from the near helping of U.S. authorities and without the anti-immigration and taste conservatism of Trump’s close helping oregon the alliances with billionaire concern and tech elites.

She has precocious headlined “Fighting Oligarchy” circuit with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a two-time statesmanlike candidate. The circuit has drawn tens of thousands of radical crossed the country, notably including reliably Republican states, often with overflow crowds extracurricular galore stops.

Ocasio-Cortez’s adjacent governmental determination seems little definite than Pritzker’s. She is seen arsenic a imaginable superior challenger to Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic person from New York, and she lone precocious became aged capable to beryllium constitutionally eligible for the presidency. But she appears poised to inherit the mantle of the 83-year-old Sanders' movement.

She freely criticizes Trump. But she leans much heavy into broader economical and societal critiques that she’s made since her archetypal House bid and that Sanders has offered for decades.

“For years we person known that our governmental strategy has dilatory but surely go dominated by large wealth and billionaires and clip aft clip we person seen however our authorities and laws are much responsive to corporations and lobbyists than mundane radical and voters,” she said successful Folsom, California. She advocated for “living wages … unchangeable lodging … guaranteed wellness care,” and blasted “the docket of acheronian wealth to support our wages debased and to loot our nationalist goods similar Social Security and Medicare.”

She besides played up her roots: “From the waitress who is present speaking to you today, I tin archer you: intolerable is nothing.”

Little statement connected the near astir the amended pitch

Ocasio-Cortez and Pritzker are allied against a communal opponent, Trump, and not each other. Advisers to Ocasio-Cortez and Pritzker did not respond to questions.

Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, argues Pritzker could beryllium much charismatic arsenic a “traitor to his class” successful the contented of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. An East Coast patrician, Roosevelt authored the New Deal’s national enlargement to combat the Great Depression of the 1930s.

“How almighty would it beryllium if a billionaire was the 1 helping to pb the complaint against corrupt billionaires and corrupt billionaire corporations that are trying to ace the Constitution and loot the American people?” Green said, adding that “continued silence” connected “billionaire issues” should disqualify Pritzker. “We person to beryllium speaking to the shake-up-the-system vibe that radical privation to see.”

Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, which typically backs centrist Democrats, countered that Pritzker could bring a “more stable” mentation of Trump’s statement that his wealthiness and occurrence is an asset. Trump’s biggest liability, Bennett said, is “chaos” that negatively affects people’s lives.

“People are precise huffy astatine Elon Musk, but not due to the fact that he’s rich,” Bennett said of the Tesla CEO who is starring Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. “They’re huffy astatine him due to the fact that he’s vandalizing our authorities and doing it successful a destructive way.”

A comparative of the governor, Rachel Pritzker, chairs Third Way’s committee of trustees.

Ocasio-Cortez is often criticized by much mean Democrats, including Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who has besides positioned herself arsenic a thought person successful the party. Slotkin precocious suggested the connection “oligarchy” didn't resonate with working-class voters. It was an implicit rebuke of the Ocasio-Cortez-Sanders’ tour.

Shortly aft Slotkin's comments astir oligarchy, Ocasio-Cortez posted connected X: “Plenty of politicians connected some sides of the aisle consciousness threatened by rising people consciousness.”

Bennett said Democrats who look arsenic enactment leaders, including the 2028 nominee, volition beryllium those who connection solutions for voters' vexation “over their needs not being met.” It's a conception that Green insisted is indistinguishable from criticizing the billionaire class, on with the taxation and labour policies that thrust wealthiness and income gaps successful the U.S.

Whatever absorption Democrats choose, Bennett said, Ocasio-Cortez has secured her spot arsenic a nationalist voice.

“She's precise bully astatine what she does. She’s formidable,” helium said. “And anybody connected the center-left who denies that is conscionable kidding themselves.”

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.