Rep. Seth Moulton (D., Mass.) on Sunday said that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has an "important voice" in the Democratic Party, but he emphasized the importance of the party having a diversity of views if they wanted to win and be the majority party in November.
Moulton appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" to discuss multiple policy issues, including President Donald Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the political platform of Ocasio-Cortez, a budding Democratic Party star after her primary win over Rep. Joe Crowley (D., N.Y.) in New York's 14th Congressional District
"Someone else that thinks she's a part of a new generation of leaders, Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit the campaign trail with Senator Bernie Sanders this weekend in Kansas," host Jake Tapper said. "She says her platform, which includes universal jobs guarantee, forgiveness of all student loan debt, abolishing ICE, represents the future of the Democratic Party. Do you agree?"
Moulton praised her as an "important voice" in the party, but then immediately pivoted to talking about the importance of the party focusing on having a diversity of viewpoints and not adopting her policy positions as the central platform.
"I think that she has an important voice in the Democratic Party, but the reality is that if we are going to be a majority party. If we are actually going to win in November, we've got to have a diversity of views and I think that's one of the things that's made our party strong in the past," Moulton said. "But if we become narrower. If we become more divided, then we can do that as Democrats, we are just not going to win."
He then started talking about Amy McGrath, the Democratic candidate in Kentucky's 6th Congressional District, and how she was the first female to fly a F-18 fighter jet in the Marine Corps in combat.
"She's running in a tough district, a tough district that Alexandria couldn't win, but that Amy can and she's a leader that people will look to and say, ‘I'm going to get behind Amy just because I believe in her leadership because I trust her judgment, not just because she's a Democrat, but because she's someone who's served her country before and someone we can trust.' We need people like that in the party as well," Moulton said.
Ocasio-Cortez, a self-proclaimed socialist, has received backlash from her own party because they believe that she is making "enemies" and showing a "lack of maturity."
