Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., signaled concern that Tom Suozzi's victory over Republican Mazi Pilip Wednesday in New York would encourage Democrats to move to the right on the border and immigration.
The race, held in suburban New York City, featured immigration, border security, crime, and abortion as top issues for voters.
During his campaign, Suozzi debated with Pilip over the border, saying that he believed in long term solutions to the issue.
DEMS FLIP SEAT AS SUOZZI WINS CRUCIAL SPECIAL CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION IN NEW YORK
"There's a solution that's been proposed in the United States Senate that would actually build more wall, would get more border agents, would deal with asylum seekers, would reform the laws to make it better, and would give money to the state of New York and the city of New York to deal with the migrant crisis that we currently have," Suozzi said.
According to Politico, Suozzi's campaign ads also promised to "secure the border and praised ICE as a vital agency."
"We need to be very careful," Ocasio-Cortez said. "You’re never going to out-Republican a Republican."
"I actually don’t think that it’s necessarily the playbook that would apply to the rest of the country," Ocasio-Cortez told Politico.
Other Democratic politicians agreed that Suozzi's break from the progressive wing of his party on border and immigration did not make him an example for future elections.
"His position is not necessarily the mandate for the future," said Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., said. "Those of us that live, work and represent the border need to be heard as much as the congressman from New York."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., told Politico that Suozzi’s campaign messaging was generally "very inclusive," though "the rhetoric got a little more extreme" as election day neared.
Suozzi's campaign was closely watched by the Biden and Trump camps.
The White House touted Suozzi's victory over Pilip as a "devastating repudiation" of former President Trump and Republicans in Congress on Wednesday.
In a Truth Social post, Trump called Pilip a "foolish woman" and claimed she lost on Tuesday because she did not endorse him.
"Republicans just don’t learn, but maybe she was still a Democrat? I have an almost 99% Endorsement Success Rate in Primaries, and a very good number in the General Elections, as well, but just watched this very foolish woman, Mazi Melesa Pilip, running in a race where she didn’t endorse me and tried to 'straddle the fence,' when she would have easily WON if she understood anything about MODERN DAY politics in America," Trump wrote.
Fox News' Paul Steinhauser, Deirdre Heavey, Kirill Clark, Kyle Morris and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
