Ocasio-Cortez pushes back on Pelosi’s analysis of win: ‘I think that we’re in the middle of a movement’

New York Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is pushing back on House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) characterization of her surprise primary win, saying the Democratic Party is in the midst of a movement. 

“I think that we’re in the middle of a movement in this country,” Ocasio-Cortez told CNN’s Erin Burnett late Wednesday. “I feel this movement, but that movement is going to happen from the bottom up. That movement is going to come from voters.”

{mosads}“There are a lot of really exciting races with extremely similar dynamics as mine,” she added, citing Boston city council member Ayanna Pressley’s congressional bid. 

“I do think that we do need to elect a generation of new people to Congress in both parties,” Ocasio-Cortez said. 

“I think that we do need to elect a generation of new people to Congress on both parties,” says @Ocasio2018, adding “we have to have a diversity of age in Congress represented.” https://t.co/XMlTUxbrEv pic.twitter.com/0lyybbXGds

— OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) June 27, 2018

Ocasio-Cortez, 28, defeated longtime Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) in the district’s primary on Tuesday, stirring speculation of a progressive wave in the party ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. 

Pelosi dismissed speculation in a news conference earlier Wednesday, saying Ocasio-Cortez’s win should not be seen as a larger movement within the party at the national level. 

“They made a choice in one district. So let’s not get yourself carried away as an expert on demographics and the rest of that,” Pelosi said. 

“Within the caucus or outside the caucus, we are … again, we have an array of genders, generations, geography, and there is opinion in our caucus, and we’re proud of that,” she added. 

“The fact that in a very progressive district in New York it went more progressive than … well, Joe Crowley is a progressive, but she’s more left than Joe Crowley, is about that district. It is not to be viewed as something that stands for anything else.”

Updated at 8:11 a.m.