Socialist superstar Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday began a fundraising push for her very own political action committee — despite her status as the party’s leading foe of big money in. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has been an outspoken critic of PACs and the influence of money in politics. But how well does she practice what she preaches? POLL: What issue concerns you most with the Biden/Harris administration?

Ocasio Cortez: I don’t think the blacklisting of progressive organizations is fair

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez speaks on fundraising and feelings towards the Democratic Party.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., continued her crusade against establishment Democrats on Friday when she announced her new political action committee was endorsing several progressive congressional candidates who sought to unseat Democratic incumbents.

Announced in January, the Courage to Change PAC is likely to deepen rifts within the party as the 2020 elections approach. It's reportedly set up to serve as a counterweight to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which Ocasio-Cortez flouted earlier this year by not paying party dues. Fox News reported in January that the progressive icon took issue with the committee 'blacklisting groups that help progressive candidates.'

While the freshman congresswoman has already feuded with incumbent Democrats, Friday's announcement made it clear that she would marshal substantial resources to achieve a progressive majority in Congress. According to The New York Times, the PAC's fundraising email directly accused the DCCC of trying to discourage 'working class candidates' who lacked the necessary resources for a congressional run.

The PAC's endorsements included four House candidates running to unseat Democratic incumbents: Marie Newman for Illinois' fifth district, Samelys Lopez for New York's 15th district, Jessica Cisneros for Texas' 28th district, and Teresa Fernandez for New Mexico's third district.

Two of the candidates are seeking office in seats held by Republicans, including the Texas seat occupied by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. One of the endorsements is for Georgette Gomez, a California Democrat who wants to fill the state's open 53rd district.

In an interview with the Times, Ocasio-Cortez emphasized the need to reward political courage. “It’s important for us to create mechanisms of support because so much of what is happening in Washington is driven by fear of loss,” she said.

“We can really create an ecosystem that makes people more comfortable into making the leap to make politically courageous choices.”

Ocasio-Cortez's own campaign received attention for taking on one of the most powerful Democratic incumbents and winning in 2018. Behind her candidacy was Justice Democrats, an organization that, like 'Courage to Change,' seeks to prop up progressive candidates across the country.

One of the congresswoman's closest allies, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has already joined the movement to unseat establishment Democrats in 2020. At the end of January, Sanders endorsed Cisneros, who's running against a perceived moderate, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.

Cuellar, who has spent more than a decade in Congress, has received criticism over support for anti-abortion legislation. He also received an 'A' rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and took donations from KochPAC, a PAC representing the interests of Koch Industries.

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Net Worth

Ocasio-Cortez's announcement also signaled that pro-life Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski, Ill., will face additional challenges in a race that's already become a struggle for him. At a fundraiser in January, Lipinski indicated he faced a tough reelection bid. Both his opposition to abortion and his support for President Trump's impeachment set him up for opposition with a wide swath of the electorate.

Both Lipinski and Cuellar have panned the outside endorsements.

“While our opponent focuses on out-of-district and celebrity endorsements, we are focused on endorsements from people who actually live and work in the district,” Cuellar spokesman Colin Strother reportedly said. “That’s why we have over 225 local elected officials endorsing Henry Cuellar for reelection.”

Lipinski argued in September that Ocasio-Cortez's endorsement highlighted how extreme his challenger was.

'Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's endorsement of Marie Newman makes crystal clear that Ms. Newman is an extreme candidate who is completely out of step with the voters of Illinois' Third District who do not want to be represented by a fifth member of the 'Squad,' Lipinski said.

Fox News' Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.

Justice Democrats, a PAC that helped send Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Congress in 2018, launched another attack against the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, one of the biggest and most important establishment fundraising operations for House Democrats.

In a fundraising email, Justice Democrats blasted the DCCC for accepting corporate PAC money, suggesting it had corrupted the committee and some members of the party on policy issues such as health care and the Green New Deal:

Across the country, Democratic candidates are finally starting to embrace the progressive goal of refusing all corporate PAC donations. Justice Democrats swore off corporate PACs from the very beginning, and we're glad many of our fellow Democrats are finally following suit.

But apparently, the DCCC didn't get the memo that voters aren't happy about selling out their interests to the health care, insurance, oil, gas, and coal lobbies.

In just the first quarter of 2019, the DCCC accepted over $440,000 from corporate lobbyists and bundlers — many who coincidentally have fought ferociously against Medicare for All, and a Green New Deal.

And then, purely by chance we're sure, DCCC chair Cheri Bustos went on the record saying that the 'price tag for Medicare for all is a little scary.' Meanwhile, former members of Congress turned pharma lobbyists have raised $10,000s on behalf of the DCCC.

The email comes roughly one week after Justice Democrats launched a website, DCCCBlacklist.com, in protest of a new policy by the DCCC of refusing to do business with vendors who work with any candidate running a primary challenge to an incumbent Democrat.

'The DCCC is using their financial leverage to intimidate and blacklist many hardworking people in our movement in a blatant attempt to protect a handful of out-of-touch incumbents,' the website says.

'We're launching The Blacklist to fight back and provide potential primary challengers with a database of go-to vendors, organizations, and consultants who will continue to support efforts to usher in a new generation of leaders into the Democratic Party.'

The fundraising email is notable because it goes a step beyond the main grievances listed on the website and accuses the DCCC of being corrupted by campaign donations, and pandering 'to the interests of Medicare-for-all sabotaging, and climate denying corporations,' amounting to a 'betrayal of our Democratic and progressive values.'

All of which points to the continuing notion that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.,) has remained unable to corral the progressive flank in the Democrat caucus, something she has struggled with since the new Congress was sworn in in January.

Pelosi appeared to take a small swipe at Ocasio-Cortez earlier in the week.

'While there are people who have a large number of Twitter followers, what's important is that we have large numbers of votes on the floor of the House,' Pelosi said to USA Today, appearing to make reference to the nearly four million followers of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez.

While many political pundits have drawn analogies on the tension between the progressive flank and Pelosi to the tussles between the Republican 'Freedom Caucus' and former Speaker John Boehner, the Freedom Caucus never advocated for or tried to build an apparatus to circumvent traditional elements of the party machinery such as the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Ocasio Cortez Speech Today

'It's similar to what we, as Republicans, dealt with when we were in the majority,' former Republican Rep. Ryan Costello told USA Today in the same article in which Pelosi mentioned Ocasio-Cotez's Twitter followers. 'You have an ascendant left that is very angry, very blunt, frankly a little irresponsible in the things they say. And the base soaks it up.'

At the same time, Justice Democrats is working to aid a primary challenge against Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas. A separate fundraising appeal by Justice Democrats referred to Cuellar as 'the most conservative Democrat in Congress,' according to OpenSecrets.com.

Ocasio Cortez In Bathing Suit

Justice Democrats is also associated with freshmen Democrat representatives Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), all of whom have had controversial starts to their congressional tenure.

Alexandria Ocasio-cortez Pac

Requests for comment to the DCCC, the office of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Cheri Bustos, and Justice Democrats were not returned.