ABC’s Jon Karl asked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about the frontrunner in the Democratic primary for governor in Wisconsin, Francesca Hong, saying that she would like to cancel Thanksgiving. “I have a local city council member who says this saying: Woke one was crazy,” she said. “During Covid, there was this huge opening of the Overton window.” “My understanding is that Francesca Hong has made clear her present stances to her electorate,” she said. “And she’s moved away from that.”

KARL: So, you have Wisconsin coming up next. Francesca Hong, who is the Democratic Socialist of America-supported candidate for governor. Are you — you haven’t endorsed her. Are you going to? OCASIO-CORTEZ: No, I haven’t endorsed in that race. My focus has been in winning back the Congress, winning back the House, and positioning ourselves to have the best chance possible to win the Senate. So, I’ve been focused on — on those legislative races. KARL: What do you make of those controversial statements? I’m sure you’ve seen. I mean, she’s — you know, the Thanksgiving dust-up. She says she doesn’t, you know, still believe that. But, you know, the abolished prisons, abolished police. Which is also positions that have been taken by a lot of the progressive candidates who have won. How do you get around that? I mean, those are not positions that are supported by most of — (CROSSTALK) OCASIO-CORTEZ: Right. I mean, I think that a lot of these races, even right now, they’ll have a tendency to be nationalized. But these races ultimately are local and all politics are local. My understanding is that Francesca Hong has made clear her present stances to her electorate. KARL: Yeah, she’s moved away from a lot of that. OCASIO-CORTEZ: Right, she’s moved away from it. And I have a local city councilman that has this saying, “woke one was crazy.” And I think that what’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now. KARL: What was — I mean did the movement go too far with some of those positions? I mean you — you briefly supported the idea of defunding the police. OCASIO-CORTEZ: Well, you know, I think — that during this time and during — especially during Covid, there was a huge opening of the Overton window. We were shut down. There was some of the highest unemployment rates that we have seen because of those shutdowns. And I think that the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place. And I actually think that the discussions that had — that were had in that time were quite fruitful. I think that when we talk about crime today, it’s fundamentally different than the way that we talked about crime in bringing crime down, right? And I think that we all share in the goals of having as low a crime rate as possible. I think that, you know, during lockdown, of course, rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today. And I’m grateful that these candidates have the opportunity to present who they are to their electorate and what they’re campaigning on in this moment.

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