SUMMER READING: The inside-outside game, part three

How the youngest woman in Congress learned to leverage fame — and what she taught the Democratic Party

Today’s excerpt from The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy explores the difference between Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the person, and “AOC,” the public figure perceived alternately as an ideological warrior, progressive firebrand, unserious distraction, or serious challenger to the old ways of getting things done in Washington, D.C.

What follows delves into how Ocasio-Cortez learned to use those perceptions as a tool, “seizing and holding attention, diverting that attention up to the larger causes she favored, using the eyeballs to teach.” As she grew into her role in Congress, her ability to bring the language of influencers to the fight — part of her inside-outside game — helped redefine how politics could be done in the age of social media. And the lessons hold for today, echoing across the Democratic spectrum, from Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral campaign to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s war of memes with President Donald Trump.

For our supporting subscribers, we are presenting this profile of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in installments this week. For previous installments, click on the links below; read on for the third part, and stay tuned this week for the rest of the story.

SUMMER READING: The inside-outside game

SUMMER READING: The inside-outside game, part two

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The inside-outside game, part three

While campaigning for the primary, Ocasio-Cortez had struck that delicate balance between being human and relatable and accessible, meeting people where they are, and, at the same time, tossing the occasional bottle rocket into the national political conversation. Now, as she headed toward her seat in Congress, she faced the next incarnation of this balance: being a righteous and radical thorn in the side of her new colleagues and someone capable of doing things with them.

How hard this balancing act would be became evident in the first days of her newfound celebrity as a Democratic dragon slayer. When the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, was asked about her soon-to-be colleague, she minimized Ocasio-Cortez’s win as a quirky local story: “It should not be viewed as something that stands for everything else.” Ocasio-Cortez was unafraid to return the favor, refusing to endorse Pelosi’s reelection as Speaker.

“Should other House leaders go, in your opinion—particularly the Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi?” she was asked by a radio interviewer.

“I think it all depends on a case-by-case basis. I think that the party itself—I look forward to us having new leadership just in general.”

“Well,” the host persisted, “let’s do the case of Nancy Pelosi specifically, then.”

“Well, I think that it depends on our options, you know?” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I’m open to looking at who are other candidates for leadership.” In another postprimary interview, she said that “the issues we even have today may have to do with some of the calcified structures and relationships.”