Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rallied a rapt crowd of Syracuse politicos and others today about ‘changing the machine’ to make progress and bring out voters across Upstate New York.

Ocasio-Cortez, who rose from a surprise primary victory in the Bronx in 2019 to a household name nationwide, stopped in Syracuse as part of an upstate New York tour ahead of November’s election. She told the audience at All Saints Church in Syracuse that she’d like to see the success she and her progressive colleagues have had downstate mirrored across New York.

“I don’t want us to stop in New York City,” she said. “I want us to have the entire state of New York.”

Speaking to more than 100 people just five weeks before the November election, Ocasio-Cortez laid out a playbook for engaging unlikely voters to come to the polls.

In the crowd were a number of Central New York Democrats who have been vocal about changing the makeup of the local power structure. They included Maurice “Mo” Brown, a democratic socialist who upset a 28-year Assembly veteran Bill Magnarelli in a primary this year.

“I believe that housing, healthcare, and education are human rights,” Brown said. “Right now, those rights are under attack, and I’m glad that you all are standing up and fighting back.”

The event was held at a church that months before stood up for two immigrant parishioners, Adrian Ramirez and Jose Criollo, who were both detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The church rallied around the men, writing over 70 letters to try and get them released. When Ramirez was released from a detention center in Louisiana, the church made sure someone was there to pick him up.

“Our prayers and thoughts are with your family,” Ocasio-Cortez said to the men, before thanking them for being at the event in Spanish.

Others in the crowd included Onondaga County Legislature Chair Nicole Watts, Minority Leader Nodesia Hernandez, state Sen. Rachel May and Syracuse Common Councilor Hanah Ehrenreich. Onondaga County legislature candidates Jo Bennett and Jessica Dapson also attended.

Ocasio-Cortez and Brown spoke about how to get inactive Democratic voters to the polls with a program called Operation Midterms Project Reactivation.

In New York, a voter is deemed inactive if they don’t respond to the Board of Elections’ change of address letter, or if they don’t vote in two consecutive federal elections, said Destiny Cruz, a field representative for Ocasio-Cortez.

The program worked well in Ocasio-Cortez’s district, where 30% of contacted inactive voters voted, she said.

In Onondaga County there are 6,314 inactive Democratic voters, mainly concentrated on the south and east sides of the city, Cruz said.

“We cannot take our house seats for granted,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The goal here is not just persuasion from conservative voters, but electorate expansion.”

Ocasio-Cortez also said she thinks many rural voters in upstate New York could be in play for Democrats.

She said as she’s toured upstate NY the past few days she’s seen a lot of anti-data center signs in conservative towns.

“You know Republicans aren’t knocking on their door and engaging them on that,” she said. “What we’re going to do is show up.”

Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens is going to send letters to some of those voters in the city, Ocasio-Cortez said.

Ocasio-Cortez and Owens met earlier in the day to discuss voting and how federal policies are affecting Syracuse. The pair ate lunch from Habiba’s Ethiopian Kitchen at Salt City Market.

Ocasio-Cortez also met with Rep. John Mannion, D-Geddes, Monday afternoon at his district office in the Galleries of Syracuse. Mannion is running for reelection this year against Republican Kailee Buller.

The two spoke privately for about 30 minutes. Their meeting included a conversation about the similarities and differences of their congressional districts, Mannion said.

He also talked with Ocasio-Cortez about the history of Syracuse and Central New York.

Mannion did not attend the event at the church.