AOC launches plan to block non-progressive Democrats with all-female candidates: 'My ambition right now is to be a little less lonely in Congress'

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is planning to endorse an all-female group of progressive candidates to build the far left, with some of the challengers going against members already in the Democratic Party.

Her endorsements of more than one dozen candidates from her new political action committee will include a progressive challenger to potentially unseat a Texas representative from her party.

"I think my ambition right now is to be a little less lonely in Congress," she told the New York Times.

Jessica Cisneros is seeking to oust Representative Henry Cueller of Texas in the House primary. Another woman attempting to unseat a current House Democrat is Marie Newman, who is running against Representative Daniel Lipinski of Illinois. Both have Ms Ocasio-Cortez' stamp of approval.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez gained notoriety among the liberal left of the Democratic Party after her 2018 election victory when she defeated 20-year congressman Joe Crowley during the primary. She's now using her celebrity status within the far left to reshape the party to mirror similar progressive views.

The Democratic Party has faced problems defining what direction it wants to go in leading up to the 2020 election. This problem has become more and more apparent during the presidential primary, with democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, whom Ms Ocasio-Cortez supports, going up against moderates like Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Members of the party have expressed concerns over whether moving more left is a good move for the Democrats, specifically when beating Republicans like President Donald Trump come November. But Ms Ocasio-Cortez remains confident she wants to see more members similar to herself in Congress, leaving Democratic moderates worrying about their own seats.

“One of our primary goals is to reward political courage in Congress and also to help elect a progressive majority in the House of Representatives,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez told the newspaper. “There’s kind of a dual nature to this: One is opening the door to newcomers, and the other is to reward members of Congress that are exhibiting very large amounts of political courage.”

Other candidates Ms Ocasio-Cortez' committee is endorsing includes Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, who is running against Senate Democrats' endorsed candidate, MJ Hegar, to then take on Republican Senator John Cornyn in Texas.

Teresa Fernandez in New Mexico, Samelys López in New York, and Georgette Gómez in California are all running on open seats in Democratic districts and received backing from the freshman representative.

Endorsements from the committee also include women who are aiming to challenge incumbent Republicans.

Kara Eastman is challenging Republican Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska.

So far Ms Ocasio-Cortez has refrained from endorsing any progressive candidates going up against prominent members of the Democratic Party who are facing primary challengers.

The drive to help push the Democratic Party in a progressive direction comes as the representative faces challengers for her own seat in Congress. Currently 13 people from her party are attempting to run against Ms Ocasio-Cortez, and that doesn't include a number of Republican members. One notable candidate vying for her seat is former CNBC anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera.

President Trump spread rumors this that he believed Ms Ocasio-Cortez could have different ambitions within in politics, predicting she would go for Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer's seat for New York. But Ms Ocasio-Cortez did not confirm her future plans within politics when speaking to the New York Times.

Her drive, instead, was to elect more people to the House and Senate.