Democratic congresswoman backs AOC's call for 'new leadership'

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., on Thursday said she supported her colleague Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s, D-N.Y., contention that the Democratic Party needs new leadership.

Spanberger, who won her re-election bid in November after flipping the seat blue in the 2018 midterms, made the comments during an appearance on MSNBC’s "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

Asked by Mitchell whether she agreed with Ocasio-Cortez that the party needs new leadership, Spanberger said: "We’re a broad tent party. I have longed maintained that we need to have new voices and new leadership across the board."

Ocasio-Cortez called for new leadership in the party during a podcast interview on "The Intercept" that aired Wednesday. The self-described Democratic socialist said it was time for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to go – but warned of a power vaccum that could be filled by "nefarious forces" who are "even more conservative than the caucuses’ current leaders.  

"I do think we need new leadership in the Democratic Party," the congresswoman said during the podcast. "I think one of the things that I have struggled with, I think that a lot of people struggle with, is the internal dynamics of the House has made it such that there [are] very little options for succession." 

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Although Pelosi has indicated this upcoming term could be her last, Ocasio-Cortez said there are no viable solutions to replace her because the party's current leaders have concentrated power in leadership "with a lack of real grooming on next generation of leadership."

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"My concern — and I acknowledge this as a failing, as something that we need to sort out — is that there isn't a plan," she said. "How do we fill that vacuum? Because if you create that vacuum, there are so many nefarious forces at play to fill that vacuum with something even worse. And so, the actual sad state of affairs is that there are folks more conservative than even they are willing to kind of fill that void." 

Fox News’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.