USA10 August, 20262 min read
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Says ‘Woke 1.0 Was Crazy’ Amid Wisconsin Primary Debate
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
AOC said woke 1.0 was crazy on ABC's This Week. She defended COVID-era cultural shifts as products of extreme times.
AOC on “Woke 1”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told ABC’s “This Week” that “Woke 1 was crazy,” quoting a local city councilman as she addressed resurfacing 2019–2020 positions tied to the Democratic Party’s “peak woke” era.
In the same appearance, Ocasio-Cortez said, “I think that what’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now,” as she discussed Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong’s prior support for abolishing prisons and canceling Thanksgiving.
The New Republic framed Hong as the frontrunner in tomorrow’s Democratic Wisconsin gubernatorial Wisconsin primary while noting she no longer holds the 2020 stances that drew scrutiny.
The Washington Examiner added that Ocasio-Cortez said Hong has “moved away from” those positions, and it traced the phrase to New York City Council Member Chi Osse’s May 2026 X post.
CNN reported that Ocasio-Cortez linked the shift in acceptable rhetoric to Covid, saying it was “not rhetoric that we would use today.”
Hong’s past, Christie’s pushback
Francesca Hong, described as the favorite in Tuesday’s Wisconsin gubernatorial primary, told Politico, “I had some hot takes, some bad takes on Twitter,” and said that “when you’re a business owner running a restaurant during Covid, trying to pay bills as a student, you’re putting feelings out there into the world.”
Hong added, “But I’ve evolved, I’ve learned,” as Democrats weighed whether to treat her earlier calls to abolish police and cancel Thanksgiving as campaign liabilities.
CNN quoted Republican former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie saying, “After listening to the congresswoman, why should anyone trust her?” while also arguing Republicans would “hold people like” Ocasio-Cortez and Hong “to what they’ve said over their careers.”
The New Republic described Hong as dogged by tweets she wrote back in 2020, including calls for defunding and abolishing the police and “no longer celebrating Thanksgiving.”
The New Republic also reported that Ocasio-Cortez’s “Woke One was crazy” line drew a laugh from anchor Jonathan Karl during her Sunday appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”
Why it matters in 2026
CNN said the “woke 1.0” framing now “looms over some key 2026 races,” with Democrats trying to explain away far-left positions from 2019 and 2020 that opponents have resurfaced. The New Republic argued that Ocasio-Cortez’s comments diminish the 2014-2020 movements by casting 2020 as a “fever dream,” while it pointed to protests after the killings of George Floyd and other unarmed citizens and African Americans. In the same CNN account, Ocasio-Cortez’s approach was described as a prescription to “Laugh it off,” and it contrasted her stance with Christie’s insistence on holding politicians to what they said.
CNN also cited a broader pattern in US politics, including Lindsey Graham’s pro-Trump conversion framed as getting things accomplished, and Vice President JD Vance’s 2021 statement that “If I actually care about these people and the things I say I care about, I need to just suck it up and support him.” The New Republic tied the political stakes to the Democratic Party’s electoral performance, saying the party had “some of its best election performances in recent memory in 2018 and 2020.”