Democ­rats split on AOC as some bat­tle­ground can­di­dates dis­tance them­selves from ‘Squad’ law­mak­er

<div>Democrats split on AOC as some battleground candidates distance themselves from 'Squad' lawmaker</div>

Rep. Alexan­dria Oca­sio-Cortez, D‑N.Y., is fast becom­ing a cen­tral fig­ure­head in the 2026 midterm elec­tion cycle, and a polar­iz­ing one at that.Some mod­er­ate can­di­dates are shun­ning the pro­gres­sive ris­ing star’s endorse­ment, Axios report­ed this week, while oth­ers in tight races are wel­com­ing her with open arms.Several Demo­c­ra­t­ic strate­gists who spoke with Fox News Dig­i­tal said they were not shocked that some on the left are keep­ing her at arm’s length.“It was­n’t espe­cial­ly sur­pris­ing, like, her num­bers with inde­pen­dent vot­ers aren’t always great, and it’s very cir­cum­stan­tial depend­ing upon where you would want to deploy some­body with that type of back­ground and some­body who, you know, a lot of Amer­i­cans have an impres­sion of already — some­times pos­i­tive, some­times neg­a­tive,” Mike Nel­lis, a for­mer polit­i­cal advi­sor for for­mer Vic …