AOC addresses apparent Will Lawrence snub at Lansing rally for Abdul El-Sayed

An odd moment at a weekend rally featuring Bernie Sanders stumping for Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed left some scratching their heads: U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who has endorsed El-Sayed, failed to mention progressive 7th Congressional District candidate Will Lawrence in her address and left the stage as he arrived for a final bow with Sanders.

It may not have been out of bad blood, however, as Ocasio-Cortez later said that a lack of an outright endorsement wasn’t necessarily a rejection of Lawrence.

The representative from New York has not endorsed Lawrence, who has fashioned himself as the frontrunner in the three-way August primary race between him, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam. Lawrence has taken flak recently for past comments he made on a podcast about Black Democrats, saying their place in upholding the establishment served to “defang the white left.”

Several reporters and other observers noticed that Ocasio-Cortez kept Lawrence out of her remarks on Sunday, and avoided being seen on stage with him at the rally’s final moments.

Lawrence also spoke at the rally, and had the crowd of 1,600 people energized during the daylong progressive revue at the downtown Lansing Center convention space.

A spokesperson for the Lawrence campaign declined to comment on the incident on Sunday.

Ocasio-Cortez has not endorsed Democratic 13th Congressional District candidate Donavan McKinney, either, and did not mention him during her address during a Sanders for Abdul tour stop in Detroit Saturday. McKinney is running in a primary challenge against incumbent U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit).

That said, Ocasio-Cortez did take a final bow with the full slate of speakers at the Detroit rally, which included Sanders, El-Sayed, McKinney and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit).

In Monday’s Politico Playbook feature, Ocasio-Cortez spoke about the rally and said: “I think that there’s nuances to a candidate — I think — or to any campaign, that are holistic, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important.”

The interview occurred backstage at the Sunday evening portion of the tour stop, when the revue landed in Grand Rapids that night to pack the DeVos Place with a crowd of more than 2,500 people.

“That doesn’t mean that not endorsing in a race is rejection by any means, but I think that me choosing to enter a race has a high bar because of — I put a lot of energy into every candidate that I endorse,” Ocasio-Cortez told Politico.

As to why she didn’t appear with Lawrence, Ocasio-Cortez said: “I’m always careful before I issue any endorsements.”