Lieberman: Defeated Incumbent Should Run As Independent Against Ocasio-Cortez

Former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman. Image by getty images
Former Democratic senator and vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal urging Rep. Joe Crowley of New York to run as an independent against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who defeated him in a primary last month.
Lieberman points to the fact that Crowley’s name will still be on the ballot for the Working Families Party, because Crowley technically won their primary; due to an election technicality, Crowley said he cannot remove himself from the ballot unless he dies, leaves the state, or is nominated for a different office. This technicality caused tension between Ocasio-Cortez and Crowley last week.
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s surprise primary victory over Rep. Joe Crowley seems likely to hurt Congress, America and the Democratic Party. It doesn’t have to,” Lieberman wrote in his op-ed.
Lieberman pointed to his own successful third-party run in Connecticut as precedent. Lieberman lost his Democratic primary in 2006 to Ned Lamont, but ultimately claimed the seat as an independent. He urged Crowley to do the same.
“I ran as an independent because I wanted all the voters to decide whether I deserved to continue to serve them in the Senate,” Lieberman said. “It was a risk, but I concluded it was worth it to know that I had taken my fight for the kind of government I believed in as far as I possibly could.”
In his reasoning for Crowley’s run, Lieberman pointed to Ocasio-Cortez’s foreign policy, particularly in regards to Israel.
“Ms. Ocasio-Cortez didn’t speak much about foreign policy during the primary, but when she did, it was from the [Democratic Socialists of America] policy book,” Liberman said, which included “reflexive criticism of one of America’s great democratic allies (Israel).”
He wrote: “I hope Joe Crowley will give all the voters of his district the opportunity to re-elect him in November—and I hope they find his name on their ballots.”
Juliana Kaplan is a news intern at The Forward. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter, @julianamkaplan
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 2
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture In a Haredi Jerusalem neighborhood, doctors’ visits are free, but the wait may cost you
-
Fast Forward Chicago mayor donned keffiyeh for Arab Heritage Month event, sparking outcry from Jewish groups
-
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
-
Fast Forward Latvia again closes case against ‘Butcher of Riga,’ tied to mass murder of Jews
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.