BOSTON — Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley said Democrats must use their power to pursue universal child care, paid leave, Medicare for All and abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, arguing in a video she posted Friday that voters want her party to be "the fighters in the room."

"So that is why there'll be big things I continue to fight for, like universal child care, like paid leave, like Medicare for all, like abolishing ICE," Pressley said in the interview clip, which she shared on X.

Pressley, a Boston Democrat, said her party too often tries to look cautious. "I think, you know, the Democrats are my preferred party, and I find that we're often wanting to prove that we're the adults in the room, but the electorate want us to prove that we're the fighters in the room, and they get that we're not going to win every fight," she said. "You know, you might swing and miss, but at least swing."

She pointed to past stretches when Democrats held both chambers of Congress and the White House. "We've had the House. We've had the Senate. We even had the executive," Pressley said. "Why didn't we restore voting rights? You know, why didn't we pass the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act?"

"And so when we have the power, we have to use it," she said, adding that she will push her caucus "to do the work of repair and restoration, but also to do the work of reimagining and ultimately a third reconstruction."

In the post accompanying the video, Pressley wrote: "No more incrementalism or moderating our aspirations."

The comments echo a message Pressley posted the day after the Nov. 3 midterm elections, when she said voters had given Democrats "a mandate for bold, transformative policy," The Signal reported. Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in those elections, according to NBC News.

Pressley was reelected without opposition in the 7th Congressional District, which covers much of Boston as well as Cambridge, Somerville and several other communities, The Signal reported.