No need to wonder at all. Of course she has handlers. They do not care how stupid she might look as long as she votes the way they tell her to vote.
Just how exactly does a completely inexperienced and unknown person who was a bartender six months ago get elected to a national office? And displacing an incumbent from her own party too. Follow her backers, if you can identify them.
O-C is the front woman for a hard-left Hispanic faction within the Democrat party which is intending to displace the older factions of "White" men and women who still hold the reigns of power. They have little use for the Black factions of the Party.
This should get very interesting as it plays out. Better than "Game of Thrones".
One way is for her opponent to completely take the vote for granted. O-C would never have been elected if her primary opponent had put effort into the primary.
Instead, they got complacent, and got primaried.
That doesn't mean O-C is exceptionally smart or organized. It means she saw an opportunity and got lucky.
It also means she has some smarts and some organization. It takes some to primary a long term member.
It is like an amateur taking out a professional boxer with a sucker punch. It can be done if the pro is complacent, and doesn't see it coming.