CHICAGO — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) sought to appeal to the middle class during her speech on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday evening.
The “Squad” Democrat highlighted her background as a bartender in New York City in her remarks, saying that “like millions of Americans,” her family was “just looking for an honest shake, and we were tired of a cynical politics that seemed blind to the realities of working people.”
“Ever since I got elected, Republicans have attacked me by saying that I should go back to bartending,” she said. “But let me tell you, I am happy to, any day of the week because there is nothing wrong with working for a living.”
Ocasio-Cortez, greeted by chants of “AOC,” argued that America has a “rare and precious opportunity” with Vice President Kamala Harris as the party nominee as she “is for the middle class because she is from the middle class, she understands the urgency of the rent checks and groceries and prescriptions.”
Contrasting Harris with Trump, Ocasio-Cortez asserted during her speech that “Donald Trump would sell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends.”
“I, for one, am tired of hearing about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to lift working people out from under the boots of greed trampling on our way of life,” she said during her speech. “The truth is Don, you cannot love this country if you only fight for the wealthy and big business.”
Ocasio-Cortez announced she was speaking on the opening night of the DNC earlier on Monday. Her remarks come as Democrats try to project party unity following Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race.
Her speech was the first to mention the war in Gaza, saying that Harris is “working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. And bringing hostages home.”
The New York Democrat is a leading member of the progressive Squad, which has been dealt heavy blows during the 2024 primary elections with the ousting of Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-MO) after pro-Israel groups spent millions against them for their calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Democrats have been fractured over support for Israel following the Oct. 7 attacks against the Jewish state by Hamas. In a sign of disunity at the convention, pro-Palestinian protesters have descended on Chicago as the party’s top members and delegates gather for the DNC.
Protesters broke through the first layer of security fencing Monday afternoon before they were pushed back by police officers. Earlier on Monday, protesters could be heard shouting “Killer Kamala” at a gathering at Union Park. The moniker is reminiscent of previous chants from protesters labeling Biden as “Genocide Joe.”
Ocasio-Cortez notably supported Biden remaining the party’s nominee before he ultimately bowed out last month. In a live stream on Instagram, the New York Democrat offered a stalwart defense of Biden’s place on the top of the ticket, arguing that people “underestimate” the president’s electoral strength.
“Joe Biden, kind of like, stomps with older people electorally,” she said. “It’s actually a hard electorate for Democrats to win. Those are not people that are on Twitter, but they vote more consistently than any other bracket. So, you take that off the table, you cannot assume that electorate transfers to any other candidate.”
Biden led Trump among likely voters aged 65 or older in a spat of polling released earlier this year. Still, polling also showed Biden losing support from other key voting groups, including Latino and black Democrats.
During her July 19 remarks, Ocasio-Cortez warned that his exit from the ticket would set the party up for “enormous peril.”
“If you think that there is consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave that they will support Kamala, Vice President Harris, you would be mistaken,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
She continued, “I’m in these rooms. I see what they say in conversations. A lot of them are not just interested in removing the president; they are interested in removing the whole ticket.”
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An open convention at the Democratic National Convention was floated as a possibility as Democrats considered what the best path forward would be in the event Biden stepped aside. The process was reportedly backed by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during a California delegation meeting on July 10.
Despite her warnings, however, Democrats, including Ocasico-Cortez, quickly coalesced behind Harris to succeed Biden after he endorsed her following his exit from the race. In her statement pledging her support for Harris, Ocasico-Cortez stated it was “crucial that our party and country swiftly unite to defeat Donald Trump.”