Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took a swipe at the Democratic National Convention Friday, telling her fans on Instagram that the program had not been geared to progressives like herself.
“Would I have done things differently? Of course. But as a young progressive Latina I know I was not the target audience for this convention. The target audience for this convention was white moderates who aren’t sure who they’re voting for in November,” she said.
“Do I agree with centering the programming on that audience? Not necessarily. I think we could have done more to rally turnout enthusiasm from our party’s base,” she continued. “Muslims has ZERO representation which is just utterly crazy to me — we need the turnout Ilhan [Omar] and Rashida [Tlaib] delivered in their primaries.”
The remarks, made during a series of late-night Friday Instagram story posts while she was on a train back to Washington, DC, also offered praise for the convention’s technical success, with AOC telling fans that DNC organizers deserved “major props” for the show.
After some initial uncertainty, Ocasio-Cortez was given a brief speaking slot at the convention, a pre-recorded address to nominate Bernie Sanders for president. The remarks — a convention formality — left some people (and news organizations) believing she was not backing Joe Biden.
She quickly clarified to her fans that she was, and said she believed many elements of her signature Green New Deal had a good chance of passing under a Biden/Harris administration.