New York freshman Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed the decision from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to feature a failed 2016 Republican presidential candidate on the prime time speakers’ line up Monday.
“It’s great that Kasich has woken up &realized the importance of supporting a Biden-Harris ticket. I hope he gets through to GOP voters,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. “Yet also, something tells me a Republican who fights against women’s rights doesn’t get to say who is or isn’t representative of the Dem party.”
The self-proclaimed New York socialist continued.
“We can build bridges & not lose sight of our values. It’s important to remember that Kasich is an anti-choice extremist. He 100% will (and has) signed away our reproductive rights the moment he has the opportunity to do so. He is not a friend to workers.”
We can build bridges & not lose sight of our values.
It’s important to remember that Kasich is an anti-choice extremist. He 100% will (and has) signed away our reproductive rights the moment he has the opportunity to do so. He is not a friend to workers.https://t.co/7S8504VZcK
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 17, 2020
Ocasio-Cortez included a link to a 2018 piece in the Cincinnati Enquirer reporting on then-Ohio Gov. Kasich signing legislation to ban the second-trimester abortion procedure of dilation and evacuation while also vetoing the “heartbeat bill,” which sought to implement an outright ban on abortion far sooner. Kasich’s veto of the latter upset conservatives two years after the Republican governor’s failed presidnetial run marking yet another illustration of his own leftward shift towards the Democratic Party.
Ocasio-Cortez’s discontent with the DNC featuring a non-socialist speaker is not exclusive to the freshman congresswoman facing her first re-election this year, who will also get a chance to address the prime time audience later in the week. The Daily Beast reported over the weekend that party activists were upset that the lineup included self-identifying Republicans such as Kasich rather than more Muslim and “Latinx” Democrats.
“To have as many Republican speakers as Latinos, it just doesn’t send a great message,” said senior adviser to Julian Castro Sawyer Hackett to the Daily Beast. While Ocasio-Cortez, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, and Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto are each Latino speakers on the line up, Castro, a former presidential rival who took a shot at Biden’s age on the Democratic debate stage did not make the cut.
