Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivered a rousing speech at the Democratic national convention on Monday, offering a full-throated endorsement of Kamala Harris and outlining a sweeping progressive vision for the next administration.
“America, when we knock on our neighbor’s door, organize our communities and elect Kamala Harris to the presidency on 5 November, we will send a loud message that the people of this nation will not go back,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “We choose a new path and open the door to a new day: one that is for the people and by the people.”
The New York congresswoman was greeted by the convention crowd in Chicago with loud applause and cheers of “AOC! AOC!” Ocasio-Cortez has won praise for her ability to effectively communicate with voters in an accessible way, promised Harris would be a voice for working Americans and issued a stark warning against reelecting Trump.
“Chicago, we have to help her win because we know 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,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “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.”
Ocasio-Cortez leaned into her own biography to promote Harris’s candidacy. She recounted her meteoric rise to Congress; she was working as a bartender and waitress just six years ago before defeating a 10-term Democratic incumbent in a stunning upset. When she was first elected in 2018, Ocasio-Cortez and her family were struggling to pay their bills, she said.
“Like millions of Americans, we were just looking for an honest shake, and we were tired of a cynical politics that seemed blind to the realities of working people. It was then only through the miracles of democracy and community that the good people of the Bronx and Queens chose someone like me to [represent] them in Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“And, America, in my heart I know, from that same cloth of hope and aspiration, we will also elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as president and vice-president of America.”
Echoing other speakers, Ocasio-Cortez made a point to thank Biden for his leadership, prompting applause from the crowd. Ocasio-Cortez’s enthusiastic endorsement of Harris was notable given that the congresswoman had previously expressed concerns about replacing Biden at the top of the ticket. In comments shared on Instagram Live just days before Biden dropped out of the race, Ocasio-Cortez warned that replacing the presumptive nominee at this late stage in the election cycle could set Democrats up for “enormous peril”.
But that doubt was nowhere to be seen on Monday. Ocasio-Cortez threw her full support behind Harris and vowed that the nominee would be a president for all Americans.
“In Kamala Harris, we have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class, because she is from the middle class,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “She understands the urgency of groceries and prescriptions. She is as committed to our reproductive and civil rights as she is to taking on corporate greed.”
On the issue of Israel, the congresswoman commended Harris for “working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bring the hostages home”. Ocasio-Cortez, like many prominent progressives, has criticized the Biden administration’s response to the war in Gaza and condemned Israel’s actions as an “unfolding genocide”. Many progressives are looking for Harris to set a new tone on Israel, and the issue could prove decisive in an election that is expected to be very close.
Even as Ocasio-Cortez expressed confidence that Americans would elect Harris in November, she warned against potential complacency. With less than three months to go before election day, Ocasio-Cortez told fellow Democrats that they would need to use every resource they have to secure victory.
“Just because the choice is clear to us does not mean that the path will be easy,” she said. “Over the next 78 days, we will have to pour every ounce, every minute, every moment into making history on 5 November.”
Democratic convention highlights:
Joe Biden speaks at DNC night one following surprise appearance by Kamala Harris
Here are the rising stars and politicians to watch this week
What to know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz
