Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks at an Amazon Labor Union rally on April 24, 2022 in New York City.
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AOC said she does not see herself as “extreme” as GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene.
Speaking to CNN, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez said her beliefs are not the “same level of extreme” as Rep. Greene’s.
Both Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Greene easily won their elections on Tuesday.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she doesn’t see Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as her GOP twin — and rejected the comparison.
AOC made the comments in an interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace that will be aired on Sunday, though a short clip of the interview was included in CNN’s coverage on Saturday.
The clip started with Wallace asking AOC if voters want “both parties to move from the fringes from the extremes back to the center.” The New York Democrat easily won reelection on Tuesday, securing over 70% of the vote.
“I think a lot of people in this country may say yes, but it’s important for us to dig into the substance of what that actually means,” AOC said. “As someone who is often, I think, characterized as extreme, I, of course, would object to that. I do not believe that I am as extreme in the way that Marjorie Taylor Greene on the Republican side is extreme.”
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 11, 2022
The progressive added: “The idea that there is an equating of believing in someone who believes in guaranteed universal health care in the United States with someone who believes that undocumented people shouldn’t incur physical harm, are somehow in the same level of extreme, is something that I would object to.”
A spokesperson for Greene did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment on Saturday.
Greene, along with some other conservatives, has previously peddled the racist “Great Replacement” theory, a core white nationalist belief, at GOP campaign rallies.
Greene has also long-antagonized AOC, in one instance following her down the halls in Congress and screaming at her. In another instance, she called AOC a “little communist” and demanded she be placed in jail.
“Lock her up too. That’s a good idea,” Greene said at an Ohio rally in June 2021. “She’s not an American. She really doesn’t embrace our American ways. Not at all.”
Greene won her reelection on Tuesday in a landslide with over 65% of the vote.