Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s staff has reportedly received special training from Capitol Police given the volume of death threats she receives.
The revelation comes from a profile piece in Time that says the New York Democrat’s staff have been taught how to perform risk assessments of visitors. Aides “stiffen” at every knock on her office door, the report said.
Ocasio-Cortez, who is the youngest congresswoman ever elected, is a self-described socialist who rose to national prominence after winning her primary last year against former longtime Rep. Joseph Crowley.
As a lawmaker, she has been critiqued by both sides of the aisle over her “Green New Deal,” legislation aimed at stopping climate change and combating economic inequality.
The congresswoman has a large following on Twitter, where she has more than 3.5 million followers, and other forms of social media which she uses to to amplify her platform and call out her critics. She often highlights aspects of her personal life, like livestreaming cooking over Instagram. Some 2020 presidential contenders have attempted to imitate that brand of millennial appeal.
Despite her fandom, a recent poll showed that President Trump was viewed more favorably than she is in their home state of New York, partly due to being seen as the leading figure resulting in Amazon pulling out of its deal to build a second headquarters in Queens. The Gallup poll released last week put Ocasio-Cortez’s unfavorable numbers up by 15 percentage points compared to last September.
