Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expects it will be an uncomfortable process for all sides as presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden seeks to court liberal voters.
“There’s this talk about unity as this kind of vague, kumbaya, kind of term. Unity and unifying isn’t a feeling, it’s a process,” Ocasio-Cortez, who supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, told the New York Times.
“The whole process of coming together should be uncomfortable for everyone involved — that’s how you know it’s working. And if Biden is only doing things he’s comfortable with, then it’s not enough.”
The New York Democrat said Biden has made some overtures to the Left, such as lowering the age to qualify for Medicare to 60 and giving Deferred Action for Child Arrivals recipients a path to citizenship, but the concessions don’t go far enough.
“It’s almost insulting,” she said, noting 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton had proposed lowering the Medicare age to 50.
The liberal firebrand said the Biden campaign has not reached out to her, and she’s not set on giving him her endorsement, even if she will vote for him.
“I’ve always said that I will support the Democratic nominee. But unity is a process, and figuring out what that looks like is part of this whole conversation that I think Bernie and [Elizabeth] Warren and other folks are part of as well,” she said.
“I will be supporting the Democratic nominee in November. I would just hope that the nominee supports our communities too,” she added.
