Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), one of the most outspoken progressives within the Democratic Party, announced her support for President Joe Biden’s re-election in 2024.
The self-described democratic socialist supported Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. But in an interview with Pod Save America, a podcast run by former speechwriters and aides to former president Barack Obama, Ms Ocasio-Cortez said she would support Mr Biden, given his competitors in the Democratic primary are vaccine conspiracy theorists Robert F Kennedy Jr and author Marianne Williamson.
“I believe given that field, yeah,” she said. “I think he's done quite well, given the limitations that we have. I do think that there are ebbs and flows as there are in any president, in any presidency.”
Ms Ocasio-Cortez said Mr Biden made some strong policy moves “right out of the gate” such as the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act, which she praised for its investments to combat climate change.
At the same time, Ms Ocasio-Cortez said the United States faced major structural problems.
“And I think that until we have senators that are willing to stand up and state the filibuster in the eye, a lot of structural issues about the Senate,” she said. “The United States and it will be what holds back this country from an enormous amount of progress.”
Ms Ocasio-Cortez has occasionally clashed with Mr Biden and voted against him. In 2021, she was one of only a handful of Democrats--along with fellow Squad members Reps Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Cori Bush (D-MO), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)--to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill on the grounds that the House had not passed Build Back Better, Mr Biden’s proposed social spending bill.
More recently, she voted against an agreement negotiated between House Republican leadership to raise the debt limit. Similarly, she boycotted a joint address to Congress from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi out of concerns of his record on human rights.
