Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York spoke for roughly 90 seconds on Tuesday night at the Democratic convention to nominate a fellow democratic socialist, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, for the presidency and laud the progressive movement he had helped advance over the course of the race. In remarks that she had been asked to deliver on behalf of Mr. Sanders — who received some delegates based on primary results — Ms. Ocasio-Cortez hailed “a mass people’s movement working to establish 21st-century social, economic and human rights, including guaranteed health care, higher education, living wages and labor rights for all people in the United States.”The relatively small and procedural speaking role for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, a huge young star in the Democratic Party, was disappointing to many of her admirers, especially given the swaths of time allotted on Tuesday night to lesser-known Democratic state officials and even Republicans like Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state. But those officials had backed Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the presidential race, while Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was a staunch champion of Mr. Sanders. Giving her a prominent role in the convention probably would have also provided grist for President Trump and Republican allies, who have sought to paint Mr. Biden as “the puppet” of left-wing Democrats like Ms. Ocasio-Cortez.

Source: New York Times August 19, 2020 02:14 UTC