Democrats show united front at Democratic Convention
Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders among DNC speakers; Jacqui Heinrich reports from Wilmington, Delaware.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and 2016 GOP presidential candidate John Kasich traded barbs ahead of the former Ohio governor’s Monday night speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Kasich, who will be speaking out against President Trump, his one-time rival during the 2016 primary, said during an interview with 360aproko News that he thinks the U.S. is “moderate” and that “extreme” politicians — like New York Democrat Ocasio-Cortez — receive “outsized publicity.”
“You know, I listen to people all the time make these statements, and because AOC gets outsized publicity doesn’t mean she represents the Democratic Party,” Kasich said. “She’s just a part, just some member of it. And it’s on both sides, whether it’s the Republicans or whether it’s the Democrats.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary, fired back in a tweet, accusing Kasich of “fighting against women’s rights.”
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION SPEAKERS: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT JOHN KASICH
“It’s great that Kasich has woken up &realized the importance of supporting a Biden-Harris ticket,” she wrote. “I hope he gets through to GOP voters. Yet also, something tells me a Republican who fights against women’s rights doesn’t get to say who is or isn’t representative of the Dem party.”
The first-term congresswoman will be allotted one minute to speak during the convention.
SEVERAL REPUBLICANS SET TO SPEAK AT DNC ON MONDAY NIGHT
Kasich, meanwhile, will be one of four Republicans to speak in support of presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden on Monday, the same night that Sanders will address the convention.
The three Republicans joining Kasich on Monday are former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, Quibi CEO Meg Whitman, a former adviser for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns; and former Rep. Susan Molinari, who spoke during the 1996 Republican National Convention.
The range of speakers is intended to underscore party unity and highlight the spectrum of political ideologues who support the former vice president — a fact that Biden’s Wall Street donors have been spreading among bankers concerned about the role that Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders, both Democratic socialists, could play during the election, sources told 360aproko news.
But those donors contend the presence of Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders is meant to showcase the party’s united front, the sources said, and the progressives will have less influence if Biden is elected.
On Sunday, the Young Delegate Coalition, a group of 225 delegates representing Biden, Sanders, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., at the convention, launched a petition urging the DNC to give Ocasio-Cortez more speaking time.
“She is one of two convention speakers under the age of 50,” the petition, which has garnered 6,475 signatures, stated. “Yet, she is only being allotted 60 seconds to speak while Republican John Kasich is slated to have a much longer speaking segment. This is unacceptable.”
A 360aproko News poll released over the weekend found that only 38% of Democrats said they wanted to hear from Kasich at the convention, while 63% said they wanted to hear from Ocasio-Cortez.
