Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) after last Tuesday's Democratic debate. She's already joined him on the campaign trail, giving him a raucous introduction at a rally in Queens, New York over the weekend. In her speech, she praised Sanders for leading a new "working class revolution" and promoting policies such as Medicare for All.
Sure, he's progressive and all. But are the optics really worth it? CBS News correspondent Nikole Killion, who is black, asked AOC at Sanders's rally why she's supporting an "old, white guy" as the future of the Democratic Party. That old, white guy was sitting right next to her.
Serious question asked to AOC:
— ALX ???? ?? (@alx) October 21, 2019
“As a woman of color, why back an old white guy? And is this the future of the party?”
Surprisingly she had a half decent answer, but that isn’t her actual view on the matter. pic.twitter.com/B1OdgMEJOT
"I’m actually very excited about this partnership because it shows what we have to do in our country, is that we have to come together, across race, across gender, across generation," Ocasio-Cortez responded, while Sanders sat looking at Killion with a smirk on his face.
There are multiple minority candidates vying for the Democratic nomination, such as Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, and former HUD Secretary Julian Castro. Killion wondered why AOC is not supporting these other, more diverse campaigns. Ocasio-Cortez said that yes, she did meet with other candidates before deciding on Sanders.
As for Sanders's age, that became a bigger issue a few weeks ago when the senator suffered a heart attack and had to undergo surgery. At this weekend's rally, he promised supporters he was back and "more than ready" to finish the campaign.
Another frontrunner, former Vice President Joe Biden, doesn't have age on his side either. He'll be 78 at the time of the 2020 inauguration. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who currently holds the lead, is 70 years old.