Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) informed her supporters on Thursday that she was bending her rule against appearing on Fox News “on principle” so that she could correct “misinformation about coronavirus” among other issues.
During her interview with Bret Baier, Ocasio-Cortez weighed in on the Democratic primary race and claimed “voter suppression” was to blame for why progressive positions didn’t seem to be a winning message among voters.
“You did a campaign event at the University of Michigan, 10,000 people, it was rock star status, but those kids did not show up at least if you look at the numbers, just overall this race,” Baier said. “So, how can you say the progressive position is still prevailing nationwide when Joe Biden is winning so much?”
“Well, I think one thing that isn’t being talked about is that rampant voter suppression in this country,” Ocasio-Cortez responded. “Right there in Ann Arbor where we had that rally, those kids were waiting three hours in line to vote in Michigan. And so, when we talk about who’s turning out and who’s not turning out, we absolutely —”
“So, just to be clear, you’re saying you think voters didn’t get to vote who wanted to vote in Michigan?” Baier interjected.
“Absolutely,” she responded. “Obviously, there’s more that we need to do in terms of turning out youth voters, it’s, uh, we need to make sure we are inspiring young people to turn out, but when you do turn out, you should not be waiting three, four, seven hours in order to vote and that causes people to leave.”
*261,801
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 12, 2020
“Last night, Michigan saw a turnout explosion, setting a record for votes cast in a Michigan Democratic primary and increasing turnout by over 28.8% over 2016," - Lavora Barnes, chairwoman of the Michigan Democratic Party https://t.co/f21h9PQJCb https://t.co/U1fg7BN1Ic
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) March 12, 2020
AOC blaming bernie’s losses on voter suppression perpetrated by her own party. makes sense https://t.co/mixPVBd4Lj
— Logan Hall (@loganclarkhall) March 13, 2020
Sanders and his campaign staff called the long lines an "outrage" during Michigan's primary.
“At a time when Democrats correctly attack Republicans for voter suppression, it is disappointing to see people standing in long lines for hours today waiting to vote in Michigan and around the country. People should not have to miss a day of work to exercise their right to vote. This is an outrage,” Sanders said in a statement.