Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) officially nominated Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to be the Democratic presidential nominee on Tuesday, a largely procedural act of progressive solidarity shared between the party’s two most recognizable figures on the left.
“In a time when millions of people in the United States are looking for deep systemic solutions to our crises of mass evictions, unemployment, and lack of healthcare, and en el espiritu del pueblo, and out of a love for all people, I hereby second the nomination of Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont for president of the United States of America,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
In her brief remarks, the freshman congresswoman checked off several of the top policy positions both she and Sanders, a fellow Democratic socialist, endorsed during the 2020 campaign, including universal health care and working against, in her words, the country’s “explosive inequalities of wealth.”
The Daily Beast reported on Friday that Ocasio-Cortez would nominate Sanders, who threw his full weight behind Biden’s White House bid in April. Immediately following her nomination of the Vermont senator, some confusion broke out about convention logistics, which Ocasio-Cortez sought to clarify to her massive Twitter audience. “If you were confused, no worries! Convention rules require roll call & nominations for every candidate that passes the delegate threshold. I was asked to 2nd the nom for Sen. Sanders for roll call,” she tweeted. “I extend my deepest congratulations to @JoeBiden - let’s go win in November.”
