Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez outdrew every presidential candidate at SXSW
Austin's South by Southwest festival has been a popular destination for several 2020 presidential candidates this weekend, but a freshman congresswoman proved to be the biggest draw of any of the event's political speakers.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) reportedly sparked enough interest that her audience filled a massive ballroom "to the brim" on Saturday, far outdrawing presidential candidates like Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Per Slate, the space could not accommodate everyone who wanted to see her remarks.
Ocasio-Cortez, who considers herself a democratic socialist, used the opportunity to try to dispel the idea that political moderation is a viable way of getting things done in Washington in this day and age. "Moderation is not a stance," she told interviewer Briahna Joy Gray of The Intercept. "It's just an attitude of, like, 'meh'."
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She also said that capitalism "cannot be redeemed" and dismissed fear mongering about democratic socialism.
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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