Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explains what lobbying is like from the inside

AOC.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Political lobbying isn't quite what it seems.

At least, that's what Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said she realized once she became a Washington insider. The freshman congresswoman said that when she was just a "normal voting citizen" she used to think lobbying was a simple transaction in which the lobby firm threatens to withhold donations to politicians if they vote or don't vote for certain bills.

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Tim O'Donnell

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.