‘I hesitate to walk my dog:’ AOC says her ‘life has been in danger’ since 2018
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said she fears for her life as a congresswoman, says she rarely relaxes in public and is even concerned about walking from her car to her front door.
The 33-year-old New York congressman told CNN’s Chris Wallace that the attack on Paul Pelosi only increased her concern.
Pelosi, 82, had his skull fractured when an intruder broke into the San Francisco home he shares with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at 2:30 a.m.
Ocasio-Cortez has been open about seeking therapy after the Jan. 6 riots, telling The New York Times this fall that her office is struggling to keep up with the “astronomical” amount of threats she receives each day.
When asked if she feels her life is in danger, she replied: “Absolutely, I have felt my life has been in danger since I won my primary in 2018.
“And it was especially intensified when I was first brought to Congress in 2019.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 33, told Chris Wallace she felt her life was in danger since she first joined Congress after the 2018 election
The New York congressman said every time she walked from her car to her front door, there was a threat
Ocasio-Cortez is pictured on October 25, 2020, with her French Bulldog, Deco and her boyfriend Riley Roberts
Ocasio-Cortez was pictured with Deco at a Halloween party in New York City last year
“It’s a very real dynamic and very sadly and tragically we’ve seen political violence play out,” she told Wallace on an episode of his chat show that aired Friday on HBO Max.
She added: “When I wake up in the morning, I hesitate to walk my dog.
“It means when I get home I have to ask my fiancé to come out where my car is and just take me from my car to my front door.”
“It means there’s just — a general setting where you feel like there’s almost a static electricity around you.
“And you’re just always looking around, your head is just going astray, going to a restaurant, walking down the street.”
The Tesla-driving former bartender turned congressman said she disagreed with the move to turn Democrats into a centrist party and move away from the progressive politics she promotes.
She denied that she was an extremist.
“It’s important for us to dig into what that actually means,” she told Wallace.
“As someone who is often labeled as ‘extreme’, I would naturally object to that.
“I don’t believe I am extreme the way Marjorie Taylor Greene is extreme on the Republican side.”
She said she felt her policies were not on a par with Taylor Greene’s.
The congressman is seen with her boyfriend Riley Roberts in November 2018, shortly after winning the election
“The idea that someone who believes in guaranteed universal health care in the United States is equated with someone who believes that undocumented migrants should suffer physical harm – somehow to the same extreme level – is something I would object to, ‘ she said.
The 33-year-old said she knows her progressive politics has made her a target, and as a result, she’s evolved to make her work “as robust and urgent as possible.”
She added: “I don’t want to take the time I have for granted. I don’t know if I’ll be there to see how we achieve guaranteed health care in the United States.
“So I have to advocate for it now in a very full way,” she said.
“Similar to a full path to citizenship for millions of people in this country. I just need to get out there and say it and at least leave a roadmap when I’m not there.”
She also hinted that she would not support Joe Biden for a second term, saying she wanted a different type of Democrat by 2024.
“I really believe we need not just generational shifts, but potentially content shifts as well,” she said.
“I think and I hope what we’ve seen, whether people think it’s too left or too right, or up or down, or whatever, it could be that we’re shifting in a direction where Democratic leadership The party is less dependent on large and corporate donors and sponsoring, because that does have a shaping effect on our legislative priorities.’