The Democratic National Convention kicked off with a heavy dose of star power on Monday, with everyone from Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr to former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaking in support of Vice President Kamala Harris. But no one worked the crowd into more of a frenzy than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
“I’m here tonight because America has before us a rare and precious opportunity,” she said. “In Kamala Harris, we have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class because she is from the middle class.”
Much like the early messaging of the Harris/Walz campaign, Ocasio-Cortez’s speech centered on the issues plaguing working-class Americans.
“Donald Trump would sell this country for $1 if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends,” she added. “I for one am tired of hearing about up how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot woman who fights to lift working people up every single day.”
Ocasio-Cortez noted that Republicans often attack her past work as a bartender. They have “attacked me by saying that I should go back to bartending. But let me tell you I’m happy to any day of the week because there is nothing wrong with working for a living,” she declared. “Imagine having leaders in the White House who understand that.”
Ocasio-Cortez also threw an indirect nod to protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo against Israel. Thousands descended upon Chicago to affirm their calls for Vice President Kamala Harris to break with President Joe Biden and endorse a harder stance against the Israeli government and their ongoing siege on Gaza.
Harris has been “working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bringing hostages home,” Ocasio-Cortez said in her speech.
It was her rousing affirmation of the value of labor and her attacks on Trump for ignoring the common man that brought the United Center crowd to its feet, however. Ocasio-Cortez wasn’t the only speaker to do so on Monday. Ahead of her speech, United Automobile Workers Union President Shawn Fain addressed the convention, taking off his blazer to reveal a shirt emblazoned with the slogan “Trump is a scab.”
“On one side, we have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, who has stood shoulder to shoulder with the working class,” Fain said. “On the other side, we have Trump and Vance — two lap dogs for the billionaire class who only serve themselves. So for us in the labor movement, it’s real simple. Kamala Harris is one of us, she’s a fighter for the working class and Donald Trump is a scab.”
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