Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman to be elected to the US House of Representatives, has delivered a powerful speech in response to a congressman who allegedly verbally abused her.

• Aug 18, 2020 Read Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez's remarks from the 2020 Democratic National Convention, as prepared for delivery.
• A new generation of liberals is growing their ranks and preparing to take on the former vice president should he win on Election Day.

The Democratic congresswoman claims that Republican Ted Yoho called her a 'f****** b****' and said she was 'out of [her] freaking mind' on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington DC.

Mr Yoho issued a public apology the following day but denied using the alleged language, saying it was a 'policy discussion'.

In a passionate 10-minute speech in the House on Thursday, Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who is known as AOC, rejected Mr Yoho's apology and called out a culture of accepting 'violence and violent language against women [and] an entire structure of power that supports that'.

She said: 'I have waited tables in restaurants. I have ridden the subway. I have walked the streets in New York City. And this kind of language is not new.

'I have tossed men out of bars that have used language like Mr Yoho's, and I have encountered this type of harassment riding the subway in New York City. This is not new.'

‘I am someone’s daughter too’: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s speech denouncing Republican’s sexist slur, in full. New York Democrat delivered damning comments on Ted Yoho, who accosted her. Ocasio-Cortez’s speech has sparked a broader conversation about misogyny Ocasio-Cortez’s speech on Thursday was about more than just the incident with Yoho. While that exchange was the inciting. The clip of Ocasio-Cortez’s speech, which was tweeted by liberal activist Brian Tyler Cohen at 8:32 p.m. Eastern Tuesday night, already has 4.7 million views. It had been retweeted almost 50,000.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who represents New York's 14th district, added: 'Having a daughter does not make a man decent.

'Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man.'

Ms Ocasio-Cortez said men abuse women with a 'sense of impunity' every day, including when 'individuals who hold the highest office in this land admit... to hurting women'.

US President Donald Trump was embroiled in a public row with Ms Ocasio-Cortez last year when her told her and three other Democratic women of colour - known as the 'squad' - to 'go back' to the country they are from. Ms Ocasio-Cortez was born in New York.

During the session in the House on Thursday, a number of other women supported Ms Ocasio-Cortez by saying they too had come across similar treatment from men.

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Democratic congresswoman Barbara Lee said: 'I personally have experienced a lifetime of insults, racism and sexism and believe me, this did not stop after being elected to public office.'

Democratic New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivered a 60-second speech on Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention.

In her speech, she said:

'Good evening, bienvenidos, and thank you to everyone here today endeavoring towards a better, more just future for our country and our world, in fidelity and gratitude to a mass people's movement working to establish 21st century social, economic and human rights, including guaranteed healthcare, higher education, living wages and labor rights for all people in the United States; a movement striving to recognize and repair the wounds of racial injustice, colonization, misogyny and homophobia, and to propose and build reimagined systems of immigration and foreign policy that turn away from the violence and xenophobia of our past; a movement that realizes the unsustainable brutality of an economy that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few at the expense of long-term stability for the many and who organized a historic grassroots campaign to reclaim our democracy; in a time when millions of people in the United States are looking deep systemic solutions to our crises of mass evictions, unemployment and lack of health care, in espirito del pueblo and out of a love for all people, I hereby second the nomination of Senator Bernard Sanders for president of the United States of America.'

Ocasio Cortez Speech At Dnc

In 2017, Ocasio-Cortez, age 30, became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She was a supporter of former Democratic presidential nominee Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and publicly criticized Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden.

Aoc Speech Full Transcript

In April, Ocasio-Cortez voiced her support for Biden, but urged his campaign to take serious steps to address concerns raised by the party's left-wing.

'Beating [Republican President] Donald Trump is a matter of life or death for our communities,' she told The New York Times. 'I think it's a difference between making an argument for harm reduction, and making the argument for, there's actually going to be progress made for us.'

'The whole process of coming together should be uncomfortable for everyone involved—that's how you know it's working,' she continued. 'And if Biden is only doing things he's comfortable with, then it's not enough.'

Ocasio Cortez Speech Today

By late April, both Biden and Ocasio-Cortez's staffs had reached out to one another, with her endorsement working to potential attract younger voters as she represents the goals of the Democratic party's progressive movement.

She later joined Biden's Climate Policy Task Force, a luminary member known for her February 2019 co-sponsorship of the Green New Deal (GND), a proposed package of laws focused on virtually eliminating U.S. greenhouse gas pollution within a decade and new job creation.

Ocasio Cortez Speech Today

Biden's campaign website now states that he believes the GND is 'a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face.'