AOC endorses Bernie Sanders at major rally, lending support to 2020 hopeful after he suffers a heart attack

Progressive freshman Democrat throws support behind 2020 hopeful in his return to the campaign trail after suffering a heart attack

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has thrown her support behind 2020 hopeful Bernie Sanders after reportedly debating for months on whether to endorse the Vermont senator or Elizabeth Warren. (Getty Images)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat who was elected as the youngest women to serve in congress during the 2018 midterms, has endorsed Bernie Sanders to become the next president of the United States.

Speaking at a rally in Queens, the congresswoman celebrated Mr Sanders’ lifelong career in public service and progressive track record as a Vermont senator.

“We right now have one of the best Democratic presidential primary fields in a generation and much of that is because of Bernie Sanders,” she said.

The congresswoman hailed Mr Sanders' “enormous, consistent and nonstop advocacy” in the Senate, saying: “The halls of congress are no joke. It is no joke to stand up to corporate power and established interest.”

A former volunteer for Mr Sanders’ 2016 presidential bid, the 30-year-old has quickly gained prominence in the US House of Representatives as one of the most outspoken and influential freshmen politicians on Capitol Hill.

Mr Sanders took the stage after Ms Ocasio-Cortez spoke, lifting their hands together before he thanked the more than 20,000 attendees.

“What our campaign is about is not just defeating the most dangerous president in history,” he said. “It is about creating an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1 per cent.”

He added: “I am happy to report to you that I am more than ready, more ready than ever, to carry on with you the epic struggle that we face today. I am more than ready to assume the office of president of the United States. I am more than ready to take on the greed and corruption of the corporate elite and their apologists.”

The rally marked Mr Sanders’ return to the campaign trail after suffering a heart attack earlier this month. He banked on the event as a way to “reassure the American people” he was fit to be the commander-in-chief during a conversation on age at the latest Democratic presidential primary debate – the largest in American history.

Speaking to The Independent in the sunny Queensbridge Park that overlooks the Manhattan skyline, supporters of Mr Sanders said they were excited for his return to the campaign trail.

“It was a lot of the same things he’s been saying for a really long time, which is just an ode to his consistency,” said Mary Zaradich from New York. “His voting record is something that I think makes everything he says so much more real and so whenever I hear him speaking I know he’s saying for a fact something that he actually believes in.”

Tiffany Otegbade said Mr Sanders’ speech was “unique” in that the senator is capable of “touching on every single problem in America” by focusing on how interconnected numerous challenges are nationwide.

The New Yorker also said she wouldn’t be concerned voting for him after his heart attack, adding: “People suffer from health problems at any age, so I’m not concerned about that at all.”

Thousands had gathered at the park for the day to hear Mr Sanders deliver his first major speech since he paused his campaign to rest after suffering the heart attack. His wife, Jane Sanders, was the first to take the stage.

“I’m here to tell you Bernie’s back!” she said to cheers.

Filmmaker and activist Michael Moore also spoke at the rally and said the country would benefit from the “wisdom” of having an older president.

He added: “The only heart attack we should be talking about is the one Wall Street is going to have when Bernie becomes the president of the United States!”

The crowd, which spanned the entire park and spilled into the surrounding streets, was riled up throughout the day. Folks chanted everything from “Bernie will win!” to “black lives matter” and “Green New Deal” in bursts as speakers delivered their speeches.

Lauren Puncrots from New York said she had been a supporter of Mr Sanders since 2016 and that she was “not at all” concerned about Mr Sanders’ health.

“Anyone can have a heart attack,” she said. “My great-grandpa dropped dead of a heart attack at 40. Doesn’t matter. [Mr Sanders] is in great shape.”

Mr Sanders, who would be the oldest president elected to the White House, has raked in recent endorsement from young progressives, including Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat.

Ms Omar and Ms Ocasio-Cortez have both become lightning rods for the right — in a way that is not dissimilar to Mr Sanders’ own trajectory in Washington — as some of the only women of colour to serve in Congress.

They affectionately call themselves members of “the squad,” which also consists of Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib and Massachusetts Democrat Ayanna Pressley, two other women of colour elected in 2018.

Though Ms Tlaib was reportedly expected to endorse Mr Sanders, neither she nor Ms Pressley have announced their 2020 endorsements.

It appears Ms Ocasio-Cortez is all in, however, as Mr Sanders said on Saturday he was “looking forward to travelling with all over the country”.

“I don’t know that a congresswoman from New York, one from Minnesota, one from Michigan are super influential to voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina,” Jess Morales Rocketto, a Democratic strategist who worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, told The New York Times.

She had previously said she was not planning on endorsing any of the nearly 24 candidates who threw their hat in the ring for the Democratic primaries, but reportedly changed her mind following Mr Sanders’ heart attack.

“Her reaction was that this is ... when he needs an injection of energy in the campaign,” a source close to the congresswoman told Business Insider. “She thought: ‘If I have any capacity to do that, I should try.”

Ms Ocasio-Cortez reportedly debated for months over whether to endorse Mr Sanders, whose national organisation Our Revolution endorsed her candidacy against Democratic incumbent Joe Crowley in the 2018 New York primaries, or Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who has steadily risen in the polls.

Ms Warren has surpassed Mr Sanders in most national surveys to become either the second-place candidate to former vice president Joe Biden or even frontrunner in some polls. Mr Sanders has meanwhile slipped in some surveys over recent months, as the two have fought for the party’s progressive voters.

On Saturday, Mr Sanders thanked his supporters “for their prayers, and their well wishes, and their love”.

He went on to say he would win the presidency and fight for the working class, vowing to double the number of American workers in unions, cancel student loan debt, end “environmental racism” and only nominate Supreme Court justices who support women’s reproductive rights.

“I want you all to take a look around and find someone you don’t know,” he said in his closing remarks. “My question now to you is are you willing to fight for that person who you don’t even know as much as you’re willing to fight for yourself?”