Ocasio-Cortez touts dancing skills following viral college video

Newly sworn in Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is brushing off a recently surfaced video that aimed to be an attack against her, instead touting her dancing skills.

“It is not normal for elected officials to have a reputation for dancing well and I’m happy to be one,” the New York Democrat told The Hill on Friday.

“I think it is just funny what is considered to be disqualifying. It is unsurprising to me that Republicans would think having fun should be disqualifying or illegal,” she continued. 

Asked @AOC re this dancing video. She said:

“It is not normal for elected officials to have a reputation for dancing well and I’m happy to be one.”

& “It is unsurprising to me that Republicans would think having fun should be disqualifying or illegal”https://t.co/M0qMKmQ0ar

— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) January 4, 2019

The video, which shows her happily dancing on a roof with other students at Boston University, surfaced a day before she was sworn in on Thursday.

The progressive lawmaker took to Twitter to show her dancing hasn’t stopped in the halls of Congress, either:

I hear the GOP thinks women dancing are scandalous.

Wait till they find out Congresswomen dance too!

Have a great weekend everyone 🙂 pic.twitter.com/9y6ALOw4F6

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 4, 2019

The first clip of her dancing, which aimed to be a smear against her, ultimately sparked a fierce defense of her moves online.

{mosads}”Here is America’s favorite commie know-it-all acting like the clueless nitwit she is,” reads the tweet from AnonymousQ1776, stating incorrectly that the video was from her high school days. AnonymousQ1776 later deleted their account.

The edited clip from eight years ago, which is part of a roughly four-minute long video, was filmed at Boston University, which she graduated from in 2011 with a degree in economics and international relations.

The video shows a group of student dancers imitating dancing scenes from popular films in the 1980s.

Ocasio-Cortez, 29, also nodded to younger candidates who have or are hoping to run for office.

“I think it is really part of the larger question about who should run and how we should run and I think it is great. You can be young and run for office. You can have joy in life and run for office,” she told The Hill.

Some GOP lawmakers as well as other Republicans pushed back against her claims that it was not her dance moves they had qualms with, but her policies.

“No one thinks this is scandalous,” GOP freshman Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) tweeted Friday. “What is scandalous is increasing income taxes to 70%. It’s wholly unethical for anyone to work a majority of the year just to give their money to the government. Dancing’s great, but ideas matter more.”

—Updated at 12:18 p.m.