Ocasio-Cortez claps back at Pence calling her ‘AOC’ during debate

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) responded Wednesday night to a reference to her nickname by Vice President Pence during the vice presidential debate.

“For the record @Mike_Pence, it’s Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez to you,” the New York congresswoman tweeted after Pence referred to her as “AOC.”

For the record @Mike_Pence, it’s Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez to you.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 8, 2020

Ocasio-Cortez’s colleague and fellow “squad” member, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), also took aim at Pence’s usage of her name.

“Pence you are obsessed. She’s a prolific legislator, a historymaker, a movement leader, I get it. But stop being so familiar,” she tweeted Wednesday night. “Titles matter & she’s earned hers. It’s CONGRESSWOMAN Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, AUTHOR of the Green New Deal.”

Pence you are obsessed. She’s a prolific legislator, a historymaker, a movement leader, I get it. But stop being so familiar. Titles matter & she’s earned hers. It’s CONGRESSWOMAN Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, AUTHOR of the Green New Deal.

— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) October 8, 2020

President Trump’s reelection campaign has frequently attempted to tie Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), to the party’s left flank amid polling that shows suburban moderates favoring Biden.

In addition to Ocasio-Cortez, Pence repeatedly invoked the congresswoman’s signature Green New Deal environmental proposals and repeated the president’s false accusation that Biden seeks to ban fracking.

While Ocasio-Cortez serves as a co-chair of the Biden campaign’s climate task force, the former vice president has said he does not support the Green New Deal.

Ocasio-Cortez also weighed in on Harris correcting Pence about Biden’s fracking position Wednesday, tweeting that the natural gas extraction process was “bad, actually.”