Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joked during a joint appearance at a Utah rally on Sunday that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was his daughter, praising the progressive lawmaker and highlighting her background.
“Now I want to say a word about my daughter,” Sanders said, putting his hand on Ocasio-Cortez’s shoulder.
The New York congresswoman and the crowd laughed.
“No,” Sanders said, shifting to a serious tone. “I want to say a word about Alexandria and why, why what she’s doing is so important.”
Sanders proceeded to tell the story of Ocasio-Cortez’s entrance into politics, noting the high-profile Democrat was a waitress six years ago and decided to take on an establishment Democrat in Congress.
Before running for office, Ocasio-Cortez was a community organizer for Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign.