Washington DC - New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently appeared to backtrack on her previous calls to defund the police and state prisons.
During an interview with ABC on Sunday, AOC was asked about Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong, who has recently garnered attention for controversial remarks that include a call to cancel Thanksgiving and shut down prisons.
AOC pointed out that Hong has backtracked on both positions and suggested that progressives as a whole are doing so as well.
"I have a local city councilman that has this saying, 'Woke 1 was crazy,'" Ocasio-Cortez said with a laugh.
When pressed on whether she went "too far" when she and other progressives pushed calls to defund the police, AOC argued she had done so at the height of COVID shutdowns when it seemed the country was open to big changes.
"The doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place. And I actually think that the discussions that were had in that time were quite fruitful," she explained.
"Rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today," AOC added. "I'm grateful that these candidates have the opportunity to present who they are to their electorate, and what they're campaigning on in this moment."
AOC is pressed on a potential 2028 run
The Congresswoman's comments come as she is seen as one of the most popular politicians in the country and a potential candidate to run in 2028 for either president or to replace Chuck Schumer in the Senate.
During her interview, AOC explained that her work representing New York has been "the greatest privilege of my life" and said she is now focused on helping her party in "winning the midterms."
"I haven't ruled out the possibility," she said of a potential run. "And I'm very humbled [by] the tremendous amount of support out there."