House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez met on Friday morning to seemingly cool tensions after weeks of public infighting within their party.
The meeting reflected a divide seen within the Democratic Party between the old guard and young, progressive newcomers. Ms Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to serve in the US House of Representatives, insisted the speaker was unfairly “singling out” her and three other freshmen congresswomen of colour in recent comments she described as “disrespectful”.
Still, it was all smiles Friday morning on Capitol Hill as Ms Pelosi walked to her office and greeted reporters before the meeting. She later shared a photo on Twitter of her standing alongside Ms Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter, writing, "Today, Congresswoman @RepAOC and I sat down to discuss working together to meet the needs of our districts and our country, fairness in our economy and diversity in our country."
A day prior, both congresswomen said the meeting was not going to be a tense debate over the fate of the Democratic Party.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez described the meeting as “nothing too climactic” when speaking to reporters on Thursday afternoon.
“Just trying to make sure we have an open line of communication,” she told USA Today, “and get on the same page.”
Ms Pelosi also sought to play down the meeting between her and Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who has become perhaps one of the most notable congresswomen in her freshman class.
“I’m looking forward to it,” the House speaker said Thursday.
The meeting arrives after Ms Pelosi publicly criticised Ms Ocasio-Cortez and the three other freshman Democrats who voted against a border funding bill, including Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley.
“They didn’t have any following,” the House speaker said about the congresswomen being the only four Democrats to vote against the legislation. “They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”
Ms Ocasio-Cortez then told the Washington Post she felt Ms Pelosi was “singling out four individuals” rather than progressives as a whole.
“It got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful ... the explicit singling out of newly elected women of colour," she said.
The Democrats have since appeared to put aside their apparent tensions after Donald Trump attacked the four congresswomen of colour in a weeks-long series of racist tweets, in which the president told them to “go back” to their countries.
