Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a chief advocate for the Green New Deal, will serve on former Vice President Joe Biden’s climate change panel for the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee’s campaign, Reuters first reported Wednesday.
Ocasio-Cortez, who endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) failed White House bid, will advise on global warming issues as one of the Vermont senator’s representatives on the Biden panel.
“She made the decision with members of the Climate Justice community – and she will be fully accountable to them and the larger advocacy community during this process,” an aide told Reuters. “She believes the movement will only be successful if we continue to apply pressure both inside and outside the system.”
The inclusion of the freshman “Squad” member on the council comes as Biden struggles to unite the establishment and far-left wings of the Democrat Party leading into the general election against President Donald Trump.
Although Ocasio-Cortez has yet to formally endorse Biden, the New York Democrat has said she would vote for the former vice president in November.
I personally draw a distinction between endorsement, endorsing a candidate and voting for them,” she told Vice News earlier this month. “I have not yet endorsed Vice President Biden, but I will be voting for him in November.”
“If the question is, can Biden win? I think Biden has the potential to win a general election,” she added. “Whether he can offer deeper structural changes that get us to a healthier place, I don’t necessarily know if he’s going to move us forward, but I think people can see him as stopping the bleeding.”
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