Wichita, Kansas (CNN) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the newly minted progressive star from New York, hit the campaign trail in deep-red Kansas with Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats, to boost a pair of progressive House candidates Friday, hoping to pull off the next political upset.

"They said what we did in the Bronx no one would care about here in Kansas," Ocasio-Cortez said Friday in Wichita. "They told me I would not be welcome. But you have proven them wrong."

Ocasio-Cortez's trip marked the first time she had stepped out on the campaign trail to lend her support to other progressive candidates, a month after her stunning primary win in New York's 14th Congressional District.

"Wherever there are working people, there is hope for the progressive movement," she said, ahead of Kansas' August 7 primary. "You are very lucky to have someone brave enough to run in this district too, because that is what it takes -- change takes courage."

The rally in Wichita, for House candidate James Thompson, had to be moved to a larger venue due to the number of people who had RSVP'd for the event. Many who came out said much of the draw was the duo of Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez.

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