Washington (CNN) New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said a chant from President Donald Trump's supporters mocking her was emblematic of Trump finding a female politician to attack.

"You know this is part of a pattern that the right and the far-right and, frankly, the President is consistent with," Ocasio-Cortez told CNN in New York. "He doesn't have another woman, Hillary Clinton or whoever else, to vilify anymore so they need to find another woman to kind of prop up and become a lightning rod."

At a rally in Michigan on Thursday, members of the crowd could be heard chanting "AOC sucks" at the mention of her name by Donald Trump Jr.

The freshman Democrat has emerged as a major figure on the left and a recurring focus of criticism by conservatives, who regularly mention Ocasio-Cortez by name or target the "Green New Deal," a resolution she has championed to target climate change.

In her comments on Friday responding to the Trump rally, Ocasio-Cortez talked about bridging divides and said she had recently accepted an invitation from Kentucky GOP Rep. Andy Barr to visit coal mines in Kentucky.

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