Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continued to tease a Kentucky Republican lawmaker for backpedaling on her invitation to the Bluegrass.

Ocasio-Cortez — often referred to as "AOC" — used her Twitter platform Wednesday to again call attention to Rep. Andy Barr, who invited her to the state last month to tour an underground coal mine.

Ocasio-Cortez now says she similarly asked Barr to come to the Bronx, which is part of her New York district, to participate in a town hall on climate change. The congressman declined, she said, due to the University of Kentucky men's basketball team playing in the NCAA tournament.

"So I offered to fly him home in time for the game," she tweeted. "He still said no."

Barr's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday about Ocasio-Cortez's tweet.

Barr started the exchange during a House committing hearing on climate change. He challenged Ocasio-Cortez, who is spearheading a massive overhaul in U.S. energy policy called the Green New Deal, to see for herself how her views would impact Kentuckians.

"I want to invite the gentle lady to come to Eastern Kentucky where thousands of coal miners no longer have paychecks," Barr said. "I invite her to go underground with me and meet the men and women who do heroic work to empower the American economy."

"I'd be happy to," Ocasio-Cortez said. "In fact, when I first started my campaign, the first place I went was Kentucky."

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But since then Barr, who represents central Kentucky, has qualified the invite by suggesting Ocasio-Cortez first apologize to Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, for a separate spat with Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., over 9/11 and domestic terrorism.

A Barr spokeswoman previously told the Courier Journal that Barr wasn't rescinding the invitation but rather suggesting she apologize first.

Ocasio-Cortez has responded by trolling Barr and other conservatives on social media this week about waffling.

"GOP thought they could catch us with a bluff," Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter in reaction to the Courier Journal's story. "Now we’ve got ‘em on their back foot stutter-stepping."

The congresswoman also said she knew more about the region than her critics would like to admit, and pointed to how her chief spokesman is from Appalachia. She said that listening to those Americans is "a valued perspective ... for coalition-building."

"I suspect underestimating women is the GOP’s kryptonite," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

GOP groups haven't backed off, however, at weaponizing Ocasio-Cortez, who is a Democratic socialist, against members of her party in parts of the country that President Donald Trump won.

The Republican Governor's Association, for example, continued to press Democratic candidates for Kentucky governor on if they would welcome Ocasio-Cortez to the state.

State Rep. Rocky Adkins, Attorney General Andy Beshear and former State Auditor Adam Edelen are the top Democratic contenders looking to boot Republican incumbent Matt Bevin from office. Perennial candidate Geoff Young is also running in the Democratic primary.

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"When it comes to confronting their party’s embrace of job-killing socialist politicians that would take Kentucky backwards, silence is no longer an option for Democrat gubernatorial candidates,” John Burke, an RGA spokesman, said in a statement. "... Do they stand with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her far-left agenda? Or with working Kentucky families?"

Edelen campaign spokesman Matt Erwin said Thursday morning that they would "welcome anyone to come to Kentucky to learn about the challenges and opportunities we face."

"That said, our campaign certainly isn't about looking to Washington, D.C., for solutions for Kentucky," he added.

Of the top three contenders, Edelen, of Lexington, would be the most likely to connect with AOC politically given his personal investment in the renewable energy field. He is part of an effort that has gained national attention for converting a former coal mine into a solar energy project in Eastern Kentucky.

Beshear campaign manager Eric Hyers also kept the response broad, telling the Courier Journal that the attorney general "will meet with any member of Congress, regardless of party, who wants to discuss issues important to Kentucky."

The Adkins campaign has yet to respond to a request for comment.

Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at 502-582-4475 or pbailey@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/philb.