Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-CortezOn The Money: Anxious Democrats push for vote on COVID-19 aid | Pelosi, Mnuchin ready to restart talks | Weekly jobless claims increase | Senate treads close to shutdown deadline McCarthy says there will be a peaceful transition if Biden wins Anxious Democrats amp up pressure for vote on COVID-19 aid MORE (D-N.Y.) is calling out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellTrump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance On The Money: Anxious Democrats push for vote on COVID-19 aid | Pelosi, Mnuchin ready to restart talks | Weekly jobless claims increase | Senate treads close to shutdown deadline The Hill's Campaign Report: Trump faces backlash after not committing to peaceful transition of power MORE’s (R-Ky.) reelection campaign after a photo emerged of a group of young men groping a cutout of the freshman lawmaker.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez asked if McConnell's campaign was "paying for young men to practice groping & choking members of Congress" or if it was "standard culture of #TeamMitch."

McConnell's campaign told The Washington Post that the young men were not affiliated with it.

“These young men are not campaign staff, they’re high schoolers and it’s incredible that the national media has sought to once again paint a target on their backs rather than report real, and significant news in our country,” campaign manager Kevin Golden told the Post.

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The photo shows seven young men, all of whom are wearing “Team Mitch” T-shirts, surrounding the cutout of Ocasio-Cortez. One is kissing the cutout, while another has his hand near the neck of the cutout.

McConnell’s campaign told the Post it “in no way condones” the picture. The teenagers in the photo are also seen in an image shared on the McConnell campaign’s Instagram account holding posters of Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch Neil GorsuchAbortion stirs GOP tensions in Supreme Court fight Poll: 59 percent think president elected in November should name next Supreme Court justice The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump, GOP allies prepare for SCOTUS nomination this week MORE and Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael KavanaughTrump faces tricky choice on Supreme Court pick The Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump stokes fears over November election outcome The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump previews SCOTUS nominee as 'totally brilliant' MORE.

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted the image the same day the McConnell campaign had been criticized for tweeting a display depicting a tombstone bearing the name of Amy McGrath, one of several Democrats vying to face him in the 2020 election.

Golden drew a parallel between the image and another that circulated in late 2008 of former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau groping a cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonFox News poll: Biden ahead of Trump in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio Trump, Biden court Black business owners in final election sprint The power of incumbency: How Trump is using the Oval Office to win reelection MORE at a party, for which Favreau later apologized.