Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-CortezLawmakers fear voter backlash over failure to reach COVID-19 relief deal Why Democrats must confront extreme left wing incitement to violence The Hill Interview: Jerry Brown on climate disasters, COVID-19 and Biden's 'Rooseveltian moment' MORE (D-N.Y.) criticized a "broken mentality" in politics on Tuesday in which public office is seen as something that people wait in line for, in a response to The Hill's report that some Democrats are looking for a primary challenger to take her on.

Ocasio-Cortez quoted a Democratic lawmaker who said it wouldn't be that hard to find someone to challenge the freshman lawmaker since "you've got numerous council people and state legislators who’ve been waiting 20 years for that seat."

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Ocasio-Cortez tweeted out that sentence, and then wrote: "That broken mentality, that public office is something you wait in line for, instead of earning through hard organizing, is exactly what voters want to change.

"Shows you how disconnected some folks here are."

"You've got councilpeople who've been waiting 20 yrs for that seat.”



That broken mentality, that public office is something you wait in line for, instead of earning through hard organizing, is exactly what voters want to change.



Shows you how disconnected some folks here are. https://t.co/TMWYkboB7i — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 29, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez shocked the political world by defeating Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) in a House primary last summer.

Since then, her stock has soared further. She has nearly 3 million followers on Twitter, and an ability to win headlines. She's sought to change the political conversation and win support for policies that she sees as cutting into inequality.

But Ocasio-Cortez has also ruffled some feathers in the Democratic Party with her actions.

“What I have recommended to the New York delegation is that you find her a primary opponent and make her a one-term congressperson,” one Democratic lawmaker, who requested anonymity, told The Hill.

Ocasio-Cortez's operation has shrugged off such talk.

“We believe in primaries as an idea. We’re not upset by the idea of being primaried. We are not going to go out there being anti-primary — they are good for party,” Corbin Trent, a campaign spokesman for Ocasio-Cortez, told The Hill.