Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is meeting criticism of her policies head-on, and has hit back at former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee for taking shots at her and her election.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez responded after Mr Huckabee — the father of White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders — called her election “looney” and mocked her suggestion that her surprise victory was comparable to the moon landing.

“Moon landing was LUNAR, not LOONEY; Moon landing done by ppl who knew what they were doing … those who elected someone who thought there were 3 branches of Congress did NOT,” Mr Huckabee wrote on Twitter, sharing a Daily Mail article and referencing a gaffe of Ms Ocasio-Cortez’s in which she mischaracterised the divisions of the US federal government.

But Ms Ocasio-Cortez hit back, and noted that her moon landing comments came while she was campaigning for an ambitious “Green New Deal” that would see the US transition to a carbon free, 100 per cent renewable energy system.

“A Green New Deal will take a level of ambition + innovation on the scale of the moon landing. We’ve been done it before, and can do it again,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in response to Mr Huckabee. “Leave the false statements to Sarah Huckabee. She’s much better at it”.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez has been the focus of frequent right wing ridicule since her surprise primary victory earlier this year, with her critics mocking her for gaffes as she prepares to be sworn into office next month.

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But the representative-elect has proven to be resilient in the face of those criticisms, and often hits back when ridiculed, using the opportunity to continue to promote her Democratic socialist political platform and policies.

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