AOC Has 60 Seconds to Deliver Her DNC Speech. These Top 5 Speeches Prove She’ll Nail It.

Can she talk about Biden, the pandemic, the housing and economic crisis, immigration reform, climate change, and voting out Trump in a minute?

On Tuesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) will address the public for just 60 seconds during the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Sixty seconds is not sufficient to speak on critical issues before the election, let alone during a pandemic. Petitions are being circulated that demand the DNC extend her 60-second speech under the hashtag #letAOCspeak. 

But Ocasio-Cortez is up for the challenge. On Wednesday, the New York representative tweeted a quote by Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, which Elijah Cummings once recited: “I only have a minute. Sixty seconds in it. Forced upon me, I did not choose it, But I know that I must use it. Give account if I abuse it. Suffer, if I lose it. Only a tiny little minute, but eternity is in it.” 

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She also got a pep talk from her second-grade teacher who told her, via Twitter, “You’ve got this. Remember all those poems we recited together in 2nd grade? It was prep for this moment. You’ve got this.” The congresswoman responded to her by tweeting, “Ms. Jacobs! Is that you?! Yes, I do remember the poems we recited in second grade! You prepared me perfectly for this moment. Thank you for teaching me, encouraging my growth, and believing in me as a child.”

There’s no doubt that Ocasio-Cortez has her work cut out for her. But going by her previous track record, she is sure to deliver a home-run speech. 

AOC’s Top 5 Speeches, Delivered Effortlessly and Inspiring Many

June 26, 2018: AOC’s Speech after winning New York’s 14th District in the primaries, becoming the youngest woman elected to Congress.

“What we’ve proved tonight is sometimes the deep midnight and darkness that it feels in our political environment, that there is still hope for this nation. That is what you have given every person in this country. You have given this country hope. You have given this country proof that when you knock on your neighbor’s door, when you come to them with love, when you let them know that no matter your stance you are there for them, that we can make change.”

Jan. 16, 2019: AOC’s first House floor speech.

“And the truth of this shutdown is that it’s actually not about a wall; it is not about the border; and it is certainly not about the well-being of everyday Americans. The truth is, this shut down is about the erosion of American democracy and the subversion of our most basic governmental norms. It is not normal to hold 800,000 workers’ paychecks hostage. It is not normal to shut down the government if we don’t get what we want. It is not normal for a public servants to run away and hide from the public that they serve.”

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Jan. 19, 2019: AOC speaking at the Women’s March.

“It is so incredibly important to uplift all of our voices. And to make sure the least among us advocated the most. That means we will not be quiet when it comes to the rights of Black women. That means we will not be quiet when it comes to the rights of trans women. That means we will not be quiet when it comes to the rights of poor women. And middle-class women. And working-class women. And all women in the United States and in the world.”

Feb. 8, 2019: AOC takes on the broken finance system. 

“We have a system that is fundamentally broken. We have these influences existing in this body, which means that these influences are here in this committee shaping the questions that are being asked of you all right now.” 

July 23, 2020: AOC responds to Rep. Ted Yoho after he verbally attacked her. 

“I am someone’s daughter too. My father, thankfully, is not alive to see how Mr. Yoho treated his daughter. My mother got to see Mr. Yoho’s disrespect on the floor of this House towards me on television and I am here because I have to show my parents that I am their daughter and that they did not raise me to accept abuse from men.”