Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) would play a “very important role” in his administration if he is elected president in 2020.
Sanders made the remarks in a joint interview with Ocasio-Cortez and ABC News’s Rachel Scott on Sunday.
“Look, I have said this before, let me say it again – and I don’t want [Ocasio-Cortez] to hear this, because [her] head will explode,” he began at one point in the interview, which has begun to pick up traction online.
{mosads}”I don’t know of any person, [and] I’ve been in Congress for a few years, who in the course of less than one year – she’s been in office less than one year – who has had more of an impact on American politics as a freshman member of Congress than she has” he continued.
When pressed by Scott if he had considered putting Ocasio-Cortez in a Cabinet position his administration, Sanders responded: “If I am in the White House, she will play a very, very important role.”
“No question, in one way or the other,” he added.
Ocasio-Cortez, a freshman member of Congress who first rose to prominence last year after defeating a 10 term-incumbent Democrat in the 2018 primaries, endorsed Sanders in the presidential race last month.
Since then, she and Sanders have made several public appearances on the campaign trail as he seeks to gain support in the primary race against other leading Democratic presidential contenders, including former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).
Over the weekend, Sanders’ campaign boasted of the crowd size his rallies with Ocasio-Cortez recently drew in Iowa, where a recent Quinnipiac University poll shows him trailing Biden and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg.