Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Mocks Byron Donalds Over Speaker Bid

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mocked Byron Donalds over his bid to become the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Asked by MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan what she thought about the 44-year-old Florida Congressman, who announced his candidacy last week, the Democrat Representative for New York implied Donalds lacked the experience requisite for the role.

"He's only served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives," she said. "The last thing that he did in an Oversight Committee was attempt to submit falsified evidence to an impeachment hearing."

Ocasio-Cortez, widely known as AOC, was referring to an impeachment hearing last month, when she accused Donalds of fabricating information when he showed text messages that he claimed indicated Hunter Biden engaged in fraud and money laundering to benefit his father, President Joe Biden.

Today she added of his bid: "I think it helps to know where all the bathrooms are before you run for the U.S. House of Representatives, personally, and I think it helps to have some real experience in one of the most complex legislative bodies in the world before you try to run it."

It comes amid a vacuum in the House after Republican Kevin McCarthy was ousted in a historic vote on October 3. Republicans have since dropped Jim Jordan as their House speaker nominee after failing to win enough votes three times, while Steve Scalise, the favored candidate, dropped out of the race on October 12.

Donalds, who has endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential election, announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he was running for the position on Friday.

"I look forward to securing the votes of a majority of my Republican colleagues to become the first African-American Speaker, the first Speaker from the great state of Florida and the next Speaker of the 118^th Congress," he said.

Donalds' office confirmed his candidacy on Friday evening and shared a statement from the politician on X.

"Tonight I am announcing my candidacy for speaker of the US House of Representatives,' he said.

"My sole focus will be securing our border, funding our government responsibly, advancing a conservative vision for the House of Representative and the American people and expanding our Republican majority.

"As a member of this conference, I've seen firsthand the devotion of my colleagues to improving the lives of their constituents and the future of America.

"We come from different walks of life but share the common pursuit of a more perfect union.

"As speaker, every voice in our conference will have a seat at the table to ensure our unity and consensus on the legislative battles we face.

"Under my leadership, the House will lead the charge to advance a simple objective: Put the American people first, keep them safe and make their lives easier.

"Titles aren't given. They're earned."

Speaking to Newsmax after the announcement he said his priorities were to "secure our border, actually fund this government responsibility, and then continue to lay out that conservative vision" that he said voters wanted.

"I believe I am the leader who can get that job done, that's why I threw my hat into the ring to run for Speaker of the House."

Interim Speaker Patrick McHenry currently leads the House.

It has gone 19 days without a speaker and is paralyzed and unable to do business with less than a month until the government shuts down again.

Newsweek has contacted representatives for Donalds and Ocasio-Cortez for comment via email.