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AOC Confronted About Why She's Still Driving a Tesla

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  September 25, 2023 9:15 AM

Amid the ongoing UAW strike, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was confronted by “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan about her choice of car after previously pledging to purchase a “union made electric vehicle.” 

The New York progressive faced backlash when it was reported she purchased a Model 3 from Elon Musk’s non-unionized company in 2020. Last year, she explained "it was the only EV that could get me from New York to Washington on like one, or one-and-a-half charges" but added that she “would love to switch" to an EV from a unionized workforce. As Brennan pointed out,  that hasn’t happened yet.  

"UAW already makes some electric vehicles so why wasn’t that—is it a problem with the quality, is it a problem with the style, is the market just not there?’ Brennan wondered. 

Curiously, AOC blamed the fact that COVID vaccines hadn't come out yet at the time. 

“Uh, no, look our car was purchased during the pandemic when travel, mass, before a vaccine had come out so travel between New York and Washington, the safest way we had determined was an EV," AOC explained. "But that was prior to some of the new models coming out on the market that had the range available, but we’re actually looking into trading in our car now … hopefully we will soon.”

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