Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Breaks C-SPAN Twitter Video Records With Floor Speech

Democratic congresswoman’s speech calling out Florida Republican Ted Yoho broke the previous House record, which AOC herself set in January

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
C-SPAN

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat, didn’t just reprimand Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Florida) in her Thursday House floor speech. She also broke some C-SPAN Twitter video records, too.

The clip of her speech posted by the official C-SPAN Twitter account currently has over 12 million views, which is even more than the previous record for a House member — 1.6 million — which was also set by Ocasio-Cortez in January. The clip is also C-SPAN’s most-retweeted ever, according to C-SPAN communications director Howard Mortman.

According to C-SPAN’s social media senior specialist Jeremy Art, it’s the sixth most-viewed C-SPAN social media video of all time, in the House or otherwise.

The congresswoman delivered remarks Thursday to address reports that Yoho had called her a “f—ing bitch” earlier in the week over her suggestion that a spike in crime in New York had to do with poverty and unemployment. Yoho apologized for the “abrupt manner of the conversation,” but denied bullying or attacking Ocasio-Cortez and said he would not apologize for his “passion.”

In Thursday’s speech, Ocasio-Cortez responded on the House floor with a passionate defense of civility and accountability. “I could not allow my nieces — I could not allow the little girls that I go home to — I could not allow victims of verbal abuse and worse to see that,” she said. “To see that excuse, and see our Congress accept it as legitimate and accept it as an apology and to accept silence as a form of acceptance. I could not allow that to stand.”

She then responded to Yoho’s defense as a man with a 40-year marriage with two grown daughters. “Having a daughter does not make a man decent. Having a wife does not make a decent man,” she said. “Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man and when a decent man messes up, as we all are bound to do, he tries his best and does apologize.”

Watch the C-SPAN clip below:

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