Gephardt says focus on Ocasio-Cortez overshadowing important stories

WASHINGTON • Former Democratic House Leader Dick Gephardt says attention focused on New York’s young congresswoman has shortchanged equally compelling stories of newly elected Democrats from more moderate congressional districts.

Green New Deal author Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s star power is largely a creation of the media and Republicans, he said in an interview Tuesday with the Post-Dispatch.

“I am thinking that probably the attention she is getting is a convenient partnership between the media, who kind of likes celebrities, and the Republicans, who want a target,” Gephardt, who represented St. Louis in Congress for 28 years, said. “(Democrats) had a lot of people elected the last election who were from moderate districts. In fact a lot of them were women, and many of them were former military.”

A total of 35 Democratic women were elected to their first terms in 2018, boosting the number of women serving in the House to a record 102 — 89 Democrats and 13 Republicans.

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