Austin's South by Southwest festival has been a popular destination for several 2020 presidential candidates this weekend, but a freshman congresswoman proved to be the biggest draw of any of the event's political speakers.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) reportedly sparked enough interest that her audience filled a massive ballroom "to the brim" on Saturday, far outdrawing presidential candidates like Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Per Slate, the space could not accommodate everyone who wanted to see her remarks.
Ocasio-Cortez, who considers herself a democratic socialist, used the opportunity to try to dispel the idea that political moderation is a viable way of getting things done in Washington in this day and age. "Moderation is not a stance," she told interviewer Briahna Joy Gray of The Intercept. "It's just an attitude of, like, 'meh'."