AOC and Hochul speak on DNC’s first night

The Democratic National Convention’s spotlight was on New York state as Gov. Kathy Hochul and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took the prime-time stage at Monday night’s kickoff. Both sought to energize the crowd to set the tone for the week, but the leading New York women garnered some starkly different reactions.

Hochul’s speech got off to a little bit of a rough start when she fumbled her first line as she came on stage to a smattering of “Kathy” chants from the crowd. “Are you ready to elect Kamala Harris as the first president of the United States?” the governor said, clearly meaning to say “the first first female president.”

Still, Hochul didn’t miss a beat, transitioning quickly into a well-worn story about her immigrant family, working class roots and good, union jobs at the steel mill. She juxtaposed what she considered the hard-working, New York values she was raised with and former President Donald Trump. “Donald Trump was born a New Yorker but ended up a fraud, a philanderer and a felon,” Hochul said. “He wasn't raised with the New York values that I know… Trust me America, if you think you’re tired of Donald Trump, talk to a New Yorker.”

Hochul mentioned that Syracuse’s $100 billion Micron plant will be built with union labor and promised that it would create 50,000 “good-paying jobs.” President Biden visited Syracuse in April to tout a $6.1 billion federal grant that will go toward the development of the Micron plant. Hochul said the Biden-Harris administration “has made the most significant investments in our economy in generations,” and that, as president, Harris would continue to do so. “Trump talked big about bringing back manufacturing jobs, but you know who actually did it? President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris,” Hochul said in a final dig at the former president.

AOC and ceasefire politics

When Ocasio-Cortez took to the stage, she immediately riled up the crowd, which erupted into chants of “A-O-C!” She echoed Hochul’s sentiments, similarly sharing her personal experience as a working-class New Yorker. But she broke with other speakers on the main stage with a direct reference to the war in Gaza. “(Harris) is working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bring hostages home,” Ocasio-Cortez said, to loud applause. President Joe Biden later spoke about Gaza in the final speech of the night, as did Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia later ad-libbed a reference to Palestinians during his own address, and President Joe Biden spoke about his efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza in the final speech of the night. Although Ocasio-Cortez’s mention of Gaza was brief, it was the first mention of the conflict by a speaker on the main stage at the DNC.

The issue of Israel and Palestine loomed large on the first day of the convention. The draft Democratic platform notably does not include an arms embargo on Israel, which has been the primary demand of the Uncommitted movement and other pro-Palestinian delegates at the convention. But on Monday afternoon, a group of pro-Palestinian activists affiliated with the Uncommitted movement – including Layla Elabed, the sister of Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan – hosted an official panel about Palestinian human rights. Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters also rallied outside the convention to call for a ceasefire and arms embargo. On Monday evening, the protests caused issues for many delegates and guests – including New York delegates – who were trying to get back into the convention center for the main stage speeches. 

Besides the brief mention of a ceasefire, Ocasio-Cortez otherwise used her speech to paint Harris as a champion for working-class Americans. “In Kamala Harris, we have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class, because she is from the middle class,” she said. “She understands the urgency of rent checks and groceries and prescriptions.” Ocasio-Cortez also joined Hochul’s efforts to criticize Trump’s lack of connection to the working and middle classes, saying he would “sell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends.”

Ocasio-Cortez said she would be “happy to, any day of the week,” go back to bartending — responding to rebukes she said she’s received from Republicans ever since she was elected — because “there is nothing wrong with working for a living.” 

Politicos react

Hochul’s speech received immediate negative scores from political observers involved in Democratic and leftwing circles. One labor source described the experience of watching the speech as “tough” and awkward. “Usually the home state people know how to take down take down best, like Bloomberg did,” the source said in a text, referencing the well-received anti-Trump speech from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the 2016 DNC. “This. Well. Not so much.”

A Democratic delegate who witnessed the speech live called Hochul’s speech “totally unremarkable.” And one upstate Democratic consultant said the speech from Hochul “is the moment for the Democratic machine in (New York) to realize they don’t inspire anyone.” Many reactions on social media were also negative.

But not everyone gave Hochul poor marks. Assembly Member Alex Bores, a New York delegate, called the address a “solid convention speech” and said that “there’s never been a speech that someone didn’t give poor marks to.” State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a fellow delegate, said Hochul “took the fight to Donald Trump and really energized the New York delegation.”

Democratic strategist and former state Democratic Party executive director Basil Smikle told City & State he thought Hochul’s speech was fine. “She made a good case against Trump for not having New York values,” he said, comparing her themes favorably to Bloomberg’s 2016 speech.

Reactions to Ocasio-Cortez were almost universally positive, with some observers even comparing her speech to Barack Obama’s famous speech at the 2004 DNC. Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas, who is not at the convention, used a fire emoji to describe the speech on X and applauded her decision to speak about Gaza. “My Congresswoman appears to be the first speaker to raise calls for a ceasefire in Gaza on the main stage at the DNC, to wild applause,” Gonzalez-Rojas wrote. “Thank you, Congresswoman.” 

The same delegate who criticized Hochul’s speech said the energy for Ocasio-Cortez was “off the walls,” noting that people from across the country – not just the New York delegation – was chanting her name in the convention hall. And New York City Comptroller Brad Lander described the energy in the room as “electric.”

New York Delegate At-Large Alexandre Burgos told City & State that both Hochul and Ocasio-Cortez “spoke from their hearts” to people like him – a Gen Z voter, Latino and member of the LGBTQ+ community – whom he said “feel underrepresented and unheard.” Hoylman-Sigal similarly told City & State that “AOC very effectively summed up why Vice President Harris understands the middle class – because she’s from it.”