U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke to a capacity crowd of Penn State students and community members at a rally for presidential candidate Kamala Harris and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz on Friday evening at State Theatre in State College.
The Democratic New York congresswoman spoke for about 25 minutes and discussed the importance of the Nov. 5 election, her journey to politics, her time in the U.S. House of Representatives and more during the event hosted by Penn State Students for Harris-Walz.
Lines for the event stretched down West College Avenue Allen Street and Fraser Street intersections, and about 20 supporters of former president Donald Trump stood across the street at the Allen Street gates.
The theater reached its full capacity of 591 before organizers began turning people away at the door, and Ocasio-Cortez spoke to a group of people who couldn’t enter outside the theater before the rally.
State College Mayor Ezra Nanes, Penn State College Democrats President Baybars Charkas and Penn State Students for Harris President Sydney Robinson kicked off the evening, speaking about the importance of Pennsylvania in the election and the role of college students in the commonwealth voting Democratic. Robinson shared how a health scare over the summer moved her to start Students for Harris and the need for affordable health care.
Ocasio-Cortez walked on the stage at 6:50 p.m. to chants of “AOC” from the crowd. She talked about what she sees as the importance of the election for future generations. She also spoke about the efforts that a Democratic-led House of Representatives took in years past, including work on the minimum wage and climate change.
Ocasio-Cortez spoke about how she perceived the differences between the politics of past generations and those of the present generation. She finished her speech by talking about the importance of getting people to vote and encouraged attendees to convince their friends to vote. Ocasio-Cortez then left the stage around 7:15 p.m.
While none of the presidential or vice presidential candidates have visited Centre County this cycle, Ocasio-Cortez was the second high-profile political figure in as many days to stop in State College. Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswany spoke to hundreds of mostly Penn State students on Thursday at the Sparks Building on the University Park campus.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are scheduled to bring their Driving Forward Blue Wall Bus Tour in support of Harris-Walz to State College on Sunday, when they will also be joined by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
