Ocasio-Cortez Shoots Down Reporter Who Took Issue With Her Clothes: 'Misogyny Without an Apology?'

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a newly elected Democratic representative from New York, took aim at a journalist who tweeted a picture of her and commented on her clothes.

"Hill staffer sent me this pic of Ocasio-Cortez they took just now," tweeted Eddie Scarry, a reporter for The Washington Examiner, along with a picture of the new congresswoman taken from behind. "I'll tell you something: That jacket and coat don't look like a girl who struggles."

Bronx-born Ocasio-Cortez, 29, a self-described democratic socialist, has talked about coming from a working-class background and said she could not afford to rent an apartment in Washington, D.C., until her congressional salary kicked in in January.

"If I walked into Congress wearing a sack, they would laugh & take a picture of my backside," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter in response to Scarry's tweet.

"If I walk in with my best sale-rack clothes, they laugh & take a picture of my backside. Dark hates light - that's why you tune it out. Shine bright & keep it pushing."

After the tweet was deleted following a deluge of criticism, Ocasio-Cortez wrote: "Oh, does @eScarry think he can delete his misogyny without an apology? I don't think so. You're a journalist - readers should know your bias."

Scarry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, he wrote on Twitter after the backlash: "ATTN! I posted a tweet earlier suggesting the incoming congresswoman looked well put together -- ELEGANT even -- despite suggestions she's struggled. The tweet was taken as something else, so I've deleted it!"

Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics under President Barack Obama and for a time under President Trump, offered words of encouragement to Ocasio-Cortez.

"I'm sorry this was part of your introduction to this town," Shaub tweeted.

"There's so much off-kilter here, but there's good stuff too. I hope you get a chance to experience some of the good stuff (and, with any luck, maybe the guy who posted that pic won't be working here much longer)."

Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, commenting on her first days on Capitol Hill, said she was sent to an event for spouses of elected Democrat representatives, and also that people had mistaken her for an intern.

"Next time try believing women + people of color when they talk about their experiences being a woman or person of color," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.