AOC strikes up oddest friendship in Congress with deep south Republican: 'She's a Marxist but she's my buddy'
By Emma Richter
Daily Mail
Oct 16, 2025
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has sparked an odd friendship in Congress with a deep south Republican who said the 'Marxist' is his 'buddy.'
Tim Burchett, a right-wing Tennessee Rep., spoke of his and AOC's relationship on Wednesday during NewsNation's town hall at The Kennedy Center.
The event, hosted by Chris Cuomo, invited political figures to debate over issues, including immigration and the ongoing government shutdown.
When asked by Cuomo what he thought about the discussion, Burchett said he 'enjoyed it' and 'likes gutsy people in politics,' before bringing up his pal AOC.
'You know, I can respect a liberal. I respect Cortez. She's my buddy. I mean, she's a Marxist. She's a friendly neighborhood Marxist, as I always call her,' he said of the New York representative.
'I'll say stuff to her, she'll get on one of my videos while I'm walking off the floor of the House, and I'll say: 'Hey Cortez" and she'll go, "Hey Burchett", and I tell people, "Don't look at her too long, she'll steal your soul".
'We have that kind of relationship and we can joke about it. And that's the trouble with what's going on in this country right now,' Burchett added.
He went on to discuss another friendship he has with someone who is 'probably as far-left as you can be.'
'Steve Cohen, probably as far-left as you can be. You know, he’s Jewish and I try to be a Christian, we came from Tennessee together,' he said of the Tennessee Representative.
'We raised the speed limit together and we were kind of, I always joked we’d go out to eat dinner at night because he was so far to the left and I was so far to the right, we met on the other side.
'But honestly, sometimes I just wanna scratch his eyes out, you know? But he called my mamma when my daddy died and you can’t get past that,' Burchett stated.
He then got into the current state of the nation with all the political uproar going on.
'That is what we've lost in this thing. And we had that in Tennessee, we had, you know, we would fight like cats and dogs and then we'd go cry at our friend’s funerals, and I just think Washington, D.C.’s past that,' he continued.
'And people think it's changing, I don't think it's changing because it sells. The violence and the bigotry and the hatred sell, and that's why you see a lot of these, that I think - maybe I'm stepping on some toes - but I think you see a lot of these foreign countries, if they don't have their young people killing each other it doesn't keep those old dirt bags in power,' he said, adding: 'And that's from all sides.'
While Burchett spoke highly of AOC, she and Bernie Sanders joined CNN's Kaitlan Collins Wednesday evening.
During it, Sanders called Marjorie Taylor Greene a 'good' Republican.
After suggesting that conservatives are 'doing less of representing their districts and their states than just swearing allegiance to the president of the United States,' the Vermont senator complimented Greene for her efforts.
'So I never thought that I would say this, but you have somebody like Marjorie Taylor Greene saying, "You know what, I was elected by my constituents, that’s who I am beholden to, not the president or the United States". So there are good Republicans out there,' he said.
Sanders added: 'If Trump would leave them alone for five minutes and not threaten them with a primary if they stood up and did the right thing, I think we can make progress.'
In recent times, Greene has been very vocal about her feelings toward Trump's decisions.
While Burchett spoke highly of AOC, she and Bernie Sanders (pictured in September) joined CNN's Kaitlan Collins Wednesday evening
On Saturday she told The Tim Dillon Show there 'needs to be a smarter plan than just rounding up every single person and deporting them' when discussing the president's immigration agenda.
'As a conservative, and as a business owner in the construction industry, and as a realist, I can say, we have to do something about labor,' Greene told Dillon.
'And it needs to be a smarter plan than just rounding up every single person and deporting them just like that.
'I'm going to get pushback for that, but I'm just living in reality from here on out. If anyone's mad at me for saying the truth, then, I'm sorry.'
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