Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) questioned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) over a photo of several young men wearing "Team Mitch" shirts and appearing to choke and kiss a cutout of the progressive congresswoman during an event in Fancy Farm, Kentucky. The viral image shows seven males wearing campaign shirts, some of which are holding a life-sized cardboard cutout of the freshman lawmaker.
One of the boys in the photo looks like he's about to grab her neck and another is trying to kiss her. A Twitter user who screenshot the image noted the caption was "break me off a piece of that."
"Team Mitch in no way condones any aggressive, suggestive, or demeaning act toward life sized cardboard cut outs of any gender in a manner similar to what we saw from President Obama's speechwriting staff several years ago," Golden said.
He also took aim at critics such as Ocasio-Cortez. "We've watched for years as the far-left and the media look for every possible way to demonize, stereotype, and publicly castigate every young person who dares to get involved with Republican politics," he said.
McConnell has been surrounded by controversy in recent days. In the wake of two separate mass shootings, he was criticized on both sides of the aisle for blocking legislationthat would support universal background checks.
"Hours after the El Paso shooting, Mitch McConnell proudly tweeted this photo," she wrote. "I find it so troubling that our politics have become so nasty and personal that the Senate Majority Leader thinks it's appropriate to use imagery of the death of a political opponent (me) as messaging."