Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., announced Monday she currently backs Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for speaker, since Pelosi is the "most progressive candidate" running, TPM reported.
"Right now, out of the field, I would say that she is the most progressive candidate," Ocasio-Cortez said on her Instagram Live. "All of the rebellion for the speakership are challenges to her right, and so I think it's important to communicate that."
Ocasio-Cortez, who belongs to the progressive faction of the House delegation, won her New York district to become the youngest female in Congress.
"My standard in this is: I'm going to support the most progressive candidate that's leading the party and right now that is Nancy Pelosi, in terms of running," Ocasio-Cortez said. "I would like to see new, younger leadership, but I don't want new leadership that's more conservative."
Pelosi needs the support of Ocasio-Cortez and many more of the 50 freshman Democrats elected to Congress in the midterms to overcome opposition within her own party for her desire to become speaker, according to Vice News.
Ocasio-Cortez last week supported a group of climate activists protesting inside Pelosi's office, as she attempts to use her newfound national prominence to force the issue onto the top of her party's agenda.
The freshman congresswoman said the protest was not about Pelosi, explaining to Vice News: "This is not about supporting or not supporting an individual. It's about making sure that we can get as progressive and aggressive of legislation as a party on climate change as quickly as possible."