A photo of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is set on fire in a dramatic new GOP ad that aired during the Democratic debate

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

• A new GOP super-PAC called New Faces ran an ad during Thursday's Democratic primary debate where an image of Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez of New York was set on fire before warning of "the horrors of socialism."
• Narrated by former Republican House candidate Elizabeth Heng of California, she describes Ocasio-Cortez in the ad as "the face of socialism and ignorance."
• "Mine is a face of freedom, my skin is not white, I'm not outrageous, racist, nor socialist. I'm a Republican," Heng concludes. 
• Records from the Federal Election Commission show the group is largely financed by Heng's former campaign backers.
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A new GOP super-PAC called New Faces ran an ad during Thursday's Democratic primary debate where an image of New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez was set on fire before warning of "the horrors of socialism."

Narrated by former Republican House candidate Elizabeth Heng of California, she describes Ocasio-Cortez in the ad as "the face of socialism and ignorance."

Then it transitions to gruesome images of the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s, calling it the product of socialism.

"Mine is a face of freedom, my skin is not white, I'm not outrageous, racist, nor socialist. I'm a Republican," Heng concludes. 

Read more: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she has the right to block critics on social media - a court ruling against Trump suggests she might not

The ad immediate triggered criticism and derision from the progressive congresswoman. Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, "Republicans are running TV ads setting pictures of me on fire to convince people they aren't racist. Life is weird!"

She later called it "a love letter to the GOP's white supremacist case."

Heng later shot back at the New York representative, tweeting, "Not Republicans. Me. Are you really calling me a racist @aoc? I'm calling all Democrats out for supporting an evil ideology. Or are you just in Congress to hang out with celebrities and tweet out ridiculous ideas like the green new deal?

Records from the Federal Election Commission show the group is largely financed by Heng's former campaign backers.

Heng was seen as a promising Republican candidate during the 2018 midterms. She drew on her family's roots in Cambodia to position herself as someone capable of winning over immigrant communities the GOP has long struggled with.

She lost her race to Democratic incumbent Rep. Jim Costa by a margin of 54 to 46 percent.