29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made history in November by becoming the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.
Ocasio-Cortez, a self-declared Democratic socialist, beat veteran Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley in New York’s congressional primary election in June in a shocking upset and went on to win 78% of the vote in the general election.
Less than a year ago, the political novice was working as a bartender to help support her working-class family.
Scroll down to learn more about her.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx to a working-class family. Her mom is Puerto Rican and her dad is a Bronx native.
"Women like me aren't supposed to run for office," she said in a recent campaign ad. "I wasn't born to a wealthy or powerful family."
Source: Ocasio 2018
Her parents were disappointed in their local schooling system, so her extended family helped fund a move to a better school district.
Shuttling between the Bronx, New York's poorest borough and the home of her extended family, and more affluent New York counties was her first experience of income inequality, she toldThe Intercept.
She went to Boston University, where she studied economics and international relations. After graduation she took up bartending and waitressing jobs to supplement her mother's income as a housecleaner and bus driver.
Source: The Intercept
Less than a year ago she was still working as a bartender in Manhattan.
https://twitter.com/JStein_WaPo/status/1011791408162799618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
You can see her in this promotional photo for Flats Fix, a taqueria in Union Square, Manhattan.
One year ago, @Ocasio2018 was working at a craft cocktail bar in Manhattan -- their website still has an image of her mixing drinks. From the bar, to destroying the Queens Democratic machine, in one year. pic.twitter.com/XvmDYxAXG4
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) June 27, 2018
The primary in June 2018 was Ocasio-Cortez's first run for office, but she had experience in politics. In college she worked for Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts on immigration issues, and she was an organizer for Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign.
Source: The New York Times
Sanders congratulated Ocasio-Cortez shortly after her primary election win. "She took on the entire local Democratic establishment in her district and won a very strong victory," he said in a statement. "She demonstrated once again what progressive grassroots politics can do."
Source: The Hill
Her campaign centered on a progressive platform advocating Medicare for everyone, a universal jobs guarantee, and immigration and criminal-justice reform.
Here's her platform in full.
https://twitter.com/JStein_WaPo/status/1011786860107059201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
She has been particularly outspoken against President Donald Trump and his immigration policies, having amped up calls to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy of criminally prosecuting all adults who illegally cross into the US.
Trump’s immigration agenda:
Step 1: Criminalize everyone, documented + undocumented
Step 2: Use that as justification for human rights violations#AbolishICE https://t.co/W16aWBPxZZ
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 18, 2018
In June she traveled to the US-Mexico border to directly confront border officers outside a center for detaining children.
"These are human-rights abuses," you can hear her shout to border guards in the video below.
The child detention camps are here - I confronted the border officers myself.
Using their names, I told them exactly what they are responsible for.
One of them made eye contact with me.
I spoke directly to him.
I saw his sense of guilt.
We can dismantle this.#AbolishICE pic.twitter.com/QLyc9MAnkt— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 24, 2018
She ran a low-budget campaign, raising about $200,000 mainly through small contributions. Her campaign video, which went viral, was made by two fellow democratic socialists. She wrote the script herself, shot it in her local bodega, and had her family and volunteers help out.
One great thing about our campaign video: not a single consultant was involved.
I wrote the script. My family is the closing shot. That’s my actual bodega.
Detroit DSAers @means_tv worked with our team to film and tell the story.
Volunteers coordinated the shoot. pic.twitter.com/xH30sGTFKC
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 30, 2018
Take a look at her campaign video:
It's time for a New York that works for all of us.
On June 26th, we can make it happen - but only if we have the #CourageToChange.
It's time to get to work. Please retweet this video and sign up to knock doors + more at https://t.co/kacKFI9RtI to bring our movement to Congress. pic.twitter.com/aqKMjovEjZ
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 30, 2018
Crowley collected $3 million for his primary election campaign. He hadn't had a primary challenger for the past 14 years.
"This race is about people versus money," Ocasio-Cortez said in her campaign video. "We've got people. They've got money."
Source: Ocasio 2018
Her win over Crowley was perceived as a major upset within the Democratic Party, which has seen a schism between establishment and progressive Democrats — as was demonstrated by Hillary Clinton's and Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns in 2016.
Shortly after her primary election win, The New York Times called her a "Democratic Giant Slayer," while the New York Post screamed: "Red Alert!"
Aaaand, the @nypost front page re: @ocasio2018. #NY14 pic.twitter.com/s5zbkn6k8N
— Azi™️ (@Azi) June 27, 2018
Source: The New York Times
Trump celebrated Crowley's loss in the primary, though he appeared to attribute the result to himself. "Perhaps he should have been nicer, more respectful, to his President!" he tweeted.
Wow! Big Trump Hater Congressman Joe Crowley, who many expected was going to take Nancy Pelosi’s place, just LOST his primary election. In other words, he’s out! That is a big one that nobody saw happening. Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2018
Crowley conceded defeat in the primaries, even dedicating a guitar performance to his opponent that night. The song? "Born to Run."
Now @JoeCrowleyNY is playing guitar. He dedicated the first song to @Ocasio2018 — “Born to Run”
@ pic.twitter.com/U3sx6mth90— J. David Goodman (@jdavidgoodman) June 27, 2018
In the run-up to the midterms, Ocasio-Cortez continued to campaign around New York and appeared on multiple talk shows to advocate for her platform.
Source: The New York Times
In August, she was criticized for excluding journalists from two town hall meetings that were otherwise open to the public. She said the meetings were "designed for residents to feel safe discussing sensitive issues in a threatening political time."
Ocasio-Cortez also continued to criticize Trump as the midterm campaign went on. After the president claimed in September that 3,000 people "did not die" following Hurricane Maria, she said her own grandfather "died in the aftermath of the storm. Uncounted."
Read more: 'My own grandfather died': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams Trump's tweets on Puerto Rico
On November 6, Ocasio-Cortez won 78% of the vote to represent New York's 14th district in the midterms, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.
Read more: Diversity wins: All of the people who made history in the 2018 midterm election
In November, Ocasio-Cortez protested what she described as disproportionate corporate influence at a three-day orientation for incoming members of Congress hosted by the Harvard Institute of Politics.
The 29-year-old lawmaker made headlines when she told The New York Times that she wouldn't be able to afford rent in Washington before her congressional salary kicks in. "I have three months without a salary before I'm a member of Congress. So, how do I get an apartment? Those little things are very real." In a December interview with INSIDER, Ocasio-Cortez said she's subletting a DC apartment with her boyfriend for a few months before finding a permanent place.
Ocasio-Cortez has come under scrutiny for making a handful of misstatements about the economy, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and the potential costs of Medicare for All. She told "60 Minutes" in December that she believes the heightened attention her mistakes receive is unfair. “I think that there’s a lot of people more concerned about being precisely, factually, and semantically correct than about being morally right," she said. "Whenever I make a mistake. I say, 'Okay, this was clumsy,' and then I restate what my point was. But it’s not the same thing as the president lying about immigrants."
The millennial congresswoman has developed a reputation for delivering withering clap-backs on Twitter and bringing new transparency to politics with Instagram. In a late December interview with INSIDER, Ocasio-Cortez said she writes all her own tweets and deletes many drafted in anger. "In my house we joke: We call it 'emptying the cart.' It's like when you go online shopping and then you're, like, 'Oh no, never mind,' and you leave the website," she said.
Ocasio-Cortez was sworn in as a congresswoman on January 3. She's promising to push an ambitious set of policy priorities, including the Green New Deal — a sweeping set of public investments in renewable energy and jobs.
