- AOC said people from her community are "often discounted" due to their perceived political leanings.
- In an interview with The New Yorker, she said that some continue to question her political acumen.
- The congresswoman said that the current US political system "does not revolve around the majority."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in an expansive interview with The New Yorker that the citizens in her congressional district — anchored in the Bronx and Queens — are "often discounted in many different ways" because they're seen as "reliable Democrats."
The two-term New York Democrat — who has become a household name as one of the highest-profile progressive politicians in the country — has long spoken about the need for governance that reflects the needs of the the working-class voters who don't have a seat at the table within the most powerful corridors of power in Washington, DC.
"I come from a community that is often discounted in many different ways, because, you know, these are 'reliable Democrats.' Like, what she has to say doesn't matter, etc. What does she know about this political moment?" she told David Remnick, the magazine's editor.
She continued: "The thing that's unfortunate, and what a lot of people have yet to recognize, is that the motivations and the sense of investment and faith in our democracy and governance from people in communities like mine also determine majorities. They also determine the outcomes of statewide races and Presidential races. And, when you have a gerrymandered House, when you have the Senate constructed the way that it is, when you have a Presidency that relies on the Electoral College in the fashion that it does, you're in this room and you see that all of these people who are elected are truly representative of our current political system."
While New York City — with its 8.8 million residents and diverse immigrant communities — has played an outsized role in the American story since before the country's founding, its political power has often been distributed unequally.
In the 1970s and 1980s, many parts of Ocasio-Cortez's 14th Congressional district suffered from disinvestment and population losses, and the critical needs of large segments of the community were unrealized for decades.
However, in recent years, the district — which is roughly 50% Latino — has boasted a growing population, with a workforce fueled by immigrants. The median household income in the district is $66,749 and 12.9% of residents live below the poverty line, according to US Census data.
In the interview, Ocasio-Cortez contended that despite the diversity of the country's population, the US political system is not structured to benefit the bulk of the population.
"Our current political system is designed to revolve around a very narrow band of people who are, over all, materially O.K.," she said. "It does not revolve around the majority."
Since arriving in Congress in 2019, Ocasio-Cortez has pushed for firmly progressive ideas, from supporting the Green New Deal to advocating for the cancellation of federal student loan debt, while at times calling out the Democratic Party leadership for failing to push for a bold vision that would attract the support of younger voters who will make up the majority of the electorate in the coming decades.
The congresswoman has been especially critical of the party for its handling of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better agenda, which was a proposed multitrillion-dollar set of policies which would have funded a broad set of social-spending initiatives including free two-year community college and clean energy tax credits.
While the House passed their version of the larger social-spending bill — independent of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill which was signed into law last year — the Build Back Better Act fell apart after moderate Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia effectively scuttled the bill late last year in the evenly-divided upper chamber, much to the frustration of progressives.
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