First she toppled one of the most powerful congressmen and party bosses in a stunning victory during the New York primaries earlier this year.
Now at 29, Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress in United States History after her landslide win during yesterday’s midterm elections.
Ocasio-Cortez, who’s parents are Puerto Rican, will represent the residents of New York’s diverse 14th Congressional District which spans the East Bronx and into Queens, come January 2019 when she’s sworn into office.
She will also be the 9th congressperson of Puerto Rican descent to serve in the House of Representatives.
The HuffPost writes:
The millennial Latina, born to a Puerto Rican mom and Bronxite dad, famously worked as a bartender just months before winning her primary and had never previously held political office. She garnered former President Barack Obama’s endorsement for the general election.
“Our district is overwhelmingly people of color, it’s working class, it’s very immigrant ― and it hasn’t had the representation we’ve needed,” Ocasio-Cortez told HuffPost in June. Her district, which includes parts of the Bronx and Queens, is one of the most diverse in the country.
A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Ocasio-Cortez is part of a wave of progressive Democrats promising to push the party establishment further left. She refused any corporate PAC money in her campaign and ran on a boldly progressive platform that included Medicare for all, a federal jobs guarantee and the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Since her primary win, Ocasio-Cortez has been attacked by right-leaning media pundits, including a Daily Caller editor who called her “populist lines,” such as calling for a living wage, “truly terrifying.”
Aljazeera reports:
On Tuesday, she signalled a deep ambition running beyond the confines of her constituency and thanked organisers for building a “larger movement for social, economic and racial justice in the United States of America” in a stirring speech that ended with confetti falling from the ceiling.
“If we are going to turn this ship around as a country it is not good enough to throw a rock at our neighbour’s yard, we’ve got to clean up our own house,” she said.
You might not agree with her politics but you can’t take away that she made history yesterday.
Read More:
- 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez makes history as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress – CNBC
- Ocasio-Cortez makes history as youngest woman in US Congress – Aljazeera
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Wins, Becoming Youngest Woman Ever Elected To Congress – HuffPost
