Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist who has served since 2019 as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district. She is a member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America.

Overview§

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born October 13, 1989), also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist who has served since 2019 as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district. She is a member of the Democratic Party and the New York City Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. Ocasio-Cortez was first elected to Congress in 2018, drawing national attention after defeating Democratic Caucus chair and 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary election. Crowley's defeat was broadly regarded as the biggest primary upset that year. Ocasio-Cortez was reelected in 2020, 2022, and 2024. Taking office at age 29, Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She was also, alongside Rashida Tlaib, one of the first two female members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) elected to Congress. Ocasio-Cortez has since been described as progressive, left-wing, left-wing populist, and far-left. She advocates a progressive platform that includes support for worker cooperatives, Medicare for All, tuition-free public colleges, a jobs guarantee, a Green New Deal, and abolishing ICE. She is a leader of the left-wing faction of the Democratic Party and a member of the "Squad", an informal progressive congressional bloc.

Early life and education§

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born on October 13, 1989, in the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. Her father, Sergio Ocasio-Roman, was born in the Bronx to a Puerto Rican family and became an architect; her mother, Blanca Ocasio-Cortez (née Cortés Rivera), was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Arecibo. She has a younger brother, Gabriel. The family lived in an apartment in Parkchester until Ocasio-Cortez was five, when they moved to a small house in suburban Yorktown Heights. According to Ocasio-Cortez, her parents pooled their savings to buy the home so that their children could attend better public schools; her mother worked as a house cleaner and school bus driver. Ocasio-Cortez attended Yorktown High School, graduating in 2007. She placed second in the microbiology category of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in 2007 with a research project testing the effects of antioxidants on the lifespan of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. She participated in the National Hispanic Institute's Lorenzo de Zavala Youth Legislative Session in high school. Her first job was as a hostess at an Irish pub in Westchester County. After graduating from high school, she served as a LDZ Secretary of State while attending Boston University. She was also a John F. Lopez Intern. Her father died of lung cancer in 2008, during her second year of college, and she became involved in a lengthy probate dispute over his estate. She said the experience taught her "firsthand how attorneys appointed by the court to administer an estate can enrich themselves at the expense of the families struggling to make sense of the bureaucracy". During college, Ocasio-Cortez interned in the Boston office of U.S. senator Ted Kennedy, working on foreign affairs and immigration issues. She said that, as the office's only Spanish speaker, she handled calls from Spanish-speaking constituents. Ocasio-Cortez graduated cum laude from Boston University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, double-majoring in international relations and economics. After college, Ocasio-Cortez returned to the Bronx and worked as a bartender and waitress to help her mother prevent foreclosure on the family home. She later launched Brook Avenue Press, a publishing venture intended to make books portraying the Bronx favorably. Ocasio-Cortez also worked as an educational director for the National Hispanic Institute.

U.S. House of Representatives (2019–present)§

Before running for Congress, Ocasio-Cortez worked as an organizer for the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. After the election, she traveled across the U.S. by car, visiting places such as Flint, Michigan, and the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota, and speaking to people affected by the Flint water crisis and the Dakota Access Pipeline. In an interview, she recalled her December 2016 visit to Standing Rock as a tipping point, saying that until then she had believed that the only way to run for office effectively was to have access to wealth, social influence, and power. But her visit to North Dakota, where she saw others "putting their whole lives and everything that they had on the line for the protection of their community", inspired her to start to work for her own community. One day after she visited North Dakota, she gained a call from Brand New Congress, which was recruiting progressive candidates (her brother had nominated her soon after Election Day 2016). Ocasio-Cortez said she was first exposed to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) when a friend brought her to a local meeting in Washington Heights. She has credited Jabari Brisport's unsuccessful City Council campaign with restoring her belief in electoral politics, in running as a socialist candidate, and in the DSA as an organization.

2018 congressional election§

Ocasio-Cortez started her campaign in April 2017 while waiting tables and tending bar at Flats Fix, a taqueria in New York City's Union Square. "For 80 percent of this campaign, I operated out of a paper grocery bag hidden behind that bar", she told Bon Appétit. She was the first person since 2004 to challenge Joe Crowley, the Democratic Caucus Chair, in the primary. She faced a financial disadvantage, saying, "You can't really beat big money with more money. You have to beat them with a totally different game." Ocasio-Cortez's campaign undertook grassroots mobilization and did not take donations from corporations. Her campaign posters were said to have been inspired by "revolutionary posters and visuals from the past". The candidates' only face-to-face encounter during the campaign occurred on a local political talk show, Inside City Hall, on June 15. The format was a joint interview conducted by Errol Louis, which NY1 characterized as a debate. A debate in the Bronx was scheduled for June 18, but Crowley did not participate. He sent former New York City Council member Annabel Palma in his place.

Endorsements§

Ocasio-Cortez was endorsed by progressive and civil-rights organizations such as MoveOn and Democracy for America. Governor Andrew Cuomo endorsed Crowley, as did both of New York's U.S. senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, multiple U.S. representatives, several local elected officials and trade unions, and groups such as the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, the Working Families Party, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, among others. California representative Ro Khanna, who, like Ocasio-Cortez, was backed by Justice Democrats, initially endorsed Crowley but later endorsed Ocasio-Cortez in an unusual dual endorsement.

Primary election§

On June 26, 2018, Ocasio-Cortez gained 56.7% of the vote (16,898) to Crowley's 43.3% (12,880). The result immediately attracted nationwide attention and was broadly described as an upset, including by Time, CNN, The New York Times, and The Guardian. She was outspent by a margin of 18 to 1 ($1.5 million to $83,000) but was endorsed by some influential groups on the party's left. Crowley conceded on election night, but did not telephone Ocasio-Cortez that night to congratulate her, fueling short-lived speculation that might run against her in the general election. Bernie Sanders and Noam Chomsky congratulated her. Several commentators noted the similarities between Ocasio-Cortez's victory over Crowley and Dave Brat's Tea Party movement-supported 2014 victory over House majority leader Eric Cantor in the Republican primary for Virginia's 7th congressional district. Like Crowley, Cantor was a high-ranking member in his party's caucus. After her primary win, Ocasio-Cortez endorsed several progressive primary challengers to Democratic incumbents nationwide. Without campaigning for it, Ocasio-Cortez won the Reform Party primary as a write-in candidate in a neighboring congressional district, New York's 15th, with a total vote count of nine, the highest among all 22 write-in candidates. She declined the nomination.

General election§

Ocasio-Cortez faced Republican nominee Anthony Pappas in the November 6 general election. Pappas, an economics professor, did not actively campaign. At the time, the 14th district had a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+29, making it New York City's sixth-most Democratic district, with registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans almost six to one. Ocasio-Cortez was endorsed by several progressive organizations and figures, including former president Barack Obama and U.S. senator Bernie Sanders. She spoke at the Netroots Nation conference in August 2018, and was called "the undisputed star of the convention". Crowley remained on the ballot as the nominee of the Working Families Party (WFP) and the Women's Equality Party (WEP). Neither Crowley nor the WFP actively campaigned; both had endorsed Ocasio-Cortez after the Democratic primary. Ocasio-Cortez called the WEP, which Governor Cuomo built ahead of the 2014 New York gubernatorial election, a cynical, centrist group that endorsed male incumbents over female challengers like her and Cynthia Nixon. Former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman, who won reelection in 2006 on a third-party line after losing the Democratic primary in 2006, penned a July 17 column in the Wall Street Journal expressing hope that Crowley would actively campaign on the WFP ballot line. WFP executive director Dan Cantor wrote an endorsement of, and apology to, Ocasio-Cortez for the New York Daily News; he asked voters not to vote for Crowley if his name remained on the general election ballot. Ocasio-Cortez won the election with 78% of the vote (110,318) to Pappas's 13.6% (19,202). Crowley, on the WFP and WEP lines, gained 9,348 votes (6.6%). Her election was part of a broader Democratic victory in the 2018 midterm elections, as the party gained control of the House by picking up 41 seats. Saikat Chakrabarti, who had been her campaign co-chair, became chief of staff for her congressional office. His departure in 2019 drew considerable speculation as to whether Ocasio-Cortez was trying to implement a more moderate strategy.

Media coverage§

The first media network to give Ocasio-Cortez a platform and extensively cover her campaign and policies was The Young Turks, a left-wing online news program. After her primary win, she quickly garnered nationwide media attention, including many articles and TV talk-show appearances. She also drew considerable media attention when she and Sanders campaigned for James Thompson in Kansas in July 2018. A rally in Wichita had to be moved from a theater with a capacity of 1,500 when far more people said they would attend. The event drew 4,000 people, with some seated on the floor. Benjamin Wallace-Wells wrote that while Sanders remained "the de facto leader of an increasingly popular left, [he is unable to] do things that do not come naturally to him, like supply hope." Wallace-Wells suggested that Ocasio-Cortez had made Sanders's task easier, as he could point to her success to show that ideas "once considered to be radical are now part of the mainstream" in The New Yorker. Until she defeated incumbent Joe Crowley in the 2018 Democratic primary, Ocasio-Cortez gained little coverage on most traditional news media outlets. Jimmy Dore interviewed her when she first announced her candidacy in June 2017. After her primary win, Brian Stelter wrote that progressive media outlets, such as The Young Turks and The Intercept, "saw the Ocasio-Cortez upset coming" in advance. Margaret Sullivan wrote in The Washington Post that traditional metrics of measuring a campaign's viability, like total fundraising, were contributing to a "media failure" and that "they need to get closer to what voters are thinking and feeling: their anger and resentment, their disenfranchisement from the centers of power, their pocketbook concerns." Ocasio-Cortez's campaign was featured on the cover of the June 2018 edition of The Indypendent, a free New York City-based monthly newspaper. In a tweet, she hailed the cover appearance on "NYC's classic monthly" as an important breakthrough for her campaign. Otherwise, Ocasio-Cortez was barely mentioned in print until her primary win. Ocasio-Cortez was one of the subjects of the 2018 Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 11/9; it chronicled her primary campaign. In an attempt to embarrass Ocasio-Cortez just before she took office, Twitter user "AnonymousQ" shared a video dating to Ocasio-Cortez's college years: a Boston University student-made dance video in which she briefly appeared. Many social media users came to her defense, inspiring memes and a Twitter account syncing the footage to songs like "Mambo No. 5" and "Gangnam Style". Ocasio-Cortez responded by posting a video of herself dancing to Edwin Starr's "War" outside her congressional office. Elizabeth Warren wrote the entry on Ocasio-Cortez for 2019's Time 100. The documentary Knock Down the House, directed by Rachel Lears, which focuses on four female Democrats in the 2018 United States elections who were not career politicians—Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush, and Paula Jean Swearengin—premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Ocasio-Cortez was the only one of the women featured in the film to win. It was released by Netflix on May 1, 2019. Ocasio-Cortez also appeared in Lears's 2022 film To the End, which focuses on the effects of climate change. The film debuted at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and was presented at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2022.

2020 congressional election§

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera challenged Ocasio-Cortez in the 2020 Democratic primary. After Ocasio-Cortez won the nomination, Caruso-Cabrera reorganized and ran in the general election as the Serve America Movement nominee. Ocasio-Cortez's Republican challengers in the general election included nominee John Cummings, a former police officer, and Antoine Tucker, who ran as a write-in candidate. The American Prospect wrote in October 2020 that Ocasio-Cortez was "spending the 2020 campaign running workshops" for constituents on workplace organizing, fighting eviction, and organizing childcare. It noted that Ocasio-Cortez was often not featured in the streamed workshops, saying the "strategy decentralizes the candidate from her own campaign". On October 20, 2020, Ocasio-Cortez hosted a Twitch stream of the social deduction game Among Us, with fellow congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and many established streamers such as Pokimane, Hasan Piker, DrLupo, and mxmtoon. The stream peaked with over 400,000 viewers and, according to The Guardian's Joshua Rivera, succeeded in humanizing her. Ocasio-Cortez again streamed Among Us on Twitch on November 27, 2020, with Hasan Piker, xQc, ContraPoints and Canadian MP Jagmeet Singh to raise money for food pantries, eviction defense legal aid, and community support organizations to assist those suffering economic hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. The stream raised $200,000 and Ocasio-Cortez wrote, "This is going to make such a difference for those who need it most right now."

2022 congressional election§

Ocasio-Cortez ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. She defeated Republican Tina Forte and Conservative Party nominee Desi Cuellar in the general election.

2024 congressional election§

In May 2024, the DSA debated whether to endorse Ocasio-Cortez. Some members argued that she was more committed to the Democratic Party and that her positions on Palestine had become weaker. On June 23, the DSA National Political Committee (NPC) voted to endorse her so long as she fulfilled its list of demands, most concerning Palestine. The New York City chapter, which endorsed her, rejected the deal. On July 10, the NPC withdrew its endorsement of Ocasio-Cortez, citing her participation in a panel that conflated antisemitism with anti-Zionism, her support for a resolution that characterized denial of Israel's right to exist as antisemitism, and a co-signed press release in support of the Iron Dome defense system. Investment banker Marty Dolan, a moderate Democrat, ran against Ocasio-Cortez in the primary. Ocasio-Cortez won overwhelmingly. Ocasio-Cortez again easily won the general election against Forte. Some voters in her district split their tickets, voting for Ocasio-Cortez and for Trump in the presidential election. Harris won 65% of the district's vote and Trump 33%, an increase from 2020. A political analyst said this was because both Trump and Ocasio-Cortez "were leading with the message of working-class pocketbook issues". Ocasio-Cortez asked those who split their tickets why they did so; some said that they both cared around the working class and were "less establishment", while others cited the Gaza war and the economy.

2026 congressional election§

In April 2026, the New York City chapter of the DSA formally endorsed Ocasio-Cortez for reelection. According to unofficial election-night results, Ocasio-Cortez defeated Felipe Garcia and Marty Dolan in the June 23 Democratic primary, receiving 30,189 votes. She advanced to the general election against Republican nominee Diamant Hysenaj.

Tenure§

Taking office at age 29, Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman ever to serve in the United States Congress, and also the youngest member of the 116th Congress. When the 116th Congress convened on January 3, 2019, Ocasio-Cortez entered with no seniority but with a sizeable social media presence. Axios credited her with "as much social media clout as her fellow freshman Democrats combined". She became the first Bluesky user to reach one million followers in December 2024. Her colleagues appointed her to teach them social media lessons upon her arrival in Congress. Two lawsuits were filed against her for blocking Joey Salads and Dov Hikind on Twitter in light of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that it was a violation of the First Amendment for President Trump to block people on Twitter in July 2019. On November 4, 2019, it was announced that the lawsuit had been settled; Ocasio-Cortez issued an apology. Ocasio-Cortez said she had stopped using her private Facebook account and was minimizing her usage of all social media accounts and platforms, calling them a "public health risk" in a 2019 interview.

Arrival§

In November 2018, on the first day of congressional orientation, Ocasio-Cortez participated in a climate change protest outside the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Also that month, she backed Pelosi's bid to be Speaker of the House on the condition that Pelosi "remains the most progressive candidate for speaker".

When Ocasio-Cortez made her first speech on the floor of Congress in January 2019, C-SPAN tweeted the video. Within 12 hours, the video of her speech set the record as C-SPAN's most-watched Twitter video of a member of the House of Representatives.