Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (also known commonly by her initials, AOC), the youngest woman to ever serve in the United States Congress, a 29-year-old former waitress and bartender from the Bronx, and a proud Hispanic millennial is forging the future for women in politics. Ocasio-Cortez serves as the U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district, covering the eastern part of the Bronx, north-central Queens, and Rikers Island in New York City.
Before being elected in 2019, AOC had a clear passion for activism. Her first brush with politics was when she was attending undergrad at Boston College, where she interned for Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. A few years later, she volunteered for the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016, knocking door to door in the Bronx and Queens. After Trump won the 2016 election, she took a road trip across the country to visit places like Standing Rock Indian Reservation when protests broke out refusing the build of the Dakota Access Pipeline, and Flint, Michigan during the height of their water crisis. Her firsthand experience learning what the American people were going through inspired her to take action and run for office.
Ocasio-Cortez’s top issues include Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and a federal jobs guarantee. AOC considers herself a “Democratic Socialist,” a group that strongly believes in raising environmental protections, supporting Democratic candidates and holding officials accountable to their constituents rather than donors, working against capitalism and labor exploitation, and Medicare for All. These issues were brought to the forefront of conversation during Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2016, and AOC is determined to continue the dialogue and pursue action that produces new legislation.
AOC’s tenure in Congress, albeit short, has led to intense controversy. Many people disagree with her political stances or see her as too young and inexperienced to serve. Most recently, on July 20, 2020, male representative Ted Yoho of Florida verbally assaulted her on the steps of Capitol Hill over remarks she had previously made connecting the increased crime rate to unemployment numbers. “I was minding my own business walking up the steps and Rep. Yoho put his finger in my face, he called me disgusting, he called me crazy, he called me out of mind, and he called me dangerous,” she said. Representative Yoho later once more verbally assaulted her, using obscenities stereotypically assigned to women. He later released a short apology, stating that “having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I’m very cognizant of my language. The offensive name-calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues, and if they were construed that way, I apologize for their misunderstanding,” and ending on the note that he “cannot apologize for my passion or for loving my God, my family, and my country.” Ocasio-Cortez’s response resonated loud and clear.
“I believe having a daughter does not make a man decent. Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man. And when a decent man messes up, as we are all bound to do, he tries his best and does apologize.”
Despite Ocasio-Cortez’s background growing up in poor neighborhoods in the Bronx and taking up waitressing and bartending jobs to help chip away at her student debt, she has proven to women and girls across the United States and across the world that goals are achievable. AOC represents her constituents and the American people with eloquence, grace, and strong determination. As the youngest woman to ever serve in Congress, a woman of color and a woman with firsthand experience with the issues she fights against, young women and girls interested in politics now have a role model that wasn’t there before.