Everything You Need To Know About Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, The Millennial Who Just Beat Top Democrat Joe Crowley
In a stunning political victory on Tuesday night, 28-year-old first-time candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated 10-term Democrat Joe Crowley in their party’s congressional primary in New York.
Ocasio-Cortez seized 57.5 percent of the votes in New York’s 14th District, which includes the Bronx and Queens. The upset came as a shock to those who hadn’t predicted Ocasio-Cortez could beat Crowley, the fourth-ranking House Democrat positioned to possibly assume leadership as Speaker of the House.
“We beat a machine with a movement, and that is what we have done today,” Ocasio-Cortez said to her supporters on Tuesday night. “Working-class Americans want a clear champion and there is nothing radical about moral clarity in 2018.”
Now that Ocasio-Cortez has become a household name, here’s everything you need to know about the woman being hailed the progressive world’s newest star.
She’s A Proud, Working-Class Latina From the Bronx
Ocasio-Cortez has spoken at length about her working-class roots: Her Puerto Rican mother cleaned houses and her father, a South Bronx native, ran a struggling small business. Up until last year, Ocasio-Cortez helped her family make ends meet by working in restaurants and bartending. “I was shoulder to shoulder with undocumented people in the back of house,” she told the culture website Remezcla. She attended Boston University and worked for Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.
A photo of her working behind the bar just this November has been retweeted more than 25,000 times.
She Ran On A Progressive, Socialist Platform
The community organizer and educator, who had volunteered on Bernie Sanders’ campaign in 2016, was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America. Her proposals include abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), reforming the criminal justice system, guaranteeing federal jobs, instituting Medicare for all, and establishing tuition-free college. Just before the primary race, Ocasio-Cortez had spent time protesting the separation of immigrant families at the Tornillo-Guadalupe Port of Entry in Texas.
She Refused Corporate Donations
Ocasio-Cortez ran a grassroots campaign without corporate donors. Jezebel points out that according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Ocasio-Cortez raised more than $300,000 entirely on contributions of $200 or less, with an average campaign contribution of $18.
Crowley, meanwhile, had raised millions of dollars, which cast some doubts on Ocasio-Cortez as a threat. In fact, Crowley skipped two debates with Ocasio-Cortez, which he was called out on by the New York Times editorial board. Ocasio-Cortez’s bid was the first time he had been challenged in a primary race for 14 years.
Her May Campaign Ad Went Viral
A campaign video that she released in May exploded on the Internet, garnering 300,000 views on its first day posted. “Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office. I wasn’t born to a wealthy or powerful family,” she says in the video, adding later, “I’ve worked with expectant mothers, I’ve waited tables, and led classrooms, and going into politics wasn’t in the plan. But after 20 years of the same representation, we have to ask: Who has New York been changing for?”
She Could Be The Youngest Woman Elected To Congress—Ever
She’ll run against Republican candidate Anthony Pappas in the November mid-terms. If she wins, she could be the youngest ever woman elected to Congress. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is among several women making strides toward political history in recent primary elections.
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