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= AOC =
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Introduction
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ( , ; born October 13, 1989), also known by
her initials AOC, is an American left-wing politician and activist.
She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th
congressional district since 2019, as a member of the Democratic
Party.
On June 26, 2018, Ocasio-Cortez drew national recognition when she won
the Democratic Party's primary election for New York's 14th
congressional district. She defeated Democratic Caucus Chair Joe
Crowley, a 10-term incumbent, in what was widely seen as the biggest
upset victory in the 2018 midterm election primaries. She easily won
the November general election, defeating Republican Anthony Pappas.
She was reelected in the 2020 and 2022 elections.
Taking office at age 29, Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman ever to
serve in the United States Congress. She has been noted for her
substantial social media presence relative to her fellow members of
Congress. Ocasio-Cortez attended Boston University, where she
double-majored in international relations and economics, graduating
'cum laude'. She was previously an activist and worked as a waitress
and bartender before running for Congress in 2018.
Alongside Rashida Tlaib, Ocasio-Cortez was the first female member of
the Democratic Socialists of America elected to serve in Congress. She
advocates a progressive platform that includes support for workplace
democracy, Medicare for All, tuition-free public college, a federal
jobs guarantee, a Green New Deal, and abolishing the U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Early life and education
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Ocasio-Cortez was born in the New York City borough of the Bronx on
October 13, 1989, the daughter of Sergio Ocasio-Roman and Blanca
Ocasio-Cortez (). She has a younger brother named Gabriel. Her father
was born in the Bronx to a Puerto Rican family and became an
architect; her mother was born in Puerto Rico. Ocasio-Cortez lived
with her family in an apartment in the Bronx neighborhood of
Parkchester until she was five, when the family moved to a house in
suburban Yorktown Heights.
Ocasio-Cortez attended Yorktown High School, graduating in 2007. In
high school and college, Ocasio-Cortez went by the name of "Sandy
Ocasio". She came in second in the microbiology category of the Intel
International Science and Engineering Fair in 2007 with a research
project on the effect of antioxidants on the lifespan of the nematode
'Caenorhabditis elegans'. In a show of appreciation for her efforts,
the MIT Lincoln Laboratory named a small asteroid after her: 23238
Ocasio-Cortez. In high school, she took part in the National Hispanic
Institute's Lorenzo de Zavala (LDZ) Youth Legislative Session. She
later became the LDZ Secretary of State while she attended Boston
University. Ocasio-Cortez had a John F. Lopez Fellowship.
After graduating from high school, Ocasio-Cortez enrolled at Boston
University. Her father died of lung cancer in 2008 during her second
year, and Ocasio-Cortez became involved in a lengthy probate dispute
to settle his estate. She has said that the experience helped her
learn "first-hand 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 was an intern for U.S. senator Ted Kennedy in his
section on foreign affairs and immigration issues. In interviews, she
claimed to have been the only Spanish speaker in the office and the
sole person responsible for assisting Spanish-speaking constituents.
Ocasio-Cortez graduated 'cum laude' from Boston University in 2011
with a Bachelor of Arts degree in both international relations and
economics.
Early career
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After college, Ocasio-Cortez moved back to the Bronx and took a job as
a bartender and waitress to help her mother—a house cleaner and school
bus driver—fight foreclosure of their home. She later launched Brook
Avenue Press, a now-defunct publishing firm for books that portrayed
the Bronx in a positive light. Ocasio-Cortez also worked for the
nonprofit National Hispanic Institute.
During the 2016 primary, Ocasio-Cortez worked as an organizer for
Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign. After the general election,
she traveled across America by car, visiting places such as Flint,
Michigan, and 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 before that, 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 begin to work for her own community. One day after she
visited North Dakota, she got a phone call from Brand New Congress,
which was recruiting progressive candidates (her brother had nominated
her soon after Election Day 2016). 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
Democratic Socialists of America as an organization.
2018
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Ocasio-Cortez began 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' designs were said to have taken
inspiration from "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. Then-Governor
Cuomo endorsed Crowley, as did both of New York's U.S. senators, Chuck
Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, multiple U.S. representatives, various
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, a Justice Democrat
like Ocasio-Cortez, initially endorsed Crowley but later endorsed
Ocasio-Cortez in an unusual dual endorsement.
Primary election
==================
Ocasio-Cortez received 57.13% of the vote (15,897) to Crowley's 42.5%
(11,761), defeating the 10-term incumbent by almost 15 percentage
points on June 26, 2018. The result shocked many political
commentators and analysts and immediately garnered nationwide
attention. Many news sources, including 'Time', CNN, 'The New York
Times', and 'The Guardian' mentioned how the win completely defied
their predictions and expectations. She was outspent by a margin of 18
to1 ($1.5million to $83,000) but won the endorsement of some
influential groups on the party's left. Crowley conceded defeat on
election night, but did not telephone Ocasio-Cortez that night to
congratulate her, fueling short-lived speculation that he intended to
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, capitalizing on her fame and
spending her political capital in a manner unusual even for unexpected
primary winners.
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, 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. The 14th district has 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 various politically 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 he nor the
WFP party actively campaigned, both having endorsed Ocasio-Cortez
after the Democratic primary. Ocasio-Cortez called the WEP, which
Governor Cuomo created 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 14% (17,762). Crowley, on the WFP and WEP lines, received
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 numerous articles and
TV talk-show appearances. She also drew a great amount of 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. In 'The New
Yorker', 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".
Until she defeated incumbent Joe Crowley in the 2018 Democratic
primary, Ocasio-Cortez received 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-produced 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.
According to reports in March 2019, Ocasio-Cortez continued to receive
media coverage early in her congressional tenure on par with that of
2020 presidential candidates and was considered "one of the faces of
the Democratic party" and one of the most talked-about politicians in
the United States. Between July8 and 14, 2019, she drew more social
media attention than the Democratic presidential candidates. Tracking
company NewsWhip found that interactions with news articles on
Ocasio-Cortez numbered 4.8 million, while no Democratic presidential
candidate got more than 1.2 million. David Bauder of the Associated
Press wrote that Trump's supporters were thus having "some success" in
having "Ocasio-Cortez be top of mind when people think of" the
Democratic Party.
According to a Media Matters for America study, Ocasio-Cortez has been
intensely discussed on sister television channels Fox News and Fox
Business, being mentioned every day from February 25 to April 7, 2019,
for a total of 3,181 mentions in 42 days (an average of around 75 per
day). 'The Guardian' David Smith wrote that this is evidence that Fox
is "obsessed by Ocasio-Cortez, portraying her as a radical socialist
who threatens the American way of life". Brian Stelter of CNN Business
found that between January and July 2019, she had nearly three times
as many mentions on Fox News as on CNN and MSNBC, and seven times the
coverage of James Clyburn, a Democratic leader in the House of
Representatives. Stelter wrote that the attention Ocasio-Cortez is
receiving has caused "the perception, particularly on the right, that
her positions and policies are representative of the Democratic Party
as a whole". In a CBS News and YouGov poll of almost 2,100 American
adults conducted from July 17 to 19, it was found that Republican
respondents were more aware of Ocasio-Cortez than Democratic
respondents. She had very unfavorable ratings among Republican
respondents and favorable ratings among Democratic respondents.
In March 2019, 'PolitiFact' reported that Ocasio-Cortez is "one of the
most targeted politicians for hoax claims, despite the fact that she
just entered Congress as a freshman". Fake quotes attributed to her,
fake photos of her, and false rumors about her have spread on social
media. Some of these have originated from 4chan and r/The_Donald. By
July 2019, the fake material included attributing things Trump said to
Ocasio-Cortez, such as "I have a very good brain and I've said lots of
things." On July 18, 2019, Charlie Rispoli, a police officer from
Gretna, posted on Facebook an apparent threat to shoot Ocasio-Cortez,
calling her a "vile idiot" who "needs a round, and I don't mean the
kind she used to serve" as a bartender. Rispoli posted the comment in
response to a fake news article that falsely quoted Ocasio-Cortez as
saying, "We pay soldiers too much". A photo from the article also had
the label "satire". Rispoli was fired for his post and his Facebook
account was deleted.
Ocasio-Cortez is known to wear red lipstick, usually by the American
makeup brand Stila Cosmetics in the shade "Beso", as a style trait of
Latina women from the Bronx. In a skincare tutorial for 'Vogue', she
explained that beauty and femininity are important to her because
these things are often used against women in politics and society, and
that self-love is like a "mini protest" against misogynistic
critiques.
2020
======
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, 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 collective
childcare. They 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' 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
======
Ocasio-Cortez was unopposed in the Democratic primary. She defeated
Republican Tina Forte and Conservative Party nominee Desi Cuellar in
the general election.
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 large social media presence.
'Axios' credited her with "as much social media clout as her fellow
freshman Democrats combined". , she has 12million Twitter followers,
up from 1.4 million in November 2018 and surpassing Nancy Pelosi. She
has 8.9 million Instagram followers as of January 2019 and 500,000
followers on Facebook as of February 2019. Her colleagues appointed
her to teach them social media lessons upon her arrival in Congress.
In early July 2019 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. On November 4, 2019,
it was announced that they settled the lawsuit with Ocasio-Cortez
issuing a statement apologizing for the Twitter block.
In a 2019 interview, 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".
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 once the Democratic
Party reclaimed the majority on the condition that Pelosi "remains the
most progressive candidate for speaker".
During the orientation for new members hosted by the John F. Kennedy
School of Government, Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter in December 2018
about the influence of corporate interests by sponsors such as the
American Enterprise Institute and the Center for Strategic and
International Studies: "Lobbyists are here. Goldman Sachs is here.
Where's labor? Activists? Frontline community leaders?"
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 four-minute speech set the record as C-SPAN's most-watched Twitter
video of a member of the House of Representatives.
Hearings
==========
In February 2019, speaking at a Congressional hearing with a panel of
representatives from campaign finance watchdog groups, Ocasio-Cortez
questioned the panel about ethics regulations as they apply to both
the president and members of Congress. She asserted that no
regulations prevent lawmakers "from being bought off by wealthy
corporations". With more than 37.5 million views, the clip became the
most-watched political video posted on Twitter.
When President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen appeared
before the Oversight Committee in February 2019, Ocasio-Cortez asked
him whether Trump had inflated property values for bank or insurance
purposes and where to get more information on the subject. Cohen's
reply implied that Trump may have committed tax and bank fraud in his
personal and business tax returns, financial statements and
real-estate filings. The president of the American Constitution
Society named Ocasio-Cortez as the committee member best at obtaining
specific information from Cohen about Trump's "shady practices, along
with a road map for how to find out more". 'New York Times' columnist
David Brooks praised her skill in questioning Cohen. The exchange
between Ocasio-Cortez and Cohen prompted an investigation by New York
Attorney General Letitia James, who referred to it in August 2020 when
filing legal action to compel Trump's companies to comply with
subpoenas about financial information, and to compel his son Eric
Trump to testify. Further developments as a result of the exchange saw
James form a civil investigation and lawsuit against The Trump
Organization regarding potential financial fraud, which resulted in a
fine of $354 million and a ban on Trump doing business in New York for
two to three years.
Met Gala appearance
=====================
Ocasio-Cortez attended the 2021 Met Gala, which had the theme "In
America: a Lexicon of Fashion". The Met Gala is an annual fundraiser
for the Metropolitan Museum of Art that is overseen by 'Vogue'
editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who selects every invitee and designer
pairing. Ocasio-Cortez wore an organza gown emblazoned with the phrase
"Tax the Rich". As an elected official in New York City, she was
considered a guest of the museum, and as such did not have to buy a
ticket, which costs persons other than elected officials at least
$35,000. The dress's designer, Aurora James, also invited her
boyfriend Benjamin Bronfman, the son of a billionaire. Critics, both
conservative and liberal, rebuked Ocasio-Cortez for attending an event
where guests were not required to wear masks, but event staff were and
for attending an event known for its opulent display of wealth and
social status. She responded that they were using a sexist double
standard and that she "punctured the fourth wall of excess and
spectacle." James also believed that the extremely wealthy people in
attendance needed to see the message in person.
In September 2021, the American Accountability Foundation filed an
ethics complaint against Ocasio-Cortez for attending the Met Gala. The
AAF claimed that her attendance amounted to accepting an illegal gift
since her estimated $35,000 ticket was paid for by Condé Nast, a
for-profit company, not a charity.
"The Squad"
=============
Ocasio-Cortez is a member of an informal group of progressive members
of Congress called "The Squad", along with Ilhan Omar, Ayanna
Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman. On July 14,
2019, Trump attacked the Squad (which had only four members at the
time) in a tweet, saying that they should "go back and help fix" the
countries they came from rather than criticize the American
government. He continued to make similar comments over the next
several days, even though three of the women, including Ocasio-Cortez,
were born in the United States. Ocasio-Cortez responded in a tweet
that "the President's words [yesterday], telling four American
Congresswomen of color 'go back to your own country' is hallmark
language of white supremacists." She later added, "We don't leave the
things that we love, and when we love this country, what that means is
that we propose the solutions to fix it." Days later, Trump falsely
asserted that Ocasio-Cortez called "our country and our people
'garbage'"; she had actually said that Americans should not be content
with moderate policies that are "10% better from garbage". Trump also
falsely claimed that Ocasio-Cortez said "illegal immigrants are more
American" than Americans who tried to keep them out; she actually said
that "women and children on that border that are trying to seek refuge
and opportunity" in America "are acting more American" than those who
tried to keep them out.
Green New Deal
================
Ocasio-Cortez submitted her first piece of legislation, the Green New
Deal, to the House on February 7, 2019. She and Senator Ed Markey
released a joint non-binding resolution laying out the main elements
of a 10-year "economic mobilization" that "would phase out fossil fuel
use and overhaul the nation's infrastructure." Their plan called for
implementing the "social cost of carbon" that was part of the Obama
administration's plans to address climate change. In the process it
aimed to create jobs. According to CNBC, an initial outline the Green
New Deal called for "completely ditching fossil fuels, upgrading or
replacing 'every building' in the country and 'totally overhaul[ing]
transportation' to the point where 'air travel stops becoming
necessary'". The outline set a goal of having the U.S. "creating 'net
zero' greenhouse gases in 10 years. Why 'net zero'? The lawmakers
explained: 'We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero
emissions, in 10 years because we aren't sure that we'll be able to
fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast.'" Activist
groups such as Greenpeace and the Sunrise Movement came out in favor
of the plan. No Republican lawmakers voiced support. The plan gained
support from some Democratic senators, including Elizabeth Warren,
Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker; other Democrats, such as Senator
Dianne Feinstein and House speaker Nancy Pelosi, dismissed the
proposal (Pelosi has referred to it as "the green dream, or whatever
they call it").
On March 26, Senate Republicans called for an early vote on the Green
New Deal without allowing discussion or expert testimony. Markey said
Republicans were trying to "make a mockery" of the Green New Deal
debate and called the vote a "sham". In protest, Senate Democrats
voted "present" or against the bill, resulting in a 57-0 defeat on the
Senate floor.
In March 2019, a group of UK activists proposed that the Labour Party
adopt a similar plan, "Labour for a Green New Deal". The group said it
was inspired by the Sunrise Movement and the work Ocasio-Cortez has
done in the US.
Online harassment from Paul Gosar
===================================
In November 2021, Representative Paul Gosar posted a version of the
title sequence of the anime series 'Attack on Titan' on social media
that he had edited with the faces of Ocasio-Cortez, Joe Biden, and
himself superimposed on the show's characters, depicting Gosar
attacking them with swords and killing Ocasio-Cortez. Speaker Nancy
Pelosi called for law enforcement and the House Ethics Committee to
investigate it as a threat.
Pelosi opened discussion on the House floor saying that Gosar's
actions demanded a response. "We cannot have members joking about
murdering each other or threatening the president of the United
States. This is both an indictment of our elected officials and an
insult to the institution of the House of Representatives. It's not
just about us as members of Congress. It is a danger that it
represents to everyone in the country."
When Republican House members refused to condemn the video,
Ocasio-Cortez responded that she believed the video was "part of a
pattern that normalizes violence", adding, "I believe this is a part
of a concerted strategy and I think it's very important for us to draw
a strict line a strong line for material consequence". She gave a
six-minute floor speech, saying, "This is not about me. This is not
about Representative Gosar. This is about what we're willing to
accept." The House voted to censure Gosar, mostly along party lines.
The last time the House censured a lawmaker was in 2010.
Verbal harassment from Ted Yoho
=================================
On July 20, 2020, Republican representatives Ted Yoho and Roger
Williams accosted Ocasio-Cortez on the steps of the Capitol, where
Yoho (as overheard by a journalist) called her "disgusting" and told
her, "You are out of your freaking mind" for recently suggesting that
poverty and unemployment were driving a spike in crime in New York
City during the COVID-19 pandemic amid her ongoing advocacy for
cutting police budgets. Ocasio-Cortez told Yoho he was being "rude".
As Ocasio-Cortez walked away from Yoho into the Capitol, Yoho called
her a "fucking bitch". Yoho addressed the matter on the House floor
and, without naming Ocasio-Cortez, apologized for the "abrupt manner
of the conversation" with her, claiming that "offensive name calling,
words attributed to me by the press, were never spoken to my
colleagues", and concluding: "I cannot apologize for my passion".
Ocasio-Cortez responded with a speech stating that the incident was
emblematic of a "culture ... accepting of violence and violent
language against women ... In using that language, in front of the
press, he gave permission to use that language against his wife, his
daughters, women in his community, and I am here to stand up to say
that is not acceptable."
Reaction to Andrew Cuomo scandals
===================================
In April 2020, Ocasio-Cortez was one of 77 representatives to call for
public reports of data regarding COVID-19 cases in nursing homes and
long-term care facilities. In March 2021, Ocasio-Cortez and
Representative Jamaal Bowman called for New York governor Andrew Cuomo
to resign, citing the sexual misconduct allegations against him, as
well as the New York COVID-19 nursing home scandal about the Cuomo
administration's reported undercounting of COVID-19 nursing home
deaths.
January 6 Capitol attack
==========================
In a nearly 90-minute Instagram Live video made in February 2021,
Ocasio-Cortez said that she had previously experienced sexual assault,
and recounted her experience of fear during the 2021 storming of the
United States Capitol, when she was in her office (in the Cannon House
Office Building). She said she had hidden in her office bathroom
before being startled by a Capitol Police officer who entered her
office suite and shouted "Where is she?" before ordering her and her
staff to evacuate to a different House Office Building. Ocasio-Cortez
said the officer did not self-identify, and said she first believed
the officer's voice was that of an attacker. She described sheltering
in place in Representative Katie Porter's office and preparing for
what she believed would be an assault by rioters on their offices. She
said, "I had a very close encounter where I thought I was going to
die."
Other issues
==============
Ocasio-Cortez reacted to the 2021 Texas power crisis by organizing a
fundraiser to provide food, water, and shelter to affected Texans. The
fundraiser, which began on February 18, raised $2million in its first
day and $5million by February 21. The money was given to organizations
such as the Houston Food Bank and the North Texas Food Bank.
Ocasio-Cortez also traveled to Houston to help volunteers with
recovery.
On April 15, 2021, Ocasio-Cortez and three other senators called a
press conference to announce a bill that they had introduced to
implement postal banking pilot programs in rural and low-income urban
neighborhoods where millions of households cannot access or afford
standard banking services. Ocasio-Cortez described the families she
sees in her urban community who need to rely on check cashing
companies that charge exorbitant interest rates due to the absence of
mainstream banks. "They'll show up to a check cashing place and
imagine cashing your stimulus check...and having 10 to 20% of that
check taken away from you."
On November 5, 2021, Ocasio-Cortez was one of six House Democrats to
break with their party and vote against the Infrastructure Investment
and Jobs Act, as it was decoupled from the social safety net
provisions in the Build Back Better Act.
In September 2022, Ocasio-Cortez was asked about running for
president. She said, "I hold two contradictory things [in mind] at the
same time. One is just the relentless belief that anything is
possible. But at the same time, my experience here has given me a
front-row seat to how deeply and unconsciously, as well as
consciously, so many people in this country hate women. And they hate
women of color. People ask me questions about the future. And
realistically, I can't even tell you if I'm going to be alive in
September [of 2022]. And that weighs very heavily on me. And it's not
just the right wing. Misogyny transcends political ideology: left,
right, center."
In January 2024, the U.S. and other countries cut funding to the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the
Near East (UNRWA) over intelligence reports that certain UNRWA staff
members supported Hamas during the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and
participated in the attack. On January 29, Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged
the reports, but also said that cutting funding to UNRWA was
"unacceptable" and that the U.S. "should restore aid immediately".
Committee assignments
=======================
*Committee on Oversight and Accountability (Vice Ranking Member,
2023-present)
**Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services
**Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs
*Committee on Natural Resources
**Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources (Ranking Member,
2023-present)
Caucus memberships
====================
*Congressional Progressive Caucus
* House Pro-Choice Caucus
Political positions
======================================================================
Ocasio-Cortez has been described as progressive,Sources describing
Ocasio-Cortez as "progressive" include:
*
*
* left-wing,Sources describing Ocasio-Cortez as "left-wing" include:
*
*
* left-wing populist,Sources describing Ocasio-Cortez as "left-wing
populist" include:
*
*
*
*
and far-left.Sources describing Ocasio-Cortez as "far-left" include:
*
*
*
*
*
*
She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and embraces
the democratic socialist label as part of her political identity. In
an interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press', she described democratic
socialism as "part of what I am. It's not all of what I am. And I
think that that's a very important distinction." In response to a
question about democratic socialism ultimately calling for an end to
capitalism during a 'Firing Line' interview on PBS, she answered:
"Ultimately, we are marching towards progress on this issue. I do
think that we are going to see an evolution in our economic system of
an unprecedented degree, and it's hard to say what direction that that
takes." Later at a conference she said "To me, capitalism is
irredeemable."
Ocasio-Cortez supports progressive ideals such as workplace democracy,
single-payer Medicare for All, tuition-free public college and trade
school, a federal job guarantee, the cancellation of all $1.6trillion
of outstanding student debt, guaranteed family leave, abolishing U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ending the privatization of
prisons, enacting gun-control policies, and energy policy relying on
100% renewables. She told Anderson Cooper that she favors policies
that "most closely resemble what we see in the UK, in Norway, in
Finland, in Sweden".
Economic policy
=================
Ocasio-Cortez is open to using Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), a
heterodox economic theory with little support among mainstream
academics, as an economic pathway to fund and enable implementation of
her policy goals. Ocasio-Cortez was among the 46 House Democrats who
voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.
Ocasio-Cortez has called for reducing defense spending. In December
2022, she was the only House Democrat to vote against an omnibus
spending package because of increased funding for defense and federal
agencies that oversee immigration.
In late 2020, Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib proposed a public
banking bill to encourage creation of state and local public banks by
giving them access to facilities from the Federal Reserve and setting
national guidelines on public banking. In April 2021, Ocasio-Cortez
announced a bill that she and three senators had introduced to
implement postal banking pilot programs in rural and low-income urban
neighborhoods where millions of households cannot access or afford
standard banking services.
Ocasio-Cortez has been a vocal supporter of labor rights, including a
$15 per hour federal minimum wage. In May 2019, she returned to
bartending at the Queensboro Restaurant in Jackson Heights, Queens, to
promote the Raise the Wage Act, which would increase the minimum
hourly wage for restaurant servers and other tipped workers from $2.13
to $15. Speaking to restaurant workers, customers and reporters, she
criticized an exemption in U.S. minimum wage law for restaurants and
the service sector that allows them to be paid less than $7.25 per
hour, saying, "Any job that pays $2.13 per hour is not a job, it is
indentured servitude." On January 20, 2021, Ocasio-Cortez skipped the
inauguration of Joe Biden in order to join the 2021 Hunts Point
Produce Market strike in the Bronx.
In September 2019, Ocasio-Cortez introduced an anti-poverty policy
proposal (packaged in a bundle called "A Just Society") that would
take into account the cost of childcare, health care, and "new
necessities" like Internet access when measuring poverty. The proposal
would cap annual rent increases and ensure access to social welfare
programs for people with convictions and undocumented immigrants.
According to the U.S. census, about 40million Americans live in
poverty.
Ocasio-Cortez has proposed a marginal tax as high as 70% on income
above $10million to pay for the Green New Deal. According to tax
experts contacted by 'The Washington Post', this tax would bring in
extra revenue of $720billion per decade. But an analysis by the think
tank Tax Foundation estimated that, after accounting for macroeconomic
effects, the proposal would increase tax revenue by $189.1 billion
over ten years if it is applied only to ordinary income, or decrease
tax revenue by 53.1 billion if it is applied to all forms of income,
including capital gains. Ocasio-Cortez has opposed and voted against
the pay-as-you-go rule supported by Democratic leaders, which requires
deficit-neutral fiscal policy, with all new expenditures balanced by
tax increases or spending cuts. She and Representative Ro Khanna have
condemned the rule for hamstringing new or expanded progressive
policies. She cites Modern Monetary Theory as a justification for
higher deficits to finance her agenda. Drawing a parallel with the
Great Depression, she has argued that the Green New Deal needs deficit
spending like the original New Deal.
Ocasio-Cortez opposed a planned deal by New York City to give
Amazon.com $3 billion in state and city subsidies and tax breaks to
build a secondary headquarters (Amazon HQ2) that was expected to bring
in $27 billion in tax revenue for the city and state, in an area near
her congressional district, saying that the city should instead itself
invest $3 billion in the district. Some commentators criticized her
remarks on the grounds that she did not understand tax breaks are
discounts on money paid to, not by, the government, that "New York
does not have $3 billion in cash" it would "give" to Amazon, and that
between 25,000 and 40,000 new jobs, in addition to the high-paying
tech jobs Amazon would have created, disappeared when Amazon left.
Conservative columnist Marc Thiessen argued that "her economic
illiteracy is dangerous" because "by helping to drive Amazon away, she
did not save New York $3 billion; she cost New York $27 billion."
Environment
=============
Ocasio-Cortez has called for "more environmental hardliners in
Congress", calling climate change "the single biggest national
security threat for the United States and the single biggest threat to
worldwide industrialized civilization". Referring to a recent United
Nations report indicating that the effects of climate change could
become irreversible unless carbon emissions are reined in within the
next 12 years, she has argued that global warming must be addressed
immediately to avert human extinction.
Ocasio-Cortez's environmental plan, the Green New Deal, advocates for
the U.S. to transition to an electrical grid running on 100% renewable
energy and to end the use of fossil fuels within ten years. The
changes, estimated to cost roughly $2.5trillion per year, would be
financed in part by higher taxes on the wealthy. She has said she has
an "open mind" about nuclear power's role in the Green New Deal, but
has been criticized for ignoring it in her proposals for the deal.
China
=======
Ocasio-Cortez criticized the American companies Activision Blizzard
and Apple for censoring pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. She
co-signed a letter to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick that read,
"As China amplifies its campaign of intimidation, you and your company
must decide whether to look beyond the bottom line and promote
American values—like freedom of speech and thought—or to give in to
Beijing's demands in order to preserve market access."
A bipartisan letter by Ocasio-Cortez and seven other lawmakers
fiercely criticized the NBA's handling of a controversy involving a
tweet by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey supporting
pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. The lawmakers wrote that the
NBA's response not only "sold out an American citizen" but also
"reinforces the Chinese Communist Party view that those who point to
Chinese repression in Hong Kong are as best stating opinions, not
facts", as well as being "a betrayal of fundamental American values".
Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen
==============================
Ocasio-Cortez voted to withdraw U.S. military aid for Saudi Arabia's
war in Yemen. She criticized President Trump's administration for
escalating tensions with Iran, saying that it would bring the country
into a "military conflict that is completely irresponsible".
Israel
========
In May 2018, Ocasio-Cortez criticized the Israel Defense Forces' use
of deadly force against Palestinians participating in the 2018 Gaza
border protests, calling it a "massacre" in a tweet. In a July 2018
interview, she said she was "a proponent of a two-state solution" and
called Israel's presence in the West Bank an "occupation of
Palestine". After being asked to elaborate, she responded she was not
"the expert on geopolitics on this issue". Her use of the term
"occupation" drew backlash from a number of pro-Israel groups and
commentators. Others defended her remarks, citing the United Nations'
designation of the territory in the West Bank as occupied. In July
2019, Ocasio-Cortez voted against a House resolution introduced by
Representative Brad Schneider condemning the Global Boycott,
Divestment, and Sanctions Movement targeting Israel. The resolution
passed 398-17.
Ocasio-Cortez warned that Israel's planned annexation of Palestinian
territories in the occupied West Bank "would lay the groundwork for
Israel becoming an apartheid state". She wrote to U.S. Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo that she would work to "pursue legislation that
conditions the $3.8billion in U.S. military funding to Israel to
ensure that U.S. taxpayers are not supporting annexation in any way".
AIPAC condemned the letter, saying it threatened the U.S.-Israel
relationship.
In May 2021, Ocasio-Cortez issued a statement condemning Israel's
evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in Israeli-occupied
East Jerusalem. She criticized President Biden for saying Israel "has
a right to defend itself", arguing that "blanket statements like these
[with] little context or acknowledgement of what precipitated this
cycle of violence—namely, the expulsions of Palestinians and attacks
on Al Aqsa—dehumanize Palestinians [and] imply the US will look the
other way at human rights violations."
On September 23, 2021, Ocasio-Cortez abruptly changed her vote from
"no" to "present" on a bill providing $1 billion for Israel's Iron
Dome missile defense system, citing the "hateful targeting" she had
received surrounding the bill. She apologized for her vote after
receiving criticism on social media from some supporters of Israel and
of Palestine but maintained her opposition to the bill due to Israel's
"persistent human rights abuses against the Palestinian people".
On July 18, 2023, Ocasio-Cortez and eight other progressive Democrats
(Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Andre Carson, Summer Lee, Ilhan Omar,
Ayanna Pressley, Delia Ramirez, and Rashida Tlaib), voted against a
congressional non-binding resolution proposed by August Pfluger that
"the State of Israel is not a racist or apartheid state", that
Congress rejects "all forms of antisemitism and xenophobia", and that
"the United States will always be a staunch partner and supporter of
Israel". She argued that it was wrong to pair "accusations of
antisemitism with real concerns around the human rights crisis in the
region" and that combining a "vote on antisemitism and discussion of
apartheid and...two-tier legal systems is very cynical".
Ocasio-Cortez condemned Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel. On
October 12, 2023, she criticized Israel's plans to block electricity,
water and fuel from Gaza, calling it a "collective punishment and a
violation of international law." On October 16, she signed a
resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. On March
22, 2024, she characterized Israel's assault on Gaza as a genocide.
Syria
=======
In 2023, Ocasio-Cortez was among 56 Democrats to vote in favor of
H.Con.Res. 21, which directed President Joe Biden to remove U.S.
troops from Syria within 180 days.
Judiciary
===========
After the contentious confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney
Barrett, Ocasio-Cortez urged Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden
to expand the court if he won and their party achieved a Senate
majority. In April 2021, she supported a bill to increase the Court's
size. She again called for expansion in September 2021 after the Court
voted not to grant an emergency stay of the Texas Heartbeat Bill.
In March 2022, Ocasio-Cortez called on Justice Clarence Thomas to
resign over his wife's texts urging President Trump's chief of staff
to overturn the 2020 presidential election, raising a possible
impeachment effort if he did not. After the Supreme Court overturned
'Roe v. Wade' in June 2022, Ocasio-Cortez called for the impeachment
of Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. She alleged that the two
had lied under oath about their views on 'Roe' during their
confirmation hearings.
In June 2022, after the Supreme Court made several consequential
rulings and granted 'certiorari' to 'Moore v. Harper', which has a
potential impact on future elections, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that the
U.S. was "witnessing a judicial coup in progress". The next month, she
claimed the Court had "gone rogue" and that impeachment, expansion,
introduction of ethics rules and recusal requirements should be
considered. She added that Thomas should certainly be impeached. Two
days later she led House progressives calling on the Democratic
leadership in Congress to strip the Court of its jurisdiction "in the
areas of abortion, marriage equality, non-procreative intimacy, and
contraception". They pointed to Thomas's concurring opinion in
'Dobbs', which suggested revisiting cases that established a
constitutional right to contraception, same-sex marriage and gay sex.
Pay raises for Congress
=========================
In 2019, Ocasio-Cortez supported pay raises for Congress. She wrote,
"It's not a fun or politically popular position to take. But
consistency is important. ALL workers should get cost of living
increases. That's why minimum wage should be pegged to inflation,
too." Members of Congress make $174,000 annually; the Speaker makes
$223,500 and House leaders make $193,400. Republican Kevin McCarthy
joined her in supporting the pay raise, saying he did not want
Congress to be a place where only the wealthy can afford to serve.
Colleagues such as Joe Cunningham opposed the measure, saying, "We
didn't come up here to give ourselves a raise".
Presidency of Donald Trump
============================
On June 28, 2018, Ocasio-Cortez told CNN she would support the
impeachment of President Trump, citing Trump's alleged violations of
the Emoluments Clause and saying that "we have to hold everyone
accountable and that no person is above that law."
Puerto Rico
=============
Ocasio-Cortez has called for "solidarity with Puerto Rico". She has
advocated for granting Puerto Ricans further civil rights, regardless
of Puerto Rico's legal classification. She advocates for voting rights
and disaster relief. Ocasio-Cortez was critical of FEMA's response to
Hurricane Maria and the federal government's unwillingness to address
Puerto Rico's political status. She believes the federal government
should increase investment in Puerto Rico. In August 2020,
Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Velázquez introduced the Puerto Rico
Self-Determination Act of 2020, which was referred to the House
Committee on Natural Resources.
On March 18, 2021, Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez and Senator Bob Menendez
introduced a new version, the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act of
2021, with over 70 co-sponsors in the House and seven co-sponsors in
the Senate, including one Republican.
Healthcare
============
Ocasio-Cortez supports transitioning to a single-payer healthcare
system and considers medical care a human right. She says that a
single government health insurer should cover every American, reducing
overall costs. Her campaign website says, "Almost every other
developed nation in the world has universal healthcare. It's time the
United States catch up to the rest of the world in ensuring all people
have real healthcare coverage that doesn't break the bank." Many 2020
Democratic presidential candidates adopted the Medicare-for-all
proposal.
In June 2019 and in July 2021, Ocasio-Cortez proposed legislation that
would remove restrictions placed on researching the medical use of
psilocybin.
Abortion rights
=================
Ocasio-Cortez supports codifying the right to abortion, and is a
member of the House pro-choice caucus. On July 19, 2022, after the
Supreme Court overruled 'Roe v. Wade' in 'Dobbs v. Jackson Women's
Health Organization', she and 17 other members of Congress were
arrested in an act of civil disobedience for refusing to clear a
street during a protest for reproductive rights outside the Supreme
Court Building.
Education
===========
Ocasio-Cortez campaigned in favor of establishing tuition-free public
colleges and trade schools. She has said she is still paying off
student loans herself and wants to cancel all student debt.
Immigration
=============
Ocasio-Cortez has expressed support for defunding and abolishing the
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency on multiple
occasions. In February 2018 she called it "a product of the Bush-era
Patriot Act suite of legislation" and "an enforcement agency that
takes on more of a paramilitary tone every single day". That June, she
said she would "stop short of fully disbanding the agency", and would
rather "create a pathway to citizenship for more immigrants through
decriminalization". She later clarified that this does not mean
ceasing all deportations. Two days before the primary election,
Ocasio-Cortez attended a protest at an ICE child-detention center in
Tornillo, Texas. She was the only Democrat to vote against H.R. 648, a
bill to fund and reopen the government, because it funded ICE.
*'For H.R. 648, see:'
In January 2021, Ocasio-Cortez expressed support for the Roadmap to
Freedom resolution to guide future immigration policy championed by
Representative Pramila Jayapal. The resolution aims to safeguard
vulnerable migrants while reducing criminal prosecutions of migrants.
Detention centers for undocumented immigrants
===============================================
In June 2019, Ocasio-Cortez compared the detention centers for
undocumented immigrants under the Trump administration at the
Mexico-United States border to "concentration camps". She cited
"expert analysis", linking to an 'Esquire' article quoting Andrea
Pitzer, author of 'One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration
Camps', who had made a similar claim. Some academics supported
Ocasio-Cortez's use of the term for the forced detention of
immigrants; other figures strongly criticized it, saying it showed
disrespect for Holocaust victims. In response to criticism from both
Republicans and Democrats, Ocasio-Cortez said they had conflated
concentration camps ("the mass detention of civilians without trial")
with death camps. She refused to apologize for using the term: "If
that makes you uncomfortable, fight the camps, not the nomenclature."
In July 2019, Ocasio-Cortez visited migrant detention centers and
other facilities in Texas as part of a congressional delegation to
witness the border crisis firsthand. She described the conditions as
"horrifying". She said that women in one cell said they had not had
access to showers for two weeks and were told to drink water from the
toilet when their sink broke, and that one woman said that her
daughters had been taken from her two weeks earlier and she did not
know where they were.
In February 2021, when the Biden administration reopened a Carrizo
Springs, Texas, center to house unaccompanied migrant children,
Ocasio-Cortez responded that such actions "never will be okay—no
matter the administration or party". For short-term measures to
address the situation, she called for mandatory licensing for such
centers and urged reconsideration of how the centers are "contracted
out".
LGBTQ equality
================
Ocasio-Cortez is a proponent of LGBTQ rights and LGBTQ+ equality. She
has said she supports the LGBTQ community and thanked its members for
their role in her campaign. She publicized and later appeared on a
video game live stream to help raise money for Mermaids, a UK-based
charity for trans children. At the January 2019 New York City Women's
March in Manhattan, Ocasio-Cortez gave a detailed speech in support of
measures needed to ensure LGBTQ equality in the workplace and
elsewhere. She has also spoken in support of transgender rights,
specifically saying, "Trans rights are civil rights are human rights."
At the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on February 27, 2020,
Ocasio-Cortez argued for LGBTQ equality in the context of her
religious background. Referencing a Catholic hospital that refused a
hysterectomy for a transgender man, she argued, "[t]here is nothing
holy about rejecting medical care of people, no matter who they are,
on the grounds of what their identity is. There is nothing holy about
turning someone away from a hospital."
Police funding
================
Ocasio-Cortez supports the "defund the police" movement. Asked to give
her interpretation of the movement, she said, "It looks like a
suburb", and "affluent white communities already ... fund youth,
health, housing etc more than they fund police. When a teenager or
preteen does something harmful in a suburb ... White communities bend
over backwards to find alternatives to incarceration.... Why don't we
treat Black and Brown people the same way?"
Political endorsements
======================================================================
Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2020 presidential
election and appeared with him at speaking engagements. Campaign
rallies she attended with him drew the largest crowds of any
presidential rally. On January 25, she joined Michael Moore to fill in
for Sanders at a rally at the University of Iowa while Sanders was
attending the Senate's Trump impeachment trial.
In January 2020, Ocasio-Cortez announced the formation of a PAC called
Courage to Change, which announced its first endorsements of
progressive Democrats on February 21, 2020. Some progressive
commentators subsequently criticized Ocasio-Cortez for having only
endorsed two Democratic primary challengers by March 3. A notable
omission was Cori Bush, who had received an endorsement from
Ocasio-Cortez two years prior.
In July 2023, Ocasio-Cortez endorsed President Joe Biden in his
reelection campaign in the 2024 presidential election.
Congressional service
======================================================================
United States Congressional service
!Dates !Congress !Chamber !Majority !President !Committees
!Class/District
|2019-2021 |116th |rowspan="2" |U.S. House |rowspan="2" |Democratic
|Donald Trump |rowspan="2" |Financial Services, Oversight and Reform
|rowspan="2" |District 14
|2021-2023 |117th |Donald Trump Joe Biden
|2023-2025 |118th |U.S. House |Republican |Joe Biden |Natural
Resources, Oversight and Accountability |District 14
Awards and honors
======================================================================
The MIT Lincoln Laboratory named the asteroid 23238 Ocasio-Cortez
after her when she was a senior in high school in recognition of her
second-place finish in the 2007 Intel International Science and
Engineering Fair. Ocasio-Cortez was named the 2017 National Hispanic
Institute Person of the Year by Ernesto Nieto. In 2019, Ocasio-Cortez
received the Adelle Foley Award. She was named as one of the 2019 BBC
100 Women.
Personal life
======================================================================
After the death of Ocasio-Cortez's father in 2008, her mother and
grandmother moved to Florida due to financial hardship. She still has
family in Puerto Rico, where her grandfather was living in a nursing
home before he died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Ocasio-Cortez
said that "to be Puerto Rican is to be the descendant of... African
Moors [and] slaves, Taino Indians, Spanish colonizers, Jewish
refugees, and likely others. We are all of these things and something
else all at once—we are 'Boricua'."
Ocasio-Cortez is a Catholic. She discussed her faith and its impact on
her life and her campaign for criminal justice reform in an article
she wrote for 'America', the magazine of the Jesuit order in the
United States. She said she has some Sephardic Jewish
ancestry.Citations for Jewish ancestry:
*
*
*
*
*
During the 2018 election campaign, Ocasio-Cortez resided in
Parkchester, Bronx, with her partner, web developer Riley Roberts.
They became engaged in April 2022 in Puerto Rico.
OpenSecrets, analyzing financial disclosure forms, ranked
Ocasio-Cortez one of the least wealthy members of the 116th Congress,
with a maximum net worth of $30,000.
In May 2021, Ocasio-Cortez said that she had been in psychotherapy
after the January 6 United States Capitol attack, which she called
"extraordinarily traumatizing", saying she "did not know if I was
going to make it to the end of that day alive".
Ocasio-Cortez is a fan of the New York Yankees.
See also
======================================================================
*List of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States Congress
*List of Democratic Socialists of America who have held office in the
United States
*Nuyorican
*Puerto Ricans in New York City
*Puerto Ricans in the United States
*Women in the United States House of Representatives
External links
======================================================================
*
*[
https://www.ocasiocortez.com/ Campaign website]
*
*[
https://www.politifact.com/personalities/alexandria-ocasio-cortez/
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's file] at PolitiFact
|-
|-
License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOC
