From being a bartender to being elected as the youngest elected congresswoman in the United States, the story of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is mesmerizing.
In her own words, she “went from being an anonymous waitress to a very well-known politician almost overnight.”
In a 2019 article, Time magazine rightly notes: “Wonder Woman of the left, Wicked Witch of the right, Ocasio-Cortez has become the second most talked-about politician in America, after the [then] President of the United States [Donald Trump].”
“That adjustment was very difficult and quite challenging, even just from a logistical level. But, aside from that, the mission and the work that I do is something that I love and I gain a lot of meaning from it,” says Ocasio-Cortez, sometimes known by her initials AOC.
She labels herself as a “democratic socialist” and defends the working class, advocates for climate action, and has become a nightmare for the Republican Party.
Below are some of the things that make Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stand out from the crowd.
1. Humble past
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born in 1989 in the Bronx, one of the poorest boroughs of New York.
After high school, she graduated from the Boston University in 2011 with degrees in Economics and International Relations.
After graduating, she started working for a nonprofit in the Bronx. However, she had to supplement her income to financially support her family, who are in debt after her father’s death due to lung cancer. So, she began working as a bartender in Manhattan.
She took out student loans to enroll at Boston University, just like 44 million other Americans. Her student-loan debt was a whopping $25,000, translating into monthly payments of $300.
“We have an entire generation that is delaying or forgoing purchasing houses,” she says. “Our entire economy is slowing down due to the student-loan crisis.”
Later, she became an organizer on Bernie Sanders’ campaign for the Democratic nomination. “Bernie has not committed to what is right when it was popular. Senator Bernie Sanders has spent his entire life fighting for the right thing when it was unpopular,” she once said.
At 28, she ran for the Democratic Party’s primary for New York’s 14th congressional district, which includes parts of the Bronx and Queens.
2. Youngest female Congress member
In November 2018, Ocasio-Cortez bagged 78 percent of the vote to become a member of the US House of Representatives at the age of 29, becoming the youngest woman ever to be elected to the House.
Earlier that year in June, she beat Joe Crowley in the primaries. Crowley, one of the most powerful Democrats and a prolific fundraiser, had been elected to Congress since 1999.
The issues she focused during her campaign included a Green New Deal, a federal jobs guarantee, abolishing ICE, and Medicare for All.
Besides her door-to-door organizing, her social media presence also helped her a lot.
Her Twitter following skyrocketed from around 49,000 in 2018 to more than 3.5 million by March 2019. Now, it stands at 12.7 million.
3. Climate action advocacy
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is also a fierce advocate for climate action.
After joining the most diverse Congress in US history, she rapidly made waves by joining a sit-in outside the office of her own party leader, Nancy Pelosi, to demand immediate action on the climate crisis.
Her Green New Deal – a comprehensive plan to tackle the climates crisis – was blocked by the Senate.
“This is about our lives. This is about American lives. And it should not be partisan. Science should not be partisan. We are facing a national crisis,” she said.
On another occasion, she said: “I don’t think that we can compromise on transitioning to 100% renewable energy. We cannot compromise on saving our planet. We can’t compromise on saving kids. We have to do these things. If we want to do them in different ways, that’s fine. But we can’t not do them.”
4. Fierce opposition to Israel
Along with Representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ocasio-Cortez is also one of the few young and progressive legislators who have been increasingly critical of US support for Israel.
During the most recent bombardment of the Gaza Strip by Israel, she called for the Joe Biden administration to take a harder line and even called Israel an apartheid state.
“I don’t care how any spokesperson tries to spin this,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Saturday
Along with a video showing an Israeli air strike demolishing a building that had the offices of The Associated Press and Al Jazeera apart from private homes, she tweeted:
“This is happening with the support of the United States. I don’t care how any spokesperson tries to spin this. The US vetoed the UN call for ceasefire. If the Biden admin can’t stand up to an ally, who can it stand up to? How can they credibly claim to stand for human rights?”
In a following tweet, she made a thinly veiled reference to Israel: “Apartheid states aren’t democracies.”
It was a strong show of courage from her, as the label is rarely used by US legislators.
5. Vocal about harassment
Ocasio-Cortez is also quite vocal about harassment.
One of the most prominent examples of her daring attitude was when she was aggressively confronted by Republican Representative Ted Yoho outside the Capitol.
Yoho called her “disgusting,” “crazy,” “dangerous” and told her that “You are out of your freaking mind” for suggesting that crime is on the rise in New York City during the pandemic owing to increasing poverty and unemployment.
The next day, Yoho delivered a non-apology defending his own behavior. “Having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I’m very cognizant of my language,” he said while addressing the matter on the House floor.
But Ocasio-Cortez Yoho apart in a widely televised speech and called him out for “hiding behind his wife and daughters.”
She also condemned male privilege, violent language against women, and systemic sexist behavior and culture.
“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,” she famously said.
“I am someone’s daughter, too. My father, thankfully, is not alive to see how Mr. Yoho treated his daughter. My mother got to see Mr. Yoho’s disrespect on the floor of this House towards me on television. And I am here because I have to show my parents that I am their daughter and that they did not raise me to accept abuse from men.”
At the same time, her popularity with the Left has also made her the target of death threats.
“I’ve had mornings where I wake up and the first thing I do with my coffee is review photos of the men (it’s always men) who want to kill me,” she tweeted in 2019.
So, those were the five most prominent things that set AOC apart from other politicians.
Along with Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley and Somali-born Ilhan Omar, Ocasio-Cortez is one of the progressive freshmen members of Congress, sometimes called “The Squad.”
Ocasio-Cortez is so focused, energetic and a political powerhouse and is becoming the epitome of strength for youth, especially women, across the world.
That raises the obvious question: Can she be the first female president of the United States of America?
Timeline of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s journey into politics
October 13, 1989 – AOC is born in the Bronx, New York.
2008 – Her father dies of lung cancer during her second year at Boston University.
May 2011 – Graduates with degrees in Economics and International Relations.
December 2016 – Takes part in a North Dakota protest against the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
December 2016 – A leader of Brand New Congress – a US American political action committee formed by former staffers and supporters of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign – asks her to run for Congress in New York’s 14th congressional district.
May 2017 – Officially begins her primary run against Representative Joe Crowley, a powerful Democratic who had been in the House since 1999.
February 2018 – Leaves her job at Flats Fix, where she has been working as a bartender.
April 22, 2018 – Endorsed by the New York City branch of the Democratic Socialists of America.
May 30, 2018 – An online video ad released by the campaign goes viral in a matter of days.
June 26, 2018 – Defeats Joe Crowley by 15 points.
July 20, 2018 – Campaigns for progressive candidates across the country with Senator Bernie Sanders.
November 6, 2018 – At the age of 29, becomes the youngest woman ever in US history to join Congress.
November 14, 2018 – Takes part in a protest with other environmental activists to protest outside the office of Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority leader at the time.
January 3, 2019 – Is sworn into the most diverse Congress in US history.
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