Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Wins Re-Election

Amid a difficult election season, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won her reelection bid for her seat in the House of Representatives representing the 14th district which includes the eastern part of The Bronx and part of north-central Queens in New York on Tuesday. This comes after she made history in 2018 as the youngest woman elected to Congress at age 29. The 35-year-old representative is known for being part of the progressive group of Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives known as “the Squad,” which includes Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Along with her fellow Democratic representatives who have successfully retained their seats in the 119th Congress that meets in January. 

Ocasio-Cortez celebrated her win in a post on Instagram, writing about the 67 percent increase in the Bronx’s early vote turnout, the efforts made toward the Harris-Walz campaign, and resources put toward Puerto Rico’s historic La Alianza movement: 

“Excellence matters. I am proud to lead one of the hardest working, compassionate, and driven teams in politics. Thank YOU to every single everyday person who continues to donate, volunteer, repost, organize, amplify, and educate alongside us,” she wrote. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being a part of this. Together we are committed to a lifetime of supporting one another – the people. ¡Pa’lante!”

Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, has long advocated for marginalized communities, but her success as a Latina in politics did not come easily. This election cycle, AOC knocked on 135,000 doors, made 139,000 calls, and sent 200,000 texts in favor of her re-election bid. 

Additionally, she attended over 30 events throughout the U.S., including a stop at a Puerto Rican bakery in Pennsylvania with Vice President Kamala Harris to close out the campaign, and raised $500,000 to win the House and Senate.  Following the election results where former President Donald Trump won, she emphasized the importance of building community and the danger of partisanship during an hour-long Instagram Live.

“I went from wiping down a bar and walking behind it to walking into the halls of Congress, and the reason I did that and the reason I ran was not because I was running against a Republican, it’s because I ran against a Democrat that I did not believe centered families or communities like mine or saw the pain of people like me,” she shared. “And a lot of what I saw at that time was a Democrat that only ran against Trump and did not support a vision that with clarity that spoke to my material reality, and I got to a point as a waitress where I felt like if my member of Congress wouldn’t support a $15 minimum wage and say it with their full chest with clarity.”