Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Can’t Afford an Apartment in D.C. and That Speaks to an Even Bigger Issue

As we’re all still high from the victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, she informs the public that she is still facing some real relatable issues. In an interview with the New York Times, Ocasio-Cortez talked about her historic win but also about practical concerns that isn’t actually ever discussed.

She said that her move from the Bronx to D.C. when she starts her new job will be “very unusual, because I can’t really take a salary. I have three months without a salary before I’m a member of Congress. So, how do I get an apartment? Those little things are very real,” she said in the Times.

Ocasio-Cortez said that she has some savings from her previous job at the restaurant and has a plan in place along with her partner, but added “We’re kind of just dealing with the logistics of it day by day, but I’ve really been just kind of squirreling away and then hoping that gets me to January.”

The issue of where to live when you get a new job is so relatable, especially right now to millennials who are eager to get their start somewhere else. But what Ocasio-Cortez is facing isn’t just typical of real people problems, but a huge problematic reason why working class people do not run for public office.

https://twitter.com/rexsantus/status/1060647430318891009

There’s a reason why history shows that white wealthy men run for office, and that’s simply because they can. They have the luxury to focus on campaigning alone. But for the average person seeking to serve their community and be part of the political world, it’s not easy — not at all. That’s why politicians take PAC money from corporations, associations, and special interest groups. But once politicians take that money, it’s as if these groups own them, and they begin working for them and not the people. That’s why it’s so incredible that this year so many political figures like Ocasio-Cortez and Beto O’Rourke vowed not to take a single penny from PACs.

Now, as Ocasio-Cortez has stated, she must wait to get money until she begins her job. But she tweeted that we shouldn’t worry, she’ll have a place to sleep. “We’re working it out!”

That’s the amazing thing about this woman, she’s determined to keep on truckin’ no matter what.