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| death_place =
| death_place =
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| otherparty = [[Democratic Socialists of America]]
| otherparty = [[Democratic Socialists of America|Democratic Socialists]]
| alma_mater = [[Boston University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| alma_mater = [[Boston University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| website = {{url|ocasio2018.com}}
| website = {{url|ocasio2018.com}}

Revision as of 06:07, 30 June 2018

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
File:Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (official, high-resolution).jpg
Ocasio-Cortez in 2017
Personal details
Born (1989-10-13) October 13, 1989 (age 35)
The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Other political
affiliations		Democratic Socialists
Alma materBoston University (BA)
Websiteocasio2018.com

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born October 13, 1989) is an American activist, educator, community organizer, and politician. On June 26, 2018, Ocasio-Cortez won the Democratic primary in New York's 14th congressional district, defeating the incumbent, Democratic Caucus Chair Joseph Crowley, in what has been described as the biggest upset victory in the 2018 midterm election season.[1][2][3][4][5] Ocasio-Cortez is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, and has been endorsed by politically progressive organizations[6] and individuals.[7]

Early life and education

Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx, New York City[8] on October 13, 1989, to Blanca Ocasio-Cortez and Sergio Ocasio. Her father, an architect, was also born in the Bronx, and her mother is from Puerto Rico.[9][10] Until age five, Ocasio-Cortez lived with her family in an apartment in the planned community of Parkchester.[10] Her father then moved the family to a modest two bedroom house in Yorktown Heights, a suburb in Westchester County, where she would live until she left home to attend college.[10]

From 2003 to 2007, Ocasio-Cortez attended Yorktown High School,[11] where she won second prize in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair with a research project on microbiology. As a result, the Lincoln Laboratory at MIT named a small asteroid after her: 23238 Ocasio-Cortez.[12][13] While a student at Boston University, Ocasio-Cortez was an intern in the immigration office of Senator Ted Kennedy.[14] Ocasio-Cortez graduated from Boston University in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in economics and international relations.[15]

Ocasio-Cortez relates many of her political positions to her working-class background. When her father died in 2008 without leaving a will, Ocasio-Cortez became involved in a long probate battle to settle his estate. Looking back on that experience she has said that she learned "firsthand 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."[16] She credits seeing the treatment of her cousin by law enforcement, as well as her Catholic faith, for her desire to see an overhaul of mass incarceration in the criminal justice system.[17]

Career

After college, Ocasio-Cortez moved back to the Bronx where she worked two jobs, as a bartender and as a waitress in a taqueria, to help support her mother in her battle to fight foreclosure of their home after her father died of cancer.[18] She was also employed as an educator in the nonprofit National Hispanic Institute.[19] Furthermore, she established a publishing firm, Brook Avenue Press, which specialized in children's literature portraying the Bronx in a positive light.[20]

After finding out she was purged from the voter rolls in New York and could not vote in the 2016 primary, she worked as an organizer for Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.[21] After the general election in November 2016, Ocasio-Cortez travelled across America in a car, visiting places like Flint, Michigan, and Standing Rock, speaking to people affected by the human rights violations (related to the Flint water crisis and the Dakota Access Pipeline, respectively).[22] In an interview she recalled her visit to Standing Rock in 2016 a tipping point, saying previous to that time she had felt that the only way to effectively run for office was if you had 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.[23]

2018 U.S. House campaign

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2018 § District 14

A member of the Democratic Socialists of America,[24] Ocasio-Cortez was endorsed by progressive and civil rights organizations such as MoveOn,[25] Justice Democrats,[26] Brand New Congress,[27] Black Lives Matter,[28] and Democracy for America,[21] and by gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, who is also challenging a longtime incumbent, Andrew Cuomo.[29] Two days before the primary election, Ocasio-Cortez attended a protest at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) child-detention center in Tornillo, Texas.[30]

Ocasio-Cortez was the first person to challenge Democratic Caucus Chair Joseph Crowley in the Democratic primary since 2004. She faced a significant financial disadvantage, but said, "You can't really beat big money with more money. You have to beat them with a totally different game." Nearly 75% of her donations were small individual contributions, while less than 1% of Crowley’s contributions were.[16] The Ocasio-Cortez campaign spent $194,000 to the Crowley campaign's $3.4 million.[31] Governor Cuomo endorsed Crowley, as did both of New York's US Senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as 11 US Representatives, 32 local elected officials, 27 trade unions, and progressive 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.[32] California representative Ro Khanna endorsed both Ocasio-Cortez and Crowley in a dual endorsement, after initially endorsing only Crowley.[33]

Primary election

Ocasio-Cortez has not previously held elected office,[9] and her campaign video began with her saying "women like me aren’t supposed to run for office."[34] She held several debates with Crowley, who was criticized for not showing up to one debate and sending a surrogate instead.[35] She received 57.13% of the vote to Crowley's 42.27%, defeating the 10-term incumbent by almost 15%.[36] Bernie Sanders congratulated her, saying, "She took on the entire local Democratic establishment in her district and won a very strong victory. She demonstrated once again what progressive grassroots politics can do."[5]

Time magazine called her victory "the biggest upset of the 2018 elections so far";[24] CNN made a similar statement.[2] The New York Times described Crowley's loss as "a shocking primary defeat on Tuesday, the most significant loss for a Democratic incumbent in more than a decade, and one that will reverberate across the party and the country."[21] The Guardian called it "one of the biggest upsets in recent American political history".[37] Her victory was especially surprising as she was outspent 18-1.[38]

At 28 years old, Ocasio-Cortez is one of the youngest nominees for Congress. If elected, she would be the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. That distinction is currently held by New York Republican Elise Stefanik, who was elected at age 30 in 2014.[39][a] Ocasio-Cortez will be 29 at the start of the 116th Congress.

Several commentators noted the similarities between Ocasio-Cortez's victory over Crowley and Dave Brat's 2014 victory over Eric Cantor in the Republican primary for Virginia's 7th congressional district.[40][41] Like Crowley, Cantor was a high-ranking member in his party's caucus.[42]

Ocasio-Cortez' campaign was also helped by the district's shifting demographics. The district, which had once been represented by 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro, had been significantly redrawn after the 2010 census, and was now almost half Hispanic. By contrast, the 14th's predecessor, the 7th, had been 45 percent white.

Criticism of media coverage

Many journalists faulted the traditional, national news media (with a few exceptions) for not identifying the newsworthiness of the campaign, while the smaller, local and progressive news media, such as The Young Turks, was covering it early on.[43][44] Brian Stelter wrote that progressive media outlets "saw the Ocasio-Cortez upset coming".[41] Margaret Sullivan said that traditional metrics of measuring a campaign's viability, like total fundraising, were contributing to a "media failure".[citation needed]

General election

Ocasio-Cortez will face Republican nominee Anthony Pappas in the November 6 general election.[45] Pappas lives in Astoria, and is an economics professor at St. John's University. According to the New York Post, Pappas has not actively campaigned, and the district is so heavily Democratic that he faces very long odds in any event.[46][47] The 14th has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+29. Additionally, the district contains six registered Democrats for every Republican,[48] and Hillary Clinton carried the district in 2016 with over 78 percent of the vote.

Political positions

Ocasio-Cortez is a democratic socialist. She supports Medicare for All; a Jobs Guarantee; tuition-free public college; ending the privatization of prisons; and enacting gun-control policies.[49]

Healthcare

Ocasio-Cortez supports transitioning to a single-payer healthcare system, calling healthcare a human right.[50][51] She says that a single government insurer would ensure that every American has insurance, while administering the government greater purchasing power to reduce costs overall.[52] On her campaign website, Ocasio-Cortez states:

"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."[51]

Education

Ocasio-Cortez campaigned in favor of tuition-free universities and public schools.[51] In a tweet, she stated that "[f]or the cost of the GOP’s tax bill, we could forgive ALL the student loan debt in the United States.[51][53]

Universal jobs guarantee

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez supports a federal job guarantee, in which unemployed Americans who want to work would be guaranteed a job if they are unable to find one.[52]

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Ocasio-Cortez has criticized Israel.[54] After 60 Palestinian protesters participating in the 2018 Gaza border protests were killed, she tweeted, “This is a massacre. I hope my peers have the moral courage to call it such. No state or entity is absolved of mass shootings of protesters. There is no justification. Palestinian people deserve basic human dignity, as anyone else. Democrats can’t be silent about this anymore.”[55]

The Anti-Defamation League criticized Ocasio-Cortez for comparing Gaza to civil rights protests in America. She replied, "I had a lot of my constituents thanking me for taking that position. I had a lot of Jewish Americans who thanked me.”[56]

J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said that "we celebrate" a new generation of candidates like Ocasio-Cortez who oppose "the policies of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition" and want to see the U.S. play a "more constructive role" in the peace process.[57]

Impeachment of Donald Trump

On June 28, 2018, Ocasio-Cortez told CNN she would support the impeachment of President Trump, saying, "I think that, you know, we have the grounds to do it."[58][59]

Immigration

She supports abolishing ICE, calling 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".[60] She has called immigration detention centers operated by the Department of Homeland Security "black sites", citing limited public access to those locations.[61]

Notes

  1. ^ Stefanik won the election at age 30. Prior to Stefanik, the youngest woman to win an election to Congress was Elizabeth Holtzman, who was 31 when she was first elected, in 1973.[39]

References

  1. ^ "A progressive insurgent just pulled off the biggest Democratic primary upset in years". Mother Jones. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  2. ^ a b CNN, Gregory Krieg,. "A 28-year-old Democratic Socialist just ousted a powerful, 10-term congressman in New York". CNN. Retrieved June 27, 2018. ...in the most shocking upset of a rollicking political season. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ CNN, Dan Merica and Eric Bradner,. "The biggest night so far for progressives and other takeaways from Tuesday night's primaries". CNN. Retrieved June 27, 2018. It was the most shocking result of 2018's political season so far... {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Resnick, Gideon (June 27, 2018). "Young Progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Topples Old Boss Joe Crowley in Democratic Primary Shocker". The Daily Beast. Retrieved June 27, 2018. In one of the most shocking upsets in recent political history...
  5. ^ a b Seitz-Wald, Alex (June 26, 2018). "High-ranking Democrat ousted in stunning primary loss to newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez". NBC News. Retrieved June 27, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  6. ^ https://ocasio2018.com/#endorsements
  7. ^ https://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchell-reports/watch/bernie-sanders-weighs-in-on-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-s-victory-1265337411768
  8. ^ "Meet Alexandria". Ocasio 2018: Vote June 26.
  9. ^ a b Wang, Vivian (June 27, 2018). "Who Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? A Democratic Giant Slayer". The New York Times. Retrieved June 27, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  10. ^ a b c Newman, Andy; Wang, Vivian; Ferré-Sadurní, Luis (June 27, 2018). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Emerges as a Political Star". The New York Times. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  11. ^ "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez LinkedIn Profile". LinkedIn. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  12. ^ Malloy, Daniel (June 23, 2018). "This Berniecrat Aims to Unseat a Queens Power Broker". Ozy. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  13. ^ Chamberlin, Alan. "JPL Small-Body Database Browser". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  14. ^ Joyce, A.P. (February 28, 2018). "Meet the young progressive Latina trying to oust one of the most powerful Democrats in the House". Mic. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  15. ^ "Everything you need to know about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 28-year-old socialist hailed as the 'future of the Democratic Party'". The Independent.
  16. ^ a b "A Primary Against the Machine: a Bronx Activist Looks to Dethrone Joseph Crowley, The King of Queens". The Intercept. May 22, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  17. ^ "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her Catholic faith and the urgency of a criminal justice reform". America (magazine). Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  18. ^ Gambino, Lauren (June 27, 2018). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: who is the new progressive star of the Democrats?". the Guardian.
  19. ^ "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, takes out 10-term congressman in New York's Democratic primary". June 27, 2018.
  20. ^ Beekman, Daniel. "Diverse group of startups thriving at city-sponsored Sunshine Bronx Business Incubator in Hunts Point  - NY Daily News". nydailynews.com. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  21. ^ a b c Goldmacher, Shane; Martin, Jonathan (June 26, 2018). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Defeats Joseph Crowley in Major Democratic House Upset". The New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  22. ^ "How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pulled off the year's biggest political upset". Mother Jones. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  23. ^ Piaella, Gabriella. "The 28-Year-Old at the Center of One of This Year's Most Exciting Primaries". The Cut. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  24. ^ a b Elliott, Philip (June 26, 2018). "How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Pulled Off the Biggest Upset of 2018". Time. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  25. ^ Chamberlain, Samuel (June 26, 2018). "Rep. Joe Crowley defeated in Democratic primary upset by newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez". Fox News.
  26. ^ "Justice Democrats: Candidates". JusticeDemocrats.com. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  27. ^ "Brand New Congress Official Candidates". BrandNewCongress.org. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  28. ^ Raina, Lipsitz (June 22, 2018). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Fights the Power". The Nation. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  29. ^ Joyce, A.P. (June 26, 2018). "Insurgent progressive candidates Cynthia Nixon and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rally togehter". Mic. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  30. ^ Neuman, Scott (June 27, 2018). "Who Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?". NPR. Retrieved June 27, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  31. ^ "New York District 14 2018 Race". Open Secrets. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  32. ^ "Endorsements: Joe Crowley for Congress". Retrieved June 27, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  33. ^ Lisa Hagen (June 26, 2018), Political stunner! Crowley knocked off by millennial challenger, The Hill
  34. ^ Weigel, David (June 27, 2018). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: The Democrat who challenged her party's establishment — and won". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  35. ^ Freedlander, David. "Ocasio-Cortez Not Only Beat Crowley — She Beat Old-School New York Politics". Daily Intelligencer. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  36. ^ "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Millennial beats veteran Democrat". BBC. June 27, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  37. ^ Jacobs, Ben (June 26, 2018). "Democrats see major upset as socialist beats top-ranking US congressman: Joe Crowley, 10-term Democrat expected to be party's next House leader, loses to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, in New York". The Guardian. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  38. ^ "Political novice Ocasio-Cortez scores for progressives in NY". AP News. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  39. ^ a b ABC News. "Elise Stefanik, the Youngest Woman Ever Elected to Congress – ABC News". ABC News. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  40. ^ Kilgore, Ed (June 26, 2018). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Ousts Joe Crowley, a Top House Democrat, in Stunning Upset". New York. Retrieved June 27, 2018. In a shocker that is already being compared to the 2014 primary loss by then–House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus (the fourth-ranking leadership position among House Democrats), ten-term veteran Joe Crowley has been upset by 28-year-old first-time candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Bronx-Queens 14th congressional district.
  41. ^ a b Stetler, Brian (June 27, 2018). "Progressive media saw the Ocasio-Cortez upset coming". CNN. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  42. ^ Lachman, Samantha (June 11, 2014). "With Eric Cantor Defeat, Congressional Republicans Lose Only Non-Christian". Huffington Post. Retrieved June 28, 2018. Cantor [was] the second-ranking House Republican and highest-ranking Jewish member.
  43. ^ [https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/27/new-york-times-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-679632 Times takes heat for missing Crowley’s defeat; Failing to closely cover the rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is ‘like not seeing Trump’s win coming,’ tweets former editor Jill Abramson. By MICHAEL CALDERONE. Politico. 06/27/2018.
  44. ^ Sullivan, Margaret (June 28, 2018). "Perspective | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's victory points to a media failure that keeps repeating". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  45. ^ Sakellis, Eleni (June 17, 2018). "Prof. Anthony Pappas Running for Congress". The National Herald. Retrieved June 28, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  46. ^ Hicks, Nolan (June 27, 2018). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will run against St. John's professor". New York Post. Retrieved June 28, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  47. ^ "Anthony Pappas, Ph.D. | St. John's University". www.stjohns.edu. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  48. ^ "Shock, then ambition: Ocasio-Cortez hopes to shake up House". AP News. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  49. ^ "A top House Democrat just lost his primary — to a socialist". Vox. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  50. ^ Clifford, Catherine (June 29, 2018). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: In a modern, moral, wealthy society, no person should be too poor to live". CNBC. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  51. ^ a b c d "This is the platform that launched Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Democratic socialist, to the biggest political upset of the year". Business Insider. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  52. ^ a b Stein, Jeff (June 27, 2018). "Analysis | What Ocasio-Cortez wants for America after beating Joe Crowley". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  53. ^ "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  54. ^ "Democrat Who Slammed Israel for Gaza Killings Is Shock Winner of New York Primary". Haaretz. June 27, 2018.
  55. ^ [https://forward.com/fast-forward/404188/progressive-democrat-who-upset-ny-incumbent-accused-israel-of-massacre-in/ Democrat Who Upset NY Incumbent Called Violence At Gaza Border A ‘Massacre’, JTA, The Forward, June 27, 2018
  56. ^ What It Means For Israel If Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Democrats’ Future. Aiden Pink. The Forward. June 27, 2018
  57. ^ [https://jstreet.org/press-releases/j-street-statement-on-the-primary-victory-of-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/ J Street Statement on the Primary Victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, June 27, 2018
  58. ^ "Primaries upend political landscape ahead of midterm elections and could spell trouble for Trump". The San Francisco Examiner. Tribune News Service. June 27, 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  59. ^ Nelson, Louis (June 27, 2018). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she supports impeaching Trump". Politico. Retrieved June 28, 2018. "I would support impeachment. I think that, you know, we have the grounds to do it.
  60. ^ "Talking With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Woman Challenging One of New York's Political Kingmakers". Splinter News. March 22, 2018.
  61. ^ Crookston, Paul (June 27, 2018). "Dem Candidate Who Beat Crowley: DHS Operates Border 'Black Sites'". Washington Free Beacon. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
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