The New Female Face of Millennial Politics: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Corey Torpie / Courtesy of the Ocasio-Cortez Campaign
Born the year the Berlin Wall fell.
11 years old on 9/11.
18 when the economy crashed.
21 when they occupied Wall Street.
Female.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of us.
"This is the start of a movement," Alexandria says in an Instagram post. "And there's so much more to come."
Alexandria is poised to become the youngest congresswoman to date, and has never held office before. Last night, she beat out Joe Crowley, a congressman since 1999, in their Bronx-Queens district in New York. Joe hadn't seen a challenger since 2004, but he was unseated by 15 points. This shocking primary win comes in the middle an election year that could swing the House of Representatives to the Dems.
In Alexandria's campaign ad titled "The Courage to Change," we see a Millennial woman putting on mascara, riding the subway. Someone we can relate to. In fact, in the only televised debate between Alexandria and Joe, he attacked her for contradictory views that she shared on Reddit. She said she was "trolling internet forums" and laughed. A potential congresswoman said she was trolling!
Alexandria is a woman of color who makes a huge declaration when she says women like her "aren't supposed to run" for office. Fighting for a "New York that working families can afford," she represents the new wave of politicians that will replace the representatives that have been in office for decades. Representatives that quite frankly don't know or care what the young people of the United States, who have quickly gotten older, want and need from their government.
More women and young people are running for office than ever before. This win has the potential to create the momentum for other young people, and hopefully POC, to flip the script on the old white guys who have been writing our policies since we were born, and create a more diversified and respresentative governemnt.