Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of Democrats’ biggest stars from this midterm cycle, is now officially the youngest woman elected to US Congress. Ocasio-Cortez — a democratic socialist who rose to fame after upsetting Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley earlier this year — easily won her race for New York’s 14th Congressional District on Tuesday, with over 75 percent of the vote.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is now the youngest woman elected to Congress
She’s one of Democrats’ biggest stars from this cycle.
Li Zhou is a former politics reporter at Vox, where she covers Congress and elections. Previously, she was a tech policy reporter at Politico and an editorial fellow at the Atlantic.
Ocasio-Cortez first stunned many in June when she unseated Crowley — a top leader among House Democrats — by running a campaign decidedly to the left. She’s since raised the profile on a number of progressive priorities, including efforts to abolish ICE, establish a federal jobs guarantee, and promote Medicare-for-all — not to mention joining a chorus of Democrats who have withheld their support for Nancy Pelosi as a potential speaker of the House.
As a 29-year-old Latina, Ocasio-Cortez is part of a groundbreaking wave of women of color who are set to join Congress this term, including Sharice Davids and Ilhan Omar.
Additionally, she’s helped campaign for a swath of other progressive candidates, including Ayanna Pressley, who’s also captured her Massachusetts district. Ocasio-Cortez is set to shake up everything from how the Democratic Party approaches campaign finance (she won by forsaking big-money donors, after all) to its relationship with the establishment.
“Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office,” Ocasio-Cortez said in one of her campaign videos. As she’s proven this cycle, it’s clear they can win.
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