Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a congresswoman from the Democratic Party in the United States Congress, having won the election for the 14th congressional district of New York. She is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress in United States history, at 29 years old
In the legislative elections held on November 6, 2018, she won the seat for New York's 14th district by a wide majority of votes.
Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx, New York, on October 13, 1989. She is the daughter of a Puerto Rican mother and a father of Puerto Rican descent, also born in the Bronx. Ocasio-Cortez is a progressive and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. A strong advocate for universal healthcare and the Jobs Guarantee program, she fights against the privatization of prisons and supports access to public and free higher education; she is in favor of gun control policies. Additionally, she aims to raise taxes on high-income individuals to 70% in order to fund her Green New Deal project, which seeks to address both climate change and income inequality through extensive and costly economic reform.
Since her election, she has faced relentless racist attacks from President Trump and his party due to her Hispanic background. In July 2019, referring to Ocasio among other Democratic congresswomen, he tweeted, “go back and help fix the totally destroyed and crime-infested places...” He said, “It’s very interesting to see the 'progressive' Democratic congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a total and complete disaster… and then aggressively tell the people of the United States how our government should be run.” To which Ocasio replied, “Mr. President, the country I come from and the country we all pledge allegiance to is the United States. He’s angry because he can’t conceive of an America that includes us.”
In May of that same year, her inclusion alongside Fidel Castro and Kim Jong-un as enemies of the American nation in a tribute video for Memorial Day, broadcast on a minor league baseball scoreboard, sparked significant controversy, which the congresswoman described as a message of hate that had brought her death threats.
In July 2020, she gave a feminist speech in the United States Congress where she condemned the misogynistic insults she received from Republican legislator Ted Yoho of Florida, who confronted her in the hallways of the Capitol, calling her "disgusting, crazy, and dangerous." Ocasio spoke about the normalization of the misogynistic culture in American society and its political class. "We have all had to deal with this, in some way, at some point in our lives," she noted
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has recently made headlines in the Cuban community for calling on her followers to boycott Goya products, the largest Latino food company in the United States, which enjoys great popularity among Hispanics in Florida. Its CEO, Robert Unanue, was invited to the White House as part of the launch of the Hispanic Prosperity Initiative, where he gave words of praise for the president that sparked anger among some Hispanic leaders, including Ocasio, who incited the boycott of Goya products through an ironic tweet saying, "Oh, listen, I'm googling how to make my own Adobo," referring to one of the brand's most iconic products. The hashtag used in the campaign was #Goyaway. Many activists, artists, and Hispanics have joined the support campaign for the well-known company founded in 1936 by Unanue's grandfather, a Spanish emigrant.
