Progressive Era Repression and persecution Anti-war and civil rights movements Contemporary Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (/oʊˌkɑːsioʊ kɔːrˈtɛz/ ⓘ oh-KAH-see-oh kor-TEZ, Spanish: [aleɣˈsandɾja oˈkasjo koɾˈtes]; born October 13, 1989), also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist serving since 2019 as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district.

Taking office at age 29, Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman[7][8] and the first female member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) to be elected to Congress, alongside Rashida Tlaib.

[9][10] She advocates a progressive platform that includes support for worker cooperatives,[11] Medicare for All, tuition-free public colleges, a jobs guarantee, a Green New Deal, and abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

[44] Ocasio-Cortez said she was first exposed to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) when a friend brought her to a local meeting in Upper Manhattan, while it was picketing a camera company and calling attention to warehouse workers.

[84] Ocasio-Cortez called the WEP, which Governor Cuomo created ahead of the 2014 New York gubernatorial election, a cynical, centrist group that endorsed male incumbents over female challengers like her and Cynthia Nixon.

[86] WFP Executive Director Dan Cantor wrote an endorsement of, and apology to, Ocasio-Cortez for the New York Daily News; he asked voters not to vote for Crowley if his name remained on the general election ballot.

[72] Margaret Sullivan wrote in The Washington Post that traditional metrics of measuring a campaign's viability, like total fundraising, were contributing to a "media failure" and that "they need to get closer to what voters are thinking and feeling: their anger and resentment, their disenfranchisement from the centers of power, their pocketbook concerns.

[106] The documentary Knock Down the House, directed by Rachel Lears, which focuses on four female Democrats in the 2018 United States elections who were not career politicians—Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush and Paula Jean Swearengin—premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

[116] On October 20, 2020, Ocasio-Cortez hosted a Twitch stream of the social deduction game Among Us, with fellow congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and many established streamers such as Pokimane, Hasan Piker, DrLupo, and mxmtoon.

[118][119][120][121] Ocasio-Cortez again streamed Among Us on Twitch on November 27, 2020, with Hasan Piker, xQc, ContraPoints and Canadian MP Jagmeet Singh to raise money for food pantries, eviction defense legal aid, and community support organizations to assist those suffering economic hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[156][157] The president of the American Constitution Society named Ocasio-Cortez as the committee member best at obtaining specific information from Cohen about Trump's "shady practices, along with a road map for how to find out more".

[161][162][163] According to reports in March 2019, Ocasio-Cortez continued to receive media coverage early in her congressional tenure on par with that of 2020 presidential candidates[164] and was considered "one of the faces of the Democratic party"[165] and one of the most talked-about politicians in the United States.

"[172] On July 18, 2019, Charlie Rispoli, a police officer from Gretna, Louisiana, posted on Facebook an apparent threat to shoot Ocasio-Cortez, calling her a "vile idiot" who "needs a round, and I don't mean the kind she used to serve" as a bartender.

Ocasio-Cortez responded in a tweet that "the President's words [yesterday], telling four American Congresswomen of color 'go back to your own country' is hallmark language of white supremacists.

She and Senator Ed Markey released a joint non-binding resolution laying out the main elements of a 10-year "economic mobilization" that "would phase out fossil fuel use and overhaul the nation's infrastructure.

[188] According to CNBC, an initial outline the Green New Deal called for "completely ditching fossil fuels, upgrading or replacing 'every building' in the country and 'totally overhaul[ing] transportation' to the point where 'air travel stops becoming necessary'".

[212] She expressed support for the Harris-Walz campaign and heavily criticized Trump, calling him a union buster who would "sell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends".

Ocasio-Cortez described the families she sees in her urban community who need to rely on check cashing companies that charge exorbitant interest rates due to the absence of mainstream banks.

[230] On July 1, after the Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States that presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution for official actions, Ocasio-Cortez announced she would file articles of impeachment against justices.

[267] In September 2019, Ocasio-Cortez introduced an anti-poverty policy proposal (packaged in a bundle called "A Just Society") that would take into account the cost of childcare, health care, and "new necessities" like Internet access when measuring poverty.

[271] Ocasio-Cortez has opposed and voted against the pay-as-you-go rule supported by Democratic leaders, which requires deficit-neutral fiscal policy, with all new expenditures balanced by tax increases or spending cuts.

[284] Referring to a recent United Nations report indicating that the effects of climate change could become irreversible unless carbon emissions are reined in within the next 12 years, she has argued that global warming must be addressed immediately to avert human extinction.

[295] She co-signed a letter to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick that read, "As China amplifies its campaign of intimidation, you and your company must decide whether to look beyond the bottom line and promote American values—like freedom of speech and thought—or to give in to Beijing's demands in order to preserve market access.

"[296] A bipartisan letter by Ocasio-Cortez and seven other lawmakers fiercely criticized the NBA's handling of a controversy involving a tweet by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

[323] Asked what the Biden administration could have done better in the situation, Ocasio-Cortez said it could have enforced its red line on the Rafah offensive, investigated its weapons shipments to Israel, provided heavier sanctions in response to the occupation of the West Bank, and "rein in" Netanyahu.

[325] In January 2024, the U.S. and other countries cut funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) over intelligence reports that certain staff members participated in the Hamas attacks.

[332] In March 2022, Ocasio-Cortez called on Justice Clarence Thomas to resign over his wife's texts urging President Trump's chief of staff to overturn the 2020 presidential election, raising a possible impeachment effort if he did not.

[334] In June 2022, after the Supreme Court made several consequential rulings and granted certiorari to Moore v. Harper, which has a potential impact on future elections, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that the U.S. was "witnessing a judicial coup in progress".

[337] Two days later, she led House progressives calling on the Democratic leadership in Congress to strip the Court of its jurisdiction "in the areas of abortion, marriage equality, non-procreative intimacy, and contraception".

She cited "expert analysis", linking to an Esquire article quoting Andrea Pitzer, author of One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps, who had made a similar claim.