Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Democratic Party) is a member of the U.S. House, representing New York's 14th Congressional District. She assumed office on January 3, 2019. Her current term ends on January 3, 2027.
Ocasio-Cortez (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to the U.S. House to represent New York's 14th Congressional District. She declared candidacy for the 2026 election.
Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, was born in The Bronx in 1989. She earned bachelor's degrees in economics and international relations from Boston University.
Before running for Congress, she was an educational director with the National Hispanic Institute, a children's book publisher, a waitress, and a bartender. Ocasio-Cortez also worked as a volunteer organizer for Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.
Ocasio-Cortez was first elected in 2018. She received national media attention when she defeated incumbent Joseph Crowley (D) 56.7% to 43.3% in the Democratic primary.
The New York Times' Shane Goldmacher and Jonathan Martin wrote that the primary was "the most significant loss for a Democratic incumbent in more than a decade, and one that will reverberate across the party and the country." During her campaign, Ocasio-Cortez said she supported policies including universal Medicare, free tuition for public college and trade school, 100% renewable energy, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and a federal jobs guarantee. In the general election, she defeated Anthony Pappas (R) 78.2% to 13.6%.
Read moreAt the time of her election, Ocasio-Cortez was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. In April 2024, The New York Times' Shane Goldmacher wrote, "Almost immediately after her election, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez became the face of a small cohort of progressives known as 'the squad' that tried to pull the party to the left politically and on policy.
She was a rising star on the left and vilified relentlessly on the right." Goldmacher wrote that Occasio-Cortez became "one of the Democratic Party’s most prolific fund-raisers; her campaign committee has raised more than $37 million since 2019. She has raised another $11.1 million, according to her office, for nonfederal candidates and causes, including nonprofits, food banks and abortion-rights groups."
Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Sanders in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary and endorsed incumbent President Joe Biden (D) in the 2024 primary.
In 2024, Politico's Emily Ngo, Nick Reisman, and Jeff Coltin wrote that Ocasio-Cortez' endorsement of Biden "may carry more weight because she’s a marquee member of the hard-left Squad often at odds with establishment Dems." Time's Philip Elliott wrote that Ocasio-Cortez "has been a case study of how a perceived radical can be useful for a national party in the middle of a branding crisis. ...
who has shrewdly figured out how to stand apart from the Establishment while also being a key component to the party’s successes. Her aspirational Green New Deal became a boogeyman for conservatives but helped to shape much of Biden’s ambitious Covid-19 relief efforts that doubled as the biggest environmental agenda in history." Following Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 election, Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Kamala Harris (D) in a post on X: "Kamala Harris will be the next President of the United States. I pledge my full support to ensure her victory in November. Now more than ever, it is crucial that our party and country swiftly unite to defeat Donald Trump and the threat to American democracy."
