Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is an American politician and activist born on October 13, 1989, in the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx, the daughter of a Puerto Rican architect father born in the Bronx and a mother born in Puerto Rico. She grew up in Yorktown Heights in Westchester County after her family moved there when she was five so she could attend better schools. She graduated from Yorktown High School in 2007, placed second in the microbiology category of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair that year, and earned a bachelor's degree in international relations and economics cum laude from Boston University in 2011. Her father died of lung cancer in 2008 during her sophomore year. After college she returned to the Bronx, worked as a bartender and waitress to help her mother fight foreclosure, and launched a small publishing firm. She worked as an organizer for Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign and was recruited to run for Congress by Brand New Congress after her brother nominated her following the 2016 election.
Ocasio-Cortez launched her congressional campaign in April 2017 while still bartending, running a grassroots operation out of a paper grocery bag behind the bar with virtually no institutional support. She defeated 10-term Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley in the June 2018 primary by nearly 15 points, outspent 18 to 1, in what was widely called the biggest primary upset of the cycle. She won the general election with 78 percent of the vote and took office at age 29 as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and a co-founder of the informal progressive bloc known as the Squad alongside Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib. Her first major legislative initiative was the Green New Deal, a resolution co-introduced with Senator Ed Markey in February 2019 calling for a 10-year transition to 100 percent renewable energy and a federal jobs guarantee.
Ocasio-Cortez currently sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee and has become one of the most visible politicians in the country, with tens of millions of followers across social media platforms and a fundraising base of small-dollar donors that set records throughout her tenure. In the first quarter of 2025, she raised $9.6 million with an average donation of $21. She joined Bernie Sanders on the Fighting Oligarchy Tour in spring 2025, drawing enormous crowds and cementing her position as a leading progressive voice in the post-Biden Democratic Party and a widely discussed potential 2028 presidential candidate. Her district covers portions of the Bronx and northeastern Queens, including Jackson Heights, Corona, and Astoria, with a Cook PVI of D+29.
Democratic Socialist
Committee Assignments
Caucus Memberships
Achievements
- Defeated 10-term Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley in the June 2018 primary by nearly 15 points while being outspent 18 to 1, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to Congress at 29, in what was widely regarded as the biggest primary upset of that election cycle and one of the most consequential in recent congressional history.
- Co-introduced the Green New Deal with Senator Ed Markey in February 2019, the most ambitious climate and jobs legislation introduced in modern congressional history, catalyzing a national debate about the government's obligation to address climate change and shifting the Overton window of Democratic climate policy in ways that influenced the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act.
- During Michael Cohen's February 2019 Oversight Committee testimony, extracted a line of questioning about Trump's property valuations that the president of the American Constitution Society called the most effective of any committee member and that directly prompted the New York attorney general to open a civil investigation ultimately resulting in a $354 million fine against the Trump Organization and a ban on Trump conducting business in New York for two to three years.
- Raised $9.6 million in the first quarter of 2025 with an average donation of $21, one of the largest small-dollar fundraising quarters in House history, and joined Bernie Sanders on the Fighting Oligarchy Tour to sold-out venues across the country, cementing her position as the dominant national fundraiser and organizing force on the American left and a leading candidate for the 2028 presidential race.
Controversies
- In July 2025, the House Ethics Committee found that Ocasio-Cortez had violated House rules by failing to pay full market value for her attire and accessories and by improperly accepting free admission for her fiance at the 2021 Met Gala, where she wore a gown reading "Tax the Rich." Although the committee found no evidence of willful misconduct and noted she had proactively attempted to comply, she was ordered to pay approximately $3,000 to settle the matter and avoid a formal sanction.
- Ocasio-Cortez voted against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in November 2021, one of only six House Democrats to do so, because it had been decoupled from the Build Back Better social spending package. The vote drew criticism from moderates and the White House, who argued she was holding a signature bipartisan achievement hostage to progressive demands that did not have the votes to pass the Senate.
- At the 62nd Munich Security Conference in February 2026, Ocasio-Cortez incorrectly stated that Venezuela is below the equator, a factual error that drew widespread coverage and prompted Donald Trump to call it career-ending. She also paused for 20 seconds when asked about U.S. military support for Taiwan before endorsing strategic ambiguity, a hesitation critics characterized as unpreparedness on a core foreign policy question.
- The DSA's national political committee withdrew its endorsement of Ocasio-Cortez in July 2024, citing her participation in a panel that conflated antisemitism with anti-Zionism, her support for a resolution characterizing denial of Israel's right to exist as antisemitism, and a co-signed press release supporting the Iron Dome. The withdrawal from her own political home organization illustrated the tensions between her institutional positioning and the movement's most uncompromising members over the Gaza conflict.
Top Donors
| Donor | Total | Individuals | PACs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Inc | $35,864 | $35,864 | $0 |
| New York City Dept of Education | $18,638 | $18,638 | $0 |
| Apple Inc | $17,360 | $17,360 | $0 |
| Kaiser Permanente | $17,256 | $17,256 | $0 |
| City University of New York | $16,507 | $16,507 | $0 |
The organizations themselves cannot donate; totals reflect contributions from individuals and PACs affiliated with each entity.
Recent Elections
2018 General Election (NY-14)
Won D +64.5%| Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| [D]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez✓ Winner | 110,318 | 78.1% |
| [R]Anthony Pappas | 19,202 | 13.6% |
2020 General Election (NY-14)
Won D +44.2%| Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| [D]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (incumbent)✓ Winner | 152,661 | 71.6% |
| [R]John Cummings | 58,440 | 27.4% |
2022 General Election (NY-14)
Won D +43.3%| Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| [D]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (incumbent)✓ Winner | 82,453 | 70.6% |
| [R]Tina Forte | 31,935 | 27.3% |
2024 General Election (NY-14)
Won D +37.8%| Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| [D]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (incumbent)✓ Winner | 123,269 | 68.9% |
| [R]Tina Forte | 55,580 | 31.1% |
New York uses a traditional partisan primary and general election system. NY-14 covers the northeastern Bronx and a large portion of north-central Queens, including neighborhoods such as Parkchester, Throggs Neck, Astoria, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, and Corona, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+29.