Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez aka the millennial who made it to Congress, has shattered the way Americans have thought and talked about politics.
Having beaten 10-term incumbent, Joe Crowley, an established Democrat who’s been serving in parliament since 1999, Cortez became the youngest female Congresswoman in US history, and with good reason.
Here’s why the proof is in the pudding:
1. When She Knocked Back Attempts to Shame Her, Through Dance
AOC is well-known for taking no sh*t. Republicans stooped to desperation when they leaked a video of Cortez dancing in college, and instantly got a lesson in defiance.
The leak was an attempt to paint her as un-serious and frivolous, but well, that backfired massively. This was the video (though it describes the dance as being in high school, rather than when she was at Boston University):
Her response? Another dance!
Yeah, her dance did go viral, but probably not in the way her opponents hoped.
2. “Where’s Mitch?!”
Cortez, the youngest Congresswoman of the House, went on a manhunt with fellow Democrat women as the US government continues its weeks-long shutdown over Trump’s border wall with Mexico. Her target? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was apparently nowhere to be found.
“Where’s Mitch?!” went viral as Democrats across the country tweeted wanting to know why the senior member of the House was missing in action during the longest government shutdown in US history.
3. ‘Call Me a Radical’
In an interview with Anderson Cooper, Cortez stunned even fellow Democrats as she proposed a marginal tax rate of 70 percent on all earnings over $10 million to finance a “green new deal.” But did she care when lawmakers and pundits criticised her for the ‘ineffective policy’ or ‘extreme approach’? NAHHH. “If that makes me radical, call me a radical,” she said. DAMN!
4. ‘Saving the World’ With Mac N’ Cheese
A few days before Thanksgiving 2018, Cortez took to Instagram and went live answering questions about her journey to Congress, the progressive policies she wants to work on, and whatever her thousands of followers threw at her. Twitter was agog at her ‘relatability’, and you could say she started the trend, with older Congress members like Elizabeth Warren and Beto O’Rourke taking to Twitter too with videos in their kitchens or at the dentist!
But AOC was the first at using social media like a PRO!
5. Anything More Millennial Than Bartending While Running for Office?
Spending most of her days working at a Taqueria in Manhattan, AOC was making her living on the tips she got working as a bartender. While her opposition used her lack of experience and credentials to mock her, her millennial voters everywhere were like ‘I’ll drink to THAT!’
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