Alexandria Ocasio Cortez – The millennial who defeated the veteran and which immediately ignited hope in the US
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, defeated political veteran Joe Crowley, 56, on Tuesday night in their party’s congressional primary in New York City.
Mr Crowley, a 10-term Democrat, had been tipped as a future party leader or even Speaker of the House.
She has never held elected office. She is still paying off her student loans. She is 28 years old. “Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in a viral campaign video released last month.
The New York Times reports how Tuesday night’s result ignited the New York and national political world.
Mr. Crowley, who is twice Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s age, is the No. 4 Democrat in the House of Representatives and had been favored to ascend to the speaker’s lectern if Democrats retook the lower chamber this fall.
If Ms. Ocasio-Cortez defeats the Republican candidate, Anthony Pappas, in the predominantly Democratic district in November, she would dethrone Elise Stefanik, a Republican representative from Central New York, as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress (Ms. Stefanik was 30 when she took office in 2015).
