My mother cleaned homes and drove school buses, and when my family was on the brink of foreclosure… I started bartending and waitressing.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZMy mother cleaned homes and drove school buses, and when my family was on the brink of foreclosure… I started bartending and waitressing.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZI wasn’t born to a wealthy or powerful family – mother from Puerto Rico, dad from the South Bronx.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZThe Republicans galvanize their base by inciting a lot of fear; they operate on a lot of mythmaking. So we have to have something compelling. We shouldn’t be afraid to be bold.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZWe know enough to reject the stereotype that people in the Midwest do not care about their brothers and sisters.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZDemocrats are a big-tent party. You know, I’m not trying to impose an ideology on all, you know, several hundred members of Congress.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZI see people like me, who thought someone like me couldn’t be in politics, now are saying, ‘Oh, wait, I don’t need to take money from corporations to run. Maybe I’ll run, too.’
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZMentors of mine were under a big pressure to minimize their femininity to make it. I’m not going to do that. That takes away my power. I’m not going to compromise who I am.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZFor me, democratic socialism is about – really, the value for me is that I believe that in a modern, moral, and wealthy society, no person in America should be too poor to live.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZI want to speak to people directly as much as possible.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZI don’t like having people do little things for me.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZI’m an educator. I’m an organizer.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZRather than think of it as somewhere to run from, the Bronx is somewhere to invest.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZI’m very hands-on about social media. That’s my voice.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZWe have to stick to the message: What are we proposing to the American people? Not, ‘What are we fighting against?’
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZCongress is too old. They don’t have a stake in the game.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZWe have a political culture of intimidation, of favoring, of patronage, and of fear, and that is no way for a community to be governed.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ