9.9.26

I was not popular when I got to Washington

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress

When I got to Washington, I was not popular.

I had just unseated a very powerful guy in Washington — and at my first big meeting during orientation, he was presiding over the room.

Everyone knew him. I was new. I did not know anyone.

Then a congressman leaned over to me and said: "Man, it's such a shame that girl beat him." I looked back at him. I said: "You mean me?"

The blood drained from his face as he realized I was "that girl." Not just because I won my race — but because I represented a threat to the typical D.C. power structure that existed back then and still exists now.

You see, I am proud of that moment. I did not get involved in politics because I wanted to be part of that system. I ran on the issues that matter to the working class and are too often ignored in Washington: Medicare for All, a living wage, stable housing, affordable childcare, and getting corporate money out of politics.

That is why I have never taken a dime from lobbyists or corporate PACs, and I never will.

And that is the power behind what this win meant in that room all those years ago: I did not do it alone.

Thousands of people like you knocked on doors, talked to their neighbors, and chipped in what they could. We out-organized them once. We will do it again, in my district and across the country.

If you can chip in $5 today, that is what it funds.

Contribute $5

If you cannot donate, sign up to volunteer in the future and give your time instead. Either way, it is good to have you here.

Pa’lante,

Alexandria



 

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