Her “Tax the Rich” gown made an impression on the MET gala red carpet. From bartender to political powerhouse, she’s never been one to shy away from a bold statement...
This is the story of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
This is the story of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
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00:00I quite literally went from being an anonymous waitress to a very well-known politician almost overnight.
00:11And so that adjustment was very difficult and quite challenging, even just from a logistical level.
00:19But aside from that, the mission and the work that I do is something that I love and I gain a lot of meaning from it.
00:30I'm quite happy now, but things that I miss, I miss, you know, kind of that anonymity.
01:00The ability to walk into a bar with some friends and hang out and go to happy hour and go to, you know, my corner store in my sweatpants and things like that.
01:12But but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
01:27I wasn't born to a wealthy or powerful family. Mother from Puerto Rico, dad from the South Bronx.
01:35I was born in a place where your zip code determines your destiny.
01:47Pointed to all of it and he said, this belongs to all of us.
01:52This belongs to you and it belongs to me.
02:02First thing I ever remember wanting to be, well, when I was four, I wanted to be an Olympic swimmer.
02:09But the first thing, the first real career I remember wanting to be was actually a scientist.
02:15And I entered college actually as a pre-medical student after winning some scientific, some science competitions, some global science competitions in high school.
02:26So my first passion was medicine and science and then public health and community organizing.
02:46I have student loans, too, and I think it's so funny.
02:50A year ago, I was waiting tables in a restaurant and it was literally easier for me to become the youngest woman in American history elected to Congress than it is to pay off my student loan debt.
03:10I think that he would find all this very amusing because he did very much instill somewhat stubborn ideals in me as a child.
03:23And I think he would be very amused to find out where that has kind of led.
03:31But I think he would be he'd be proud, but he would probably make fun of me every once in a while, too.
04:02I remember working in restaurants and, you know, you would have someone say something extremely inappropriate to you or you'd have someone touch you.
04:25And the thing is, is it would be the 28th of the month, the 29th of the month.
04:31And the first of the next month was rolling right around and you had a rent check to pay.
04:36And so you are more likely to stand up for yourself and to reject sexual harassment on the 15th of the month or maybe the 10th of the month when you could pick up an extra shift to make up for telling that guy to go buzz off.
04:55Bernie has not committed to what is right when it was popular.
05:04Bernie, Senator Bernie Sanders, has spent his entire life fighting for the right thing when it was unpopular.
05:24Bernie Sanders, Senator Bernie Sanders, has spent his entire life fighting for the right thing when it was unpopular.
05:34Bernie Sanders, Senator Bernie Sanders, has spent his entire life fighting for the right thing when it was unpopular.
05:44Bernie Sanders, Senator Bernie Sanders, has spent his entire life fighting for the right thing when it was unpopular.
05:54Bernie Sanders, Senator Bernie Sanders, has spent his entire life fighting for the right thing when it was unpopular.
06:02My family is still in Puerto Rico.
06:05My mom, growing up, cleaned houses and drove school buses.
06:08My dad passed away when I was a teenager.
06:11To have this victory and bring this not just to my family, but bring this to the community of the Bronx, to bring this to working families in Queens,
06:20I think it really just allows our community to really feel like we do, in fact, have control over our own destiny.
06:28It just takes a lot of work.
06:41I believe that we will come out of this a better nation because I know that when we look our grandchildren in the eye,
07:00we will say we established a single-payer health care system, we created tuition-free public colleges, and we saved this planet in order for them to live.
07:11So you won't take down lies or you will take down lies?
07:36I think that's just a pretty simple yes or no.
07:38Senator Sloan, why was the bank involved in the caging of children and financing the caging of children to begin with?
07:46This is about our lives.
07:57This is about American lives.
07:59And it should not be partisan.
08:01Science should not be partisan.
08:04We are facing a national crisis.
08:08Something that was unexpected was how fear-driven a lot of Washington can be.
08:33I represent one of the hardest-hit communities in the hardest-hit city in this country, Queens, New York.
09:0313 dead in a night in Elmhurst Hospital alone.
09:07Our community's reality is this country's future if we don't do anything.
09:13Hospital workers do not have protective equipment.
09:16We don't have the necessary ventilators.
09:18What did the Senate majority fight for?
09:20One of the largest corporate bailouts with as few strings as possible in American history.
09:32Please make sure that you make your plan to vote.
09:46Go to IWillVote.com and we'll help you find your polling location.
10:02I'm a survivor of sexual assault, and I haven't told many people that in my life.
10:14These folks who tell us to move on, that it's not a big deal, that we should forget what's happened, or even telling us to apologize, these are the same tactics of abusers.
10:28We knew we saw a murder in front of all of our eyes, and yet we didn't know if there would be a guilty verdict.
10:53It tells you everything.
10:55It tells you everything.