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28-Year-Old Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Wins Primary, Backing Medicare for All & Abolishing ICE

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ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: I cannot believe these numbers right now. But I do know that every single person here has worked their butt off to change the future of the Bronx and Queens. That's what I know. That's what I know. And that this victory belongs to every single grassroots organizer, every working parent, every mom, every member of the LGBTQ community. Every single person is responsible for this.

JUAN GONZÃ LEZ: That was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez celebrating her stunning win against Democratic incumbent Representative Joe Crowley. She is the daughter of a Puerto Rican mother and a Bronx-born father. The Intercept reports that she worked as a waitress and bartender after graduation to supplement her mother's income as a house cleaner and bus driver. A viral campaign ad of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's featured her saying, "Women like me aren't supposed to run for office."

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: It's time to fight for a New York that working families can afford. That's why I'm running for Congress. This race is about people versus money. We've got people, they've got money. It's time we acknowledge that not all Democrats are the same, that a Democrat who takes corporate money, profits off foreclosure, doesn't live here, doesn't send his kids to our schools, doesn't drink our water or breathe our air, cannot possibly represent us. What the Bronx and Queens needs is Medicare for all, tuition-free public college, a federal jobs guarantee and criminal justice reform. We can do it now. It doesn't take a hundred years to do this. It takes political courage. A New York for the many is possible. It's time for one of us.

AMY GOODMAN: If Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeats Republican candidate Anthony Pappas in November, she will be the youngest person in Congress. We spoke to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just before the broadcast. Here she is talking about her historic win earlier this morning.

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Thank you. And thank you guys so much for having me.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about your response last night? The picture has become iconic, when you looked up at the TV screen and saw that you were not only ahead, but far ahead. Talk about your reaction. And what is your platform?

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah. Well, you know, I had not checked the results. In that moment, I was not even following them to that room. Honestly, I was so nervous. The ground had felt so great, but I didn't want to underestimate the power of the machine. And so, I just saw all these people celebrating. And I ran inside, and apparently I ran right into a camera set. And I looked up at the screen, and I saw that, yeah, not only were we ahead, but that we were -- we had a double-digit victory. And it was just astounding. It was unbelievable.

JUAN GONZÃ LEZ: So, Alexandria, can you tell us -- for many of the viewers and listeners who haven't heard of you, didn't know about your campaign, tell us about the main planks that you campaigned on across the district.

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yes. We ran on an unapologetically progressive campaign that included improved and expanded Medicare for all, a federal jobs guarantee, a Green New Deal, justice for Puerto Rico, the abolishment of ICE and so much more. And I think that, at the end of the day, in our community, in the Bronx and Queens, we have been waiting and we have been wanting a message of economic, social and racial justice for a very long time.

AMY GOODMAN: Joe Crowley, the Democratic congressmember you beat, 10-term congressmember, outspent you by what? Ten to one?

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah, something like that.

AMY GOODMAN: And yet you won. And even on the day before the election, you were down at the border.

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: You were not in your district. Talk about the decision you made then, why you feel that is so important, what's happening there.

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Right now the moral character of the United States is on the line. And we do not have the option or the luxury of time to wait for a response for when it's convenient. I think that we all really need to be occupying every border, every protest and every passageway, and bearing witness to what is happening, and also fighting for the reunification of every single child separated from their parent.

JUAN GONZÃ LEZ: And I wanted to ask you -- Joe Crowley has been a powerful figure in New York City politics now for years, but many political observers were well aware that his district was an overwhelmingly Latino population district and were wondering when it would result in a change in terms of leadership. Talk about not only the importance of your race for progressives, but also for the Latino community now, because you would become, if elected in November, the fourth Latino congressperson from New York City.

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