Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is now the youngest woman elected to Congress

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of Democrats’ biggest stars from this midterm cycle, is now officially the youngest woman elected to US Congress. Ocasio-Cortez — a democratic socialist who rose to fame after upsetting Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley earlier this year — easily won her race for New York’s 14th Congressional District on Tuesday, with over 75 percent of the vote.

Ocasio-Cortez first stunned many in June when she unseated Crowley — a top leader among House Democrats — by running a campaign decidedly to the left. She’s since raised the profile on a number of progressive priorities, including efforts to abolish ICE, establish a federal jobs guarantee, and promote Medicare-for-all — not to mention joining a chorus of Democrats who have withheld their support for Nancy Pelosi as a potential speaker of the House.

As a 29-year-old Latina, Ocasio-Cortez is part of a groundbreaking wave of women of color who are set to join Congress this term, including Sharice Davids and Ilhan Omar.

Additionally, she’s helped campaign for a swath of other progressive candidates, including Ayanna Pressley, who’s also captured her Massachusetts district. Ocasio-Cortez is set to shake up everything from how the Democratic Party approaches campaign finance (she won by forsaking big-money donors, after all) to its relationship with the establishment.

“Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office,” Ocasio-Cortez said in one of her campaign videos. As she’s proven this cycle, it’s clear they can win.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via