You would have to be living under a rock not to have heard of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The US Democratic politician was made Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district in January 2019 but the millennial is nothing like her predecessors.
The activist known best by her initials, AOC, wears Zara, serves up razor-sharp comebacks and worked in a bar while launching her campaign. Oh, and did we mention that she’s 31-years-old?
Yes, AOC is one huge breath of fresh air, and with a political system in desperate need of a shake up—she couldn’t have come at a better time.
This week, the congresswoman opened up about the multiple threats she has received during her first term in office, appearing on the cover of Vanity Fair in “Suffragette white”.
“There have been many times, especially in the first six months, where I felt like I couldn’t do this, like I didn’t know if I was going to be able to run for reelection,” AOC explained during the interview.
“There was a time where the volume of threats had gotten so high that I didn’t even know if I was going to live to my next term.”
Explaining how she realised these threats were trying to make her question her position, AOC recalled telling herself: “Okay, I’m not crazy. It’s not that this is too much for me. It’s that this is an environment with a very specific purpose.”
“I don’t know if I’m really going to be staying in the House forever, or if I do stay in the House, what that would look like,” the congresswoman continued, when explaining what the future has in store for her.
“I don’t see myself really staying where I’m at for the rest of my life. I don’t want to aspire to a quote-unquote higher position just for the sake of that title or just for the sake of having a different or higher position. I truly make an assessment to see if I can be more effective. And so, you know, I don’t know if I could necessarily be more effective in an administration, but, for me that’s always what the question comes down to.”
Like we needed a reason to respect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez even more!
This article originally appeared on marie claire UK.
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