From Bartender to Congress, AOC Still Adjusting to Her Fame

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez still finds it hard to believe how different her life is now, compared to just one year ago.

“Last February, I was bartending in Union Square, “ she said in an exclusive interview with NBC New York.

Now, a year after winning the race for the 14th congressional district in Queens and the Bronx following her shocking upset of longtime Representative Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary, she is dealing with far different obstacles than bartending presents: Passing legislation, promoting her Democratic Socialist platform and dealing with an impeachment inquiry into the president of the United States.

But it’s not just the challenges that come with being a congresswoman that have made Ocasio-Cortez change so much — it’s the newfound fame that came along with not only being the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, but also being an outspoken voice for what some call far-left ideals.

“On top of all the responsibilities in Congress, the amount of attention … my service has gotten, has almost been like a second job on top of all of that,” she said during the sit-down interview at Queens’ Jax Inn Diner. “What I wear, or how my hair gets cut on a given day, adds a certain level of scrutiny.”

While conservatives have targeted her online for promoting legislation like the Green New Deal — as well as trying (and failing) to embarrass her by promoting a video of her from college dancing— Ocasio-Cortez says it’s those battles and the endless waves of critics trying to bring her down that have made her improve as representative and person.

“I think it’s also forced me to be better in a way that I never imagined I almost could be,” she said, while admitting that she thinks some in Congress may not have to deal with the same standards.

“Sometimes I see other colleagues, they can get away with things that I would never be able to,” she said with a laugh.

Despite the new fame, the 30-year-old firebrand is sure that she’s not looking to capitalize on her intense popularity at home with an NYC mayoral run any time soon.

“I have not thought about running for mayor,” she said. “I think I’ve got some ways to go in Congress before I try to get another job.”

Calling mayor of New York City “one of the hardest jobs in the world,” she complimented Mayor Bill de Blasio on universal pre-k and ending stop-and-frisk — but that wasn’t enough to get her endorsement for president. That instead went to Bernie Sanders, the man she was once a volunteer for during his 2016 presidential campaign, saying his chances at winning are being “very underestimated.”

But she’s not going to start badmouthing all of the other leading candidates either. She said Joe Biden’s attacks on Sen. Elizabeth Warren as an elitist were “totally unfounded and completely unfair.”

As for her own campaign, Ocasio-Cortez said she does plan on debating her opponents — of which there are 11 at the moment — when she comes up for reelection in 2020.

“We need to get through to primary and general election season. I believe in running and earning my seat every single time,” she said.

The freshman congresswoman said she understands concerns fellow Democrats have expressed regarding her role in moving the party further left, but doesn’t believe that efforts to scare voters by using socialism as a dirty word are working.

“We saw this week in the Virginia elections that they tried so hard to hammer this word, and to make it a boogeyman. To scare people away, they put even my face on Virginia election literature. And it didn’t work,” the woman colloquially known as AOC said. “There’s some folks that, you know, approach the word with caution, and I think that’s totally fine.”

Even if her ideas have made some Democrats uneasy, it’s not like Ocasio-Cortez has had any trouble making friends during her time in D.C. She is one of four congresswomen that is known as “The Squad,” along with Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Ocasio-Cortez coined the term in an Instagram post a week after Election Day.

“We sometimes kind of internally joke that we’re more like the Spice Girls,” she said. However, the Democratic representative said that she’s made friends with plenty of people on both sides of the political aisle — even if some of those people don’t want the public to know that.

“They’ve told me they would get in trouble if people knew that I were friends with them,” AOC said with a smile.

Fame and friendships aside, Ocasio-Cortez said she’s starting to see some of the fruits of her labors pay off in the real world. She believes her tough questioning of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on political ads is part of the reason why Twitter recently decided to stop showing political ads on their platform altogether. She also said that based on what she’s learned thanks to her role on the House Oversight Committee, the U.S. might actually be more vulnerable to election interference now than it was in 2016.

Pretty large accomplishments and responsibilities for someone who was pouring drinks in Union Square just last year.

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