29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made history on Tuesday by becoming the youngest woman ever to be elected to Congress.
She won 78% of the vote in the midterm elections on Tuesday, according to The New York Times. She will represent New York's 14th congressional district.
Ocasio-Cortez, a self-declared Democratic socialist, beat veteran Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley in New York's congressional primary election in June in a shocking upset within the Democratic Party.
Just a year ago, the political novice had been working as a bartender to help support her working-class family.
Scroll down to learn more about her.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx to a working-class family. Her mom is Puerto Rican and her dad is a Bronx native.
"Women like me aren't supposed to run for office," she said in a recent campaign ad. "I wasn't born to a wealthy or powerful family."
Source: Ocasio 2018
Her parents were disappointed in their local schooling system, so her extended family helped fund a move to a better school district.
Shuttling between New York's poorest borough in Bronx, where her extended family lived, and more affluent boroughs was her first experience of income inequality, she told The Intercept.
She went to Boston University, where she studied economics and international relations. After graduation she took up bartending and waitressing jobs to supplement her mother's income as a housecleaner and bus driver.
Source: The Intercept
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