NEW YORK – U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday she's engaged to her longtime partner Riley Roberts, a marketing professional she met over a decade ago while they were undergraduates at Boston University.
The pair got engaged last month in her family's hometown in Puerto Rico, the Democratic congresswoman confirmed to Insider and later on social media. Roberts had appeared in a 2018 political documentary in which he discussed his support for Ocasio-Cortez’s career.
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Ocasio-Cortez, a Bronx-born former bartender who represents Queens, was the charismatic star of the “squad” of progressive congresswomen whose elections in 2018 helped return the chamber to Democratic control.
A self-described democratic socialist, the 32-year-old upset powerful Democratic incumbent Joe Crowley in that year's primary, and easily prevailed in 2020 over opponents including former CNBC broadcaster Michelle Caruso-Cabrera.
Alongside U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez has attempted to lead the Democratic party where it long feared to tread: Steep taxes on the rich. Abolishing an immigration enforcement agency. Proposing “economic transformation” to combat climate change.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez recently spoke in support of organizers spearheading the successful union drive at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York. She also supports a bill banning stock trading by members of Congress and their families.
Last November, the House voted to censure Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona for posting an animated video that depicted him killing Ocasio-Cortez with a sword, an extraordinary rebuke that highlighted the political strains testing Washington and the country.