{"id":35450,"date":"2018-11-07T09:13:35","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T14:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/?p=35450"},"modified":"2021-02-03T16:28:03","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T21:28:03","slug":"pardee-school-alumna-youngest-woman-ever-elected-to-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/2018\/11\/07\/pardee-school-alumna-youngest-woman-ever-elected-to-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Pardee Alumna Youngest Woman Elected to Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Pardee \u201911)\u00a0is the youngest woman\u00a0ever elected to the United States Congress after winning New York\u2019s\u00a014th Congressional District, comprised of the Bronx and Queens, on November 6, 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

After upsetting longtime incumbent Democrat Joe Crowley in the district’s June primary<\/a>,\u00a0Ocasio-Cortez defeated Republican\u00a0Anthony Pappas, a St. John\u2019s University professor in the general election.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is delightful news,\u201d said Pardee School Dean\u00a0<\/span>Adil Najam<\/a>. \u201cAs a school of international politics, the Pardee School could not be more proud to see our students taking up the challenge of public service, which is among the greatest challenges of our time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ocasio-Cortez, who graduated from Boston University with degrees in international relations and economics, is a former organizer for Bernie Sanders\u2019 2016 presidential campaign and a\u00a0former staffer for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.<\/span><\/p>\n

In\u00a0her campaign platform,\u00a0<\/span>Ocasio-Cortez promotes universal job guarantees, fully funded public schools and universities, paid family and sick leave and housing as a human right.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a June 27, 2018 story in\u00a0BU Today\u00a0<\/em>entitled \u201cBU Alumna Wins Upset Congressional Primary in New York City<\/a>,\u201d Associate Provost and Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore (Wheelock \u201987) said \u201c[Ocasio-Cortez]\u00a0is brilliant\u2014she is boldly curious and always present.\u00a0She makes me think and could always see multiple sides of any issue.\u00a0[She]\u00a0is also heart and soul real. It is wonderful to see\u00a0[her]\u00a0emerge as a leader\u2014I can\u2019t wait to see what happens when her time truly comes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ocasio-Cortez isn’t the only Pardee School alumni who effected change through public service in 2018.\u00a0Gina Ortiz Jones\u00a0<\/span><\/a>(Pardee \u201903) won the Democratic primary for the Texas 23rd Congressional district\u00a0in March and a subsequent runoff in May.\u00a0<\/span>Ortiz Jones graduated from the Pardee School with a bachelor\u2019s degree in East Asian Studies. She also has a master\u2019s degree from Boston University in Economics. After leaving Boston University, Ortiz Jones served with the U.S. Air Force.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a district that very much mirrors the challenges and opportunities we face as a country,\u201d Ortiz Jones told BU Today\u00a0<\/em>in a June 2018 interview<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s a majority-minority district, something the whole country will be by 2040. We talk about the Wall and immigration policy because 40 percent of the US-Mexico border is in this district. A lot of the issues being discussed nationally are playing out in this district.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Andy Vargas (Pardee \u201915) currently serves in the Massachusetts House of Representatives —\u00a0<\/span>the first Latino elected to the Massachusetts House from the Third Essex District.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a\u00a0<\/span>December 2016 Alumni Spotlight with the Pardee School<\/a>, Vargas discussed his time serving as a Haverhill City Councilor, being\u00a0<\/span>honored by El Mundo Boston as one of the\u00a0Latino 30 Under 30 most influential young Latinos in Boston, and gave advice to current Pardee School students interested in pursuing careers in politics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to jump!\u201d Vargas said. \u201cThere will never be a perfect time to run for office. The public sector may not pay you as well as the private sector, but I can assure you that the public sector needs you more. Go where you are needed. Jump!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Pardee \u201911) is one of several Pardee School alumni currently effecting change through public service. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11588,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8811,8414],"tags":[10745,10822,10984,9286,10814,10985],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35450"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35516,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35450\/revisions\/35516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}