Along with donning suffragist white for her swearing-in as a House member and clapping back at the GOP over her college dance video, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has made a point to laud an essential person in her life.
The New York Democrat posted an emotional tribute to her mother on Twitter and Instagram early Sunday morning.
″What can I possibly say except thank you? So many people sacrificed so much for this to happen ― my mother most of all,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
In the post, she details the story of her mother, who was born and raised in Puerto Rico and moved to New York with her husband while not knowing how to speak English.
“Mami mopped floors, drove school buses, + answered phones,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “She did whatever she needed to do, for me. When my father died, she was left a single mother of 2, and again she had to start over. After he passed we almost lost our home, so we sold it and started over. & over. & over.”
Ocasio-Cortez also reflected on her own struggles. Before being elected as the youngest woman to ever serve in Congress, she was working late-night restaurant shifts and falling asleep on the subway.
“It was not long ago that our family’s hope was so dim it was barely an ember,” she wrote. “Darkness taught me transformation cannot solely be an individual pursuit, but also a community trust. We must lean on others to strive on our own.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s mother, Blanca, was present for her daughter’s ceremonial swearing-in last Thursday. The photo in the post shows the moment — Blanca Ocasio-Cortez with a look of pride on her face, flanked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the young congresswoman.
The swearing-in of the 116th Congress was not just a historic day for Ocasio-Cortez — the new Congress boasts the largest number of female members and is the most diverse ever.