Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., won her first election to the House at the age of 29. She once served as the youngest sitting member of the U.S. House, and she still ranks as the youngest woman ever elected to U.S. Congress.
As such, Ocasio-Cortez has passed several personal milestones within the public eye. Now she’s passed another.
Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday she’s now engaged to her longtime boyfriend 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.
It’s true! Thank you all for the well wishes ☺️ https://t.co/i5cm9awN3S
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 19, 2022
In PR 🇵🇷 about a month ago
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 19, 2022
Roberts has gone viral for controversial reasons in the past. He appeared with Ocasio-Cortez in a vacation photo, the same photo that prompted Ocasio-Cortez claim, “If Republicans are mad they can’t date me they can just say that instead of projecting their sexual frustrations onto my boyfriend’s feet.”
Later, Ocasio-Cortez said on Instagram, “We recently went to Florida, where Republicans developed an obsession with Riley’s feet.”
“Give the people what they want,” she continued while panning the camera onto Roberts’ shoes.
Take a look —
It’s starting to get old ignoring the very obvious, strange, and deranged sexual frustrations that underpin the Republican fixation on me, women,& LGBT+ people in general.
These people clearly need therapy, won’t do it, and use politics as their outlet instead. It’s really weird
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 31, 2021
Rep. @AOC (D-NY) responds to backlash from Republicans following her recent trip to Miami, during which a Newsmax reporter made fun of her boyfriend’s feet and Birkenstocks:
“We recently went to Florida, where Republicans developed an obsession with Riley’s feet.” pic.twitter.com/sfQVIIqKg1
— The Recount (@therecount) January 5, 2022
Ocasio-Cortez, who was born to a rich family and later became a bartender, is the controversial leader of the “squad” of socialist congresswomen whose elections in 2018 helped return the chamber to Democratic control.
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, abolishing illegal immigration enforcement agency, and proposing “economic transformation” to combat global warming.
The Horn News and the Associated Press contributed to this article.