AOC now insists she grew up ‘between’ Bronx, suburbs but locals near her childhood home
By David DeTurris, Kevin Sheehan, Desheania Andrews and David Propper
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to ridicule over calling herself a “Bronx girl” by claiming she grew up “between” the city and the leafy suburbs — but locals near her childhood home are still confused.
People from Yorktown — many of whom grew up in the Bronx themselves — chimed in on the liberal firebrand’s narrative about her youth after her yearbook photos recirculated on social media and AOC fundraised off the criticisms but still avoided saying she lived in upper Westchester County.
A black and white yearbook photo of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Courtesy Matt Slater
“You can tell right out of the gate she isn’t from the Bronx. Listen to her!” insisted retired FDNY firefighter Billy, a 47-year-old with a Bronx accent who now lives in the nearby town of Valhalla.
“Listen to us!” said Billy, who was golfing with a fellow Boogie Down native at Mohansic Golf Course in Yorktown one recent morning. “We’ve been out of the Bronx for years but we still sound like idiots! It doesn’t just go away. She doesn’t have that in the way she talks.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaking to reporters.
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“You can tell right out of the gate she isn’t from the Bronx. Listen to her!” insisted Billy, a 47-year-old with a Bronx accent.
REUTERS
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Ocasio-Cortez raised eyebrows and drew heat when she again labeled herself a “Bronx girl” during a spat with President Trump, a Queens native, late last month.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's senior yearbook photo.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s sophomore yearbook photo.
Obtained by the NY Post
While she was born in the Bronx, she moved up to Yorktown as a tot with her family, attending Yorktown public schools through high school. She was listed as a resident of her parents’ home in the suburb when her childhood home was sold for $355,000 in 2016 — two years before her election to Congress, according to land records cited by lohud.com.
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Richard Kennedy, who works at the Uncle Giuseppe’s supermarket in town, said he thinks the 35-year-old lawmaker’s short stay in the city before moving to Yorktown “doesn’t even qualify” her as a Bronx girl.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez watching a vote count in the House of Representatives.
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While she was born in the Bronx, she moved up to Yorktown as a tot with her family, attending Yorktown public schools through high school.
Getty Images
“If you came here when you were 3 years old, you’re from here,” Kennedy bluntly said.
Another local called Ocasio-Cortez a “phony.”
“You think she’d be proud of being from Yorktown,” said a woman who did not want to be named. “It’s a great town.”
“I don’t get why you wouldn’t want to say you’re from here,” added 31-year-old Sandra Guarriello, who owns a salon in town with her husband.
“We dreamed of living here. It took us a long time and a lot of hard work and now we live here. It’s been our dream to live here.”
Yorktown Town Hall sign.
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She was listed as a resident of her parents’ home in the suburb when her childhood home was sold for $355,000 in 2016.
Brigitte Stelzer
But some, including Guarriello’s husband, came to the defense of the prominent pol and understood why her heart was always close to the Bronx.
“I was born in Yonkers and my grandmother raised me but I’d say I was raised in the Bronx ’cause my family all lives there,” said Nicholas Guarriello, 33.
“But I don’t tell people to push some narrative. I say I’m from the Bronx ’cause my family is from 187th Street.”
Yearbook photo of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
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Junior yearbook photo of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Obtained by the NY Post
Sabrina Gomes, 33, was born in the Bronx but raised above the borough and can also relate to AOC.
“Maybe that felt more like home to her than this place,” Gomes said. “I also say I’m from the Bronx but I lived here for 30-plus years.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at Newark airport.
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“You think she’d be proud of being from Yorktown,” said a woman who did not want to be named. “It’s a great town.”
REUTERS
Peter Cleary, the Yorktown Democratic Committee co-chair, called the entire controversy “kind of silly” and insisted many people in town are “proud of her.”
Ocasio-Cortez leaned into the debate Thursday when she sent out a fundraising email about the topic.
“I’m proud of how I grew up and talk about it all the time! My mom cleaned houses and I helped. We cleaned tutors’ homes in exchange for SAT prep,” she said.
“Growing up between The Bronx and Yorktown deeply shaped my views of inequality and it’s a big reason I believe the things I do today!”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks to reporters alongside Mahmoud Khalil at Newark airport.
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Ocasio-Cortez leaned into the debate Thursday when she sent out a fundraising email about the topic.
AFP via Getty Images
After she first won a Democratic Party primary for Congress in 2018, she caught heat for pushing her Bronx tale in her campaign profile, which stated at the time “much of her life was defined by the 40-minute commute between school and her family in the Bronx.”
Her campaign wiped the “commute” line and tweaked the bio to say, “She ended up attending public school in Yorktown, 40 minutes north of her birthplace,” according to a lohud.com report at the time.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's sophomore year yearbook photo.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s senior yearbook photo.
Obtained by the NY Post
But some Bronx residents made it clear AOC wasn’t a true Bronx girl.
“It should be a crime to claim you from the Bronx when you’re not,” said lifelong Bronx resident Sandra S., 29, last week.
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Brittney M., 26, said she feels sorry Ocasio-Cortez isn’t a true Bronx girl.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her phone at a House Oversight Committee hearing.
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After she first won a Democratic Party primary for Congress in 2018, she caught heat for pushing her Bronx tale in her campaign profile.
WILL OLIVER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“Honestly, I think people only realized because she brought it up so many times,” she said. “Maybe she really believed she was from the Bronx the more she spoke about it.”
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