Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Engaged To Longtime Partner

Topline

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), is engaged to her longtime partner Riley Roberts, Insider first reported Thursday.

Key Facts

The congresswoman confirmed the report on Twitter, writing “thanks for the well wishes.”

The couple got engaged last month in Puerto Rico, she told Insider, and are “taking some space to savor this time before diving into planning.”

Key Background

Ocasio-Cortez, 32, and Roberts met when they were undergraduate students at Boston University. The couple briefly broke up and dated long-distance, before Roberts moved from Arizona to the Bronx to be with the congresswoman. Roberts, who works in marketing, was described in a 2018 Vogue profile on his now-fiancée as an “easygoing redhead.” Roberts was featured in a 2019 Netflix documentary about Oscasio-Cortez and other candidates, Knock Down The House. In 2020 the two got a french bulldog puppy together named Deco. In a newly-released book about the progressive, Take Up Space, the editors of New York Magazine wrote that Roberts is one of the two most important people in Ocasio-Cortez’s life, aside from her late father, according to People. Roberts is not the typical partner of a politician, the book reads, “He doesn’t seem focus-grouped or media-trained for state dinners and press conferences. We know he’s supportive and encouraging in private.” Her friend Eric Baker told the authors, “Riley’s just as smart as anyone you’ve ever met, probably smarter” and during college debate sessions with her “he would actively say things just to stir the pot… I think she enjoyed his pushback.”

Further Reading

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez confirms she’s engaged to longtime partner Riley Roberts (Insider)