Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shares powerful photo of diverse new wave of congresswomen

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Rising Democratic star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has shared a photo that captures the diverse new wave of US Congress.

On Wednesday, the congresswoman-elect from New York posted an image taken by Vanity Fair as part of an article on the new power players in US politics.

The portrait features some of the history-making women in Ocasio-Cortez’s party including Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, Deb Haaland, Veronica Escobar and Sharice Davids.

“We’re in the building. Swearing in tomorrow,” Ocasio-Cortez captioned the photo, which has since received more than 377,000 likes.

All six women, along with dozens of others, represent the new face of the Democratic Party - young, nonwhite, LGBT+ and female – and all made history during the 2018 midterm elections.

Once the women are sworn into Congress, Ocasio-Cortez, at age 29, will became the youngest woman ever to be elected, while Pressley will become Massachusetts’ first black congresswoman.

Muslim congresswoman-elect Omar will be the first hijab-wearing member of the House, Haaland and Davids will be the first indigenous women in Congress, and Davids will also become the first openly LGBT+ person to represent Kansas.

Escobar and Sylvia Garcia will also become the first Hispanic women Texas has ever elected to federal office.

Since posting, the photo has been flooded with praise by Ocasio-Cortez’s followers on Instagram with people calling it everything from “legendary” and “awesome” to “fierce”.

Others shared their thoughts on how the image should be used to inspire women everywhere.

“I need this on billboards, on TVs. But (most importantly) in all the places that girls, young women, and women live, learn, and work so that they can see imagery that our society has denied them access to since time immemorial,” one person commented.

Another wrote: “These are the role models we need for young girls, and the representation women deserve.”

Read the full article that dubs these six women as “The New Wave” and “not here to play” here.