Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s childhood nickname is making the rounds again as critics question her claims of being a “Bronx girl.”
Back in Yorktown Heights, where she grew up in the suburbs of Westchester County, she was known simply as “Sandy.” Teachers remembered her fondly — a standout student in a town more than 30 miles north of the Bronx.
State Assemblyman Matt Slater (R-Yorktown) noted Sunday that most of his constituents remember the progressive pol as “Sandy Cortez” from Yorktown Heights.
“She’s embarrassing herself for doing everything possible to avoid saying she grew up in the suburbs instead of the Bronx,” Slater argued.
“She has said she visited extended family, she has said she commuted. Now she’s in between,” he continued. “It’s clearly desperate attempts to protect the lie that she is from the Bronx.”
AOC was born in the Bronx, but her family moved to Yorktown when she was 5.
Slater shared her old yearbook photo last week, reigniting the convo over AOC’s origins.
“I’m proud of how I grew up and talk about it all the time,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X Friday. “My mom cleaned houses and I helped. We cleaned tutors’ homes in exchange for SAT prep.”
“Growing up between the Bronx and Yorktown deeply shaped my views of inequality & it’s a big reason I believe the things I do today!”
More over at The New York Post:
AOC’s Westchester childhood nickname resurfaces as her ‘Bronx girl’ claims get shouted down https://t.co/tiOY36POpv pic.twitter.com/JpSmWb01KE
— New York Post (@nypost) July 1, 2025
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