It may be in the hall​ways of the U. S. Capi​tol, in the cafe​te​ria of a con​gres​sional of​fice build​ing, or on a Capi​tol Hill side​walk. Boe​bert, the con​gress​woman-elect from Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, cred​its one per​son more than oth​ers — AOC — for her un​likely as​cent from small-town mother, wife, and small-busi​ness owner to Wash​ing​ton politi​cian. 

AOC, New York Demo​cratic Rep. Alexan​dria Oca​sio- Cortez, al​tered her party’s tra​jec​tory af​ter de​feat​ing 10-term Demo​cratic Cau​cus Chair​man Joe Crow​ley in the 2018 pri​mary. She also changed Boe​bert’s fu​ture. Few had heard of AOC, who lacked mean​ing​ful po​lit​i​cal ex​pe​ri​ence. Even fewer knew of Boe​bert.

A bar​tender and wait​ress be​fore her elec​tion, then 29-year-old AOC be​came the youngest woman to ever serve in Congress. She be​came the un​of​fi​cial sym​bol of a Demo​cratic Party march​ing to the left. A mem​ber of the Demo​cratic So​cial​ists of Amer​ica, AOC grabbed head​lines by de​mand​ing an end to the U.S. Im​mi​gra​tion and Cus​toms En​force​ment agency. She pro​posed the rev​o​lu​tion​ary Green New Deal, which threat​ens con​ven​tional en​ergy and the life​styles and economies that de​pend on it.

Called by me​dia pun​dits the “un​of​fi​cial Speaker of the House,” AOC es​tab​lished a pow​er​ful politi​cal clique known as “The Squad” and “AOC-plusthree.” It con​sists of Oca​sio- Cortez and Democratic Reps. Il​han Omar, Min​nesota; Rashida Tlaib, Michi​gan; and Ayanna Press​ley, of Mas​sachusetts. They have dis​rupted and re​shaped the Demo​cratic Party to the point of marginalizing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, fel​low Cal​i​for​nia Demo​cratic Rep. Max​ine Wa​ters, and other es​tab​lish​ment Democrats.

Un​til the rise of AOC, Boe​bert had never con​sid​ered run​ning for any​thing — not a seat on her rural school board or the board of county com​mis​sion​ers. Boe​bert, 33, was con​tent on her small farm​stead near Silt, Colorado, work​ing as a wife, mom, and co-owner of Shoot​ers Grill in nearby Ri​fle with her hus​band, Jayson. She had never stepped foot in Wash​ing​ton.

“I am the re​sponse to AOC,” Boe​bert said while rush​ing across Capi​tol Hill in high heels to one of a se​ries of ori​en​ta​tion ses​sions for in​com​ing mem​bers of Congress.

Like AOC, elec​tion to Congress would take LOB from serv​ing food and drinks to craft​ing the laws of the world’s most pow​er​ful coun​try.

Just like AOC, LOB pulled off a ma​jor po​lit​i​cal up​set. To make the Novem​ber bal​lot, she won a pri​mary against the es​tab​lished five-term Repub​li​can Rep. Scott Tip​ton — an out​come few politi​cos an​- tic​i​pated. A Colorado con​gres​sional in​cum​bent had not lost a pri​mary for the past 50 years. 

The chances of con​gres​sional ser​vice, for AOC or LOB, were in​fin​i​tes​i​mal. Only 0.0001% of the Amer​i​can pub​lic serves in the House. More peo​ple win big money on the lottery, by far. House mem​bers typ​i​cally make names for them​selves as lo​cal, re​gional, or state elected of​fi​cials be​fore em​bark​ing on con​gres​sional cam​paigns.

De​spite the odds, Boe​bert knew she had to run and win. She says God opened a door. She walked through it. If God did not want this, she opines, chance would have left her in the dust that blows through of the out​skirts of Silt.

“Some​thing is brew​ing in the hearts of Amer​i​can women,” Boe​bert said. “We feel the need to stand for free​dom, to stand up and do our part to serve this coun​try. We’ve been watch​ing these other women — The Squad, Max​ine Wa​ters, Nancy Pelosi. Moms are say​ing ‘no, those women don’t rep​re​sent me and they don’t rep​re​sent this coun​try and they aren’t look​ing out for our fam​i​lies.’ Women like me are say​ing I will step up and do my part to se​cure free​dom for gen​er​a​tions to come.” 

Vot​ers this month more than dou​bled the num​ber of Repub​li​can women serv​ing in the House, boost​- ing the num​ber of women in the next Congress to a record-set​ting 36. Boe​bert said the fresh​man class be​comes like fam​ily as mem​bers en​dure days-onend of ori​en​ta​tion.

“We have a fresh​man class that ac​tu​ally looks like Amer​ica,” Boe​bert said. 

Read the full article here.