Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images; William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images
For those looking to an alternative to SantaCon,Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezhas a perfect idea.
The U.S. Representative-elect for New York’s 14th congressional district — who at 29 is theyoungest woman ever elected to Congress— tweeted a new option to anyone uninterested in participating in the annual holiday pub crawl featuring attendees dressed in Christmas costumes.
Her response earned her a sea of praise from followers. “Immediate bipartisan support!” one wrote as another teased, “Okay i was skeptical but you really are the real deal.”
SantaConbegan as a performance art piece in San Francisco in 1994 and has evolved into what the Village Voice called “a reviled bar crawl” that’s just “a day-long spectacle of public inebriation somewhere between a low-rent Mardi Gras and a drunken fraternity party.”
The event has earned a reputation thanks to some of its attendees’ behavior, including reports of drunken brawls, public urination, vandalism, littering and more.
Saturday finds SantaCon hordes taking over the streets of over 60 cities across the world — including New York City, Los Angeles, London, Austin, San Francisco, Buffalo, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Orlando and more.
Other outings over the next three weekends are scheduled for Paris, Tokyo, Melbourne, Vancouver, Stockholm, Shanghai, Vietnam, Montreal, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Reno, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Virginia Beach and Las Vegas.
Participants of SantaCon in London on Dec. 8.Peter Dench/Getty Images
Participants at SantaCon N.Y.C. on Dec. 8.TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images
Participants at SantaCon N.Y.C on Dec. 8.Kena Betancur/Getty Images
Ocasio-Cortez previously worked on Sen.Bernie Sanders‘ 2016 presidential campaign and is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
She won her district with 78 percent of the vote in November, defeating her Republican opponent Anthony Pappas. The victory was expected after Ocasio-Cortez beat defeating 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in a monumental upset to get on the ballot in June.
During her victory party, the Latina progressive told her supporters that “we didn’t launch this campaign because I thought I was special or unique or better than anyone else. We launched this campaign because in the absence of anyone giving a clear voice on the moral issues of our time, then it is up to us to voice them.”
“I think about oftentimes that incredible day on June 26, when — despite no attention, despite no media fanfare … we were able to organize everyday people knocking on our neighbor’s door and despite being outspent $4 million,” she continued. “Despite the fact that I’m working class … despite all those things, we won.”
Rick Loomis/Getty Images
Since then, the politician hastold theNew York Timesthat while she saved money from working as a bartender at a taqueria in N.Y.C. and planned ahead with her partner, she was still admittedly concerned about finding housing in Washington, D.C.
During the transition, her $174,000 salary won’t kick in for three months,NBC Washingtonreported. According to a market trend report fromRent Cafe, the median rent for apartments in Washington, D.C. is $2,072 per month, with the average studio costing $1,642 and a one-bedroom averaging $1,996.
“I have three months without a salary before I’m a member of Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “So, how do I get an apartment? Those little things are very real.”
source: people.com
