Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Mom Wants Her to Marry Her Partner, Riley Roberts

From Oprah Magazine

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently won her second term in Congress representing New York's 14th district.

• In addition to her policy and views, many fans are interested to know more about Ocasio-Cortez, including her relationship with longtime partner Riley Roberts, who was featured in the documentary Knock Down the House.

• Here's what you need to know about Roberts, who insiders call a "big support system" for Ocasio-Cortez.

Only two years ago, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was a political hopeful running to represent New York's 14th Congressional district. Now, after winning her second term in the House of Representatives, the 31-year-old is a household name and one of the leading voices of the Democratic party, conveying messages in impassioned, impromptu Instagram Live sessions and on the floors of the Congress.

Ocasio-Cortez's boyfriend, Riley Roberts, has been with her through it all. Their relationship is depicted in the Netflix documentary Knock Down the House, which follows four women running for Congress in 2018 (including Cori Bush, who became Missouri's first Black congresswoman in 2020).

Scene after scene, Roberts is seen supporting AOC, then working as a bartender. He hypes her up as she prepares for a primary debate against Joe Crowley, the then-fourth ranking House Democrat, and gives her feedback as she builds flyers. "I can do this," Ocasio-Cortez says to herself at one point. "I know you can," Roberts responds, without a doubt.

After months of observing their dynamic, Knock Down the House director Rachel Lears believes Roberts was an essential presence for Ocasio-Cortez during the high-stress campaign. "He was a big support system for her. He was emotionally supportive to her and a good partner, but he's also a social media-marketing expert by profession, so he contributed strategic advice and dialogue. I heard a lot of rants in that apartment about politics—they would talk with each other about ideas. So in everything from the emotional to the strategic to the practical he's been a really important partner to her," Lears told Business Insider.

This is what you need to know about Roberts—and why you won't see him much in the public eye.

Ocasio-Cortez met Roberts in college in "true nerdy fashion."

According to a 2018 Vogue profile, Ocasio-Cortez and Roberts met while studying at Boston University, in what AOC calls a "true nerdy fashion." They both attended a weekly Friday afternoon conversation hosted by the dean at BU, called Coffee and Conversation.

“I think people see how glamorous she is, but these were not two glamorous people,” the couple’s friend Raul Fernandez recalled in a recent 2020 Vanity Fair profile. “These were two awkward, supersmart, like-to-talk-about-issues kind of people that met through this super-wonky, nerdy thing.”

In another story for Business Insider, a mutual college friend who chose to remain anonymous described Roberts as a "philosopher" type, adding that "they're really a team."

AOC's mom wants them to get married.

Ocasio-Cortez's mom, Blanca Ocasio-Cortez, appears to be Roberts's biggest fan. She gave an interview to The Daily Mail in which she raved about her daughter's partner—and, in a real mom move, tried to nudge the couple to the altar.

"I love him. He is the most loving, supporting person I've seen. He helped her tremendously during the election," Blanca told the Daily Mail in 2019. "They've been together for four years now after they reconnected from a college breakup. I know they love children, and they do very well with children from the family. So, I hope they get married soon."

The couple hasn't announced any plans to get married, though—sorry, Mom.

Roberts is an Arizona native.

Roberts attended Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, AZ before moving to Boston for college, and meeting AOC. The couple broke up after graduation, and Roberts went back to Arizona. After rekindling their relationship, Roberts moved in with Ocasio-Cortez in the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx, where she's from, per Vogue.

Ocasio-Cortez is reportedly close with Roberts's mother, Connie Roberts, who still lives in Arizona and works as a real estate agent. Connie bought Ocasio-Cortez a pearl necklace she wears frequently. “We wanted her to know she was special,” Roberts told AZ Central. “It was given to her with love.”

They're the proud parents of a French bulldog.

Welcome to the family, Deco the French Bulldog! Ocasio-Cortez and Roberts adopted a pup in January 2020. In a post to her Instagram story, AOC explained the significance behind Deco's name.

"A neighbor suggested we name him after an artist. We loved that idea, and we decided to name him after one of Riley and I's favorite design styles: Art Deco, which is also inspired by themes of optimism and social and technological progress, and is a fixture of iconic NYC architecture," she wrote, per The Washingtonian.

He works in web development.

Roberts earned dual degrees in sociology and finance at Boston University, and attended Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. He went on to work in web development, per the Vogue profile and his (now private) Linkedin page.

"I love helping other subscription startups implement the best practices I've developed to quickly and sustainably grow with Facebook Ads, website conversion-rate optimization, and user experience design," he wrote on his LinkedIn profile, per Business Insider.

Roberts got a "glow up" haircut after his appearance in the documentary.

After Knock Down the House's release in 2019, Roberts' scruffy appearance was scrutinized by viewers, with some folks comparing him to a "bin raccoon". Don't worry—just as many came to Robert's defense.

Ocasio-Cortez, then 29, gamely gave viewers an update about his haircut. “The internet roasted Riley into getting a haircut/glow up after #KnockDownTheHouse,” Ocasio-Cortez, 29, captioned the video on her Instagram story, per the New York Post.

He doesn't have an Instagram, but you can see him in pictures.

Understandably, AOC and Roberts are extremely private about their relationship—especially given the lengths people have taken to invade their personal lives. On January 9, 2019, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that a DailyMail reporter had been offering Roberts's relatives cash for “stories.” Also in 2019, a conservative podcast host falsely accused Ocasio-Cortez of employing Roberts as a paid staffer.

Ocasio-Cortez hasn't posted a picture of Roberts on her Instagram since 2015, per Insider. However, you can spot Roberts in the backdrop of some photos, like these pictures from Ocasio-Cortez's swearing-in ceremony in 2019. As we said, he's always around—and a constant source of support.

For more Riley content, follow AOC on Instagram. He's been known to appear on her Instagram live.

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