Alexandra Rojas

Last updated
Alexandra Rojas
Born (1995-02-25) February 25, 1995 (age 29)
Education Orange Coast College
Political party Democratic

Alexandra Rojas (born February 25, 1995) is an American activist and political commentator who is the executive director of Justice Democrats. She has provided political commentary on CNN. [1] [2]

Contents

Education

Between 2009 and 2013, Alexandra Rojas attended Glastonbury High School in Glastonbury, Connecticut. She went to Orange Coast College in Orange County, California, from 2014 to 2016 to study political science and economics. While at college, she was actively involved in campus politics and became the Students Senate President in 2015. [3] In 2016, she received a degree in political science and economics.[ citation needed ]

Political activism

After joining Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign as an intern, she served as digital field manager from January 2016 to June 2016 and helped run the volunteer-led "barnstorm" program. [4] [5] [6]

After the campaign ended, she became one of the founders of Brand New Congress, working on candidate recruitment. [6] [7] Justice Democrats split from Brand New Congress to focus on running Democratic candidates and launching progressive primary challenges against long-time Democratic incumbents. Rojas became the group's executive director in May 2018, taking over from Saikat Chakrabarti who went on to become chief of staff for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Congress. [1]

Rojas appeared in Rachel Lears' 2022 documentary film, To the End , which focuses on the effects of climate change. The film debuted at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival [8] [9] and was presented at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2022. [10]

Accolades

In 2019, Rojas was placed on Time 's Top 100 Next List for her work with Justice Democrats. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernie Sanders</span> American politician and activist (born 1941)

Bernard Sanders is an American politician and activist who is the senior United States senator from Vermont. Sanders is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history but has a close relationship with the Democratic Party, having caucused with House and Senate Democrats for most of his congressional career and sought the party's presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, coming second in both campaigns. He is often seen as a leader of the U.S. progressive movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ondi Timoner</span> American film director

Ondi Doane Timoner is an American filmmaker and the founder and chief executive officer of Interloper Films, a production company located in Pasadena, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Turner</span> American politician from Ohio (born 1967)

Nina Hudson Turner is an American politician, lobbyist, and television personality. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a Cleveland City Council member from 2006 to 2008 and a member of the Ohio Senate from 2008 until 2014. Turner was the Democratic nominee for Ohio Secretary of State in 2014, but lost in the general election against incumbent Jon Husted, receiving 35.5 percent of the vote. A self-described democratic socialist, her politics have been variously described as progressive, left-wing, or far-left.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pramila Jayapal</span> American politician (born 1965)

Pramila Jayapal is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from Washington's 7th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents most of Seattle, as well as some suburban areas of King County. Jayapal represented the 37th legislative district in the Washington State Senate from 2015 to 2017. She is the first Indian-American woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district's first female member of Congress, she is also the first Asian American to represent Washington at the federal level.

<i>Democrats</i> (film) 2014 film

Democrats is a 2014 Danish documentary film directed by Camilla Nielsson about politics in Zimbabwe following the contentious 2008 election and the subsequent coalition effort to rewrite the country's constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Our Revolution</span> American progressive 501(c)(4) political organization

Our Revolution is an American progressive political action organization spun out of Senator Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign to continue its work. The organization's mission is to educate voters about issues, get people involved in the political process, and work to organize and elect progressive candidates. Our Revolution is also the title of a book by Sanders released in November 2016.

<i>Whose Streets?</i> 2017 American film

Whose Streets? is a 2017 American documentary film about the killing of Michael Brown and the Ferguson uprising. Directed by Sabaah Folayan and co-directed by Damon Davis, Whose Streets? premiered in competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, then was released theatrically in August, 2017, for the anniversary of Brown's death. It was a nominee for Critics' Choice and Gotham Independent Film awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justice Democrats</span> American progressive political action committee

Justice Democrats (JD) is an American progressive political action committee and caucus founded on January 23, 2017, by two leaders of Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign, Saikat Chakrabarti and Zack Exley, as well as political commentators Kyle Kulinski and Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks. The organization formed as a result of the 2016 United States presidential election and aspires "to elect a new type of Democratic majority in Congress" that will "create a thriving economy and democracy that works for the people, not big money interests". The group advocates for campaign finance reform and endorses only candidates who pledge to refuse donations from corporate PACs and lobbyists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyle Kulinski</span> American political commentator (b. 1988)

Kyle Edward Kulinski is an American political commentator and media host. Kulinski is the host and producer of The Kyle Kulinski Show on his YouTube channel Secular Talk and is a co-host with his wife Krystal Ball on the progressive podcast Krystal Kyle & Friends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paula Jean Swearengin</span> American activist and politician

Paula Jean Swearengin is an American activist and politician who was the Democratic nominee in the 2020 U.S. Senate election in West Virginia, and a candidate in the Democratic primary for the state's other Senate seat in 2018. Her 2018 campaign was one of four campaigns featured in the 2019 documentary Knock Down the House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez</span> American politician (born 1989)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known by her initials AOC, is an American left-wing politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of the Democratic Party.

<i>Knock Down the House</i> 2019 documentary film by Rachel Lears

Knock Down the House is a 2019 American documentary film directed by Rachel Lears. It revolves around the 2018 congressional primary campaigns of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush and Paula Jean Swearengin, four progressive Democrats endorsed by Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress who ran in that year's midterm elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saikat Chakrabarti</span> American political activist

Saikat Chakrabarti is a political advisor, left-wing activist, and software engineer. He was formerly chief of staff to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S. representative from New York's 14th congressional district representing portions of The Bronx and Queens in New York City.

Rachel Lears is an American independent documentary filmmaker. She is the director of Knock Down the House (2019), a documentary film about four women running for Congress in the 2018 midterms, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January 2019 and was sold to Netflix for $10 million, releasing on May 1, 2019. Her other documentaries include The Hand That Feeds (2014), about undocumented immigrant workers in a labor dispute with owners at a Manhattan bakery café, and To the End (2022), about climate change.

The Squad is an informal left-wing group of nine Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives. It was initially composed of four women elected in the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. They have since been joined by Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri following the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections, and Greg Casar of Texas, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, and Delia Ramirez of Illinois following the 2022 elections. The Squad is well known for being among the most progressive and left-wing members of the United States Congress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Varshini Prakash</span> American climate activist and founding executive director of the Sunrise Movement

Varshini Prakash is an American climate activist and the founding executive director of the Sunrise Movement, a 501(c)(4) organization which she co-founded in 2017. She was named on the 2019 Time 100 Next list, and was a co-recipient of the Sierra Club John Muir Award in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhiana Gunn-Wright</span> American political scientist

Rhiana Gunn-Wright is the Climate Policy Director at the Roosevelt Institute. She has worked with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as an author of the Green New Deal. Gunn-Wright was educated at Yale, before becoming a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 New York's 14th congressional district election</span>

The 2018 New York's 14th congressional district election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. The primaries for New York's federal elections were held earlier in the year on June 26. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated incumbent congressman Joe Crowley in the primary, and went on to defeat Republican opponent Anthony Pappas in the general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Vilela</span> American politician

Amy Lynnette Vilela is an American politician from the state of Nevada. She worked as an accountant before becoming an advocate for single-payer healthcare, also known as Medicare for All, after her daughter was turned away from a hospital and died of a heart attack because the hospital thought she lacked health insurance.

<i>To the End</i> (2022 film) 2022 American film

To the End is a 2022 American documentary film directed by Rachel Lears. The film focuses on climate change and features U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Varshini Prakash, the co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, Alexandra Rojas, executive director of the Justice Democrats, and Rhiana Gunn-Wright, the climate policy director for the Roosevelt Institute. The film debuted at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and was presented at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 Felsenthal, Julia (November 25, 2019). "For Justice Democrats' Alexandra Rojas, AOC Was Just the Beginning". Vogue. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  2. Feller, Madison (March 1, 2019). "Meet the 24-Year-Old Who Helped Elect Your Favorite Congresswomen". Elle. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  3. Rusiniak, Nathan. "New pres. takes helm". Coast Report Online. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  4. Stuart, Tessa (November 21, 2018). "Can Justice Democrats Pull Off a Progressive Coup in Congress?". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  5. Bond, Becky; Exley, Zack (2016). Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing. p. 151. ISBN   978-1-60358-727-3. OCLC   960296827.
  6. 1 2 Grim, Ryan (May 28, 2019). "How Bernie Sanders Accidentally Built a Groundbreaking Organizing Movement". The Intercept. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  7. Cook, Christopher D. (October 19, 2016). "What's Next for Bernie's Revolution?". Progressive.org. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  8. Dennis Harvey (January 23, 2022). "'To the End' Review: A Doc on Pushing For Climate Policy Change". Variety. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  9. Leslie Felperin (January 23, 2022). "'To the End' Review: Rachel Lears' New AOC Doc at Sundance – The Hollywood Reporter". Hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  10. Jill Goldsmith (April 19, 2022). "Tribeca Festival 2022 Lineup With Jon Hamm, Ray Romano, Bryan Cranston – Deadline". Deadline.com. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  11. "Time 100 Next 2019". Time . 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2021.