The 14th US Congressional District of New York and Its Representative

The 14^th US Congressional District of New York

In New York State’s 14^th Congressional district, Whites form the majority, followed by other races and Asians. The minorities in the district are the Blacks, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Mixed races, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. Economically, the average annual income that every household generates is about US$ 80,000. Most dwellers of New York’s 14^th district are renters because the number of rented houses is twice as more than the owned homes (United States Census, n.d.). Literacy level in the region is relatively high with 79.3% of people having high school and post-high school diplomas while 28.2% have college degrees and other higher educational certificates (United States Census, n.d.). However, the unemployment rate in the 14^th Congressional district of New York City stands at 4.8% (United States Census, n.d.). From the demographics, and socio-economic facts, 14^th Congressional district of New York is an ethnically diverse and one of the fast-growing within the New York state.

Educational services, health care and social assistance facilities are the major employers of most workers in New York’s 14^th Congressional district. This is a fact that is evidenced by the mentioned sector having over 80,000 of workers (United States Census, n.d.). Another key employer in the state is the hospitality industry which encompasses performance arts, entertainment, recreational, accommodation and food services. In fact, the industry comes second with its number of people it has employed standing at about 50,000 employees (United States Census, n.d.). By way of real estate development, new business establishments in the sector are also coming to existence. As evidenced by the data from United States Census Bureau, about 800 establishments were recorded out of estimated total establishments of 12000 for all sectors (United States Census, n.d.). Also, there are redevelopments going on at a speedy rate within the district. For instance, the sector of construction became the third in ranking from the numbers of sectors which had most paid employees. Essentially, growth of 14^th Congressional district of New York is heavily dependent on education, health, and construction industries.

People of 14^th Congressional district of New York state are concerned with issues such as rising rates of unemployment and crime, and lack of freedom for immigrant workers. The challenges are evident from the bills that the representative has sponsored in the congress. For example, there is the bill of immigrant worker freedom act that sought to provide permanent residency to immigrants who worked in rescuing, recovering, demolition, and hubris collection after the September 11^th 2001, terrorist attacks (Congress.Gov, n.d.). Another bill has been aimed at extending the duration of unemployment provisions to individuals who were affected by the COVID-19, through job losses (Congress.Gov, n.d.). Apart from the challenges that the district is grappling with, the region is predominantly liberal. They can be associated with liberalism because of their voting pattern which has been majorly inclined towards Democrats. Nonpolitical organizations that are active in the district are Emerald Isle Immigration Center (EIIC) and Diligently Serving Immigrants (DSI) among others (NYC Care, n.d.). Clearly, immigrants’ freedom and challenges are the biggest problem and that is why many immigrants’ organizations are active in the district.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Important Votes and Campaign Funding Contributors

There are two votes taken by the representative of 14^th Congressional district of New York state that are crucial in legislation to the constituents. The first vote was on the bill that sought to illegalize exportation of Ancient American items and resources that were not procedurally acquired, and providing for return of such items (Congress.Gov, n.d.). The second vote was on the law that approved extension of the financial year appropriations for federal agencies and institutions and extend expiry of expiring authorities (Congress.Gov, n.d.). On the two bills, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez voted in support of them (Ocasio Cortez, n.d.). The votes reflect the wishes of the constituents because the constituents would like to have reduced crime rates and constant reception of government services without shutdown.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez election campaign has been funded by donations from some organizations through their members. The monies did not come from individual organizations but from contributions of their respective political action committees or members. Top contributors of 2022 election campaign for Representative Alexandria are Alphabet Incorporated, Universities of Maryland and California, Amazon, Arnall-X-0ak LLC, City of New York, Accel Partners, Mount Laurel Catering & Events, and Helpern Architects (Open Secrets, n.d.). The last organization among the top ten contributors to the representative’s re-election is Microsoft Corporation. By economic sector, the contributions are as follows, other economic sector has contributed $438,193, communication and electronics sector, $123,512, health, $89,340, finance, insurance and real estate, $72,468, miscellaneous businesses, $67,839, lawyers and lobbyists, $22,528 (Open Secrets, n.d.). Other four sectors that are in the best ten sectors by the amount of their contributions are construction with $19,282, transportation, $17,679, agribusiness, $12,373, and labor sector with $10,622 (Open Secrets, n.d.). Percentage of the total campaign funding that comes from small individual contributions is 76.54% (Open Secrets, n.d.). Contributions towards campaign funding of the next year’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez election is all therefore dependent on all people who believe in her ideologies.

Representative’s Convictions and My Personal Viewpoint

My representative holds a strong opinion about respect for women and abhors any form of abuse against them. In 2020, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to the floor of the House to denounce the abuse faced by women in the Congress and entire American nation (Broadwater & Edmondson, 2020). Her remarks followed an incident in which she was accosted by the Republican representative Ted Yoho on the steps of Capitol and verbally assaulted. According to the representative, Yoho in company of another representative put his finger on Alexandria’s face and called her names such as “crazy”, “disgusting”, and “dangerous” (Broadwater & Edmondson, 2020). She termed Yoho’s insults as not only hurting but piercing. In her submission to the House she pointed out that Yoho’s utterances were manifestation of the existent toxic culture of dehumanizing women in US (Broadwater & Edmondson, 2020. As evidenced from her submission in the Congress, she stands for justice, equality, and respect to people’s rights.

Representative, Alexandria, is doing a good job of representing my district in the Congress. She has championed for the issues affecting the poor people in 14^th Congressional district of New York. This can be seen from the number of bills she has sponsored and co-sponsored with other representatives. For instance, having sponsored an amendment that sought to allow American researchers to examine drugs such as psilocybin to treat sicknesses (Congress.Gov, n.d.) was a step that showed her commitment to alleviate human suffering through policy intervention. To add on, she co-sponsored an amendment to allow establishment of a tax credit to boost the take-home of American workers and enhance their financial strength (Congress.Gov, n.d.). Nevertheless, I do not like her reactionary attitude to issues but again I think her background explains her that hab

References

Broadwater, L., & Edmondson, C. (2020). A.O.C unleashes a fervid condemnation of chauvinism in Congress. New York Times. Web.

Congress.Gov. (n.d). Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Web.

NYC Care. (n.d.). Community based organizations. Web.

Ocasio Cortez (n.d). Votes. Web.

Open Secrets. (n.d). New York District 14 2022 race. Web.

United States Census Bureau. (2019). Congressional District 14 (117th Congress), New York. Web.