Ocasio-Cortez Is Engaged to Onetime Debate Foe

Riley Roberts and lawmaker haven't planned wedding yet
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted May 19, 2022 7:20 PM CDT
Ocasio-Cortez Is Engaged to Onetime Debate Foe
Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY., left, is seen leaving orientation session for new members of congress, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018, in Washington. Walking alongside Ocasio-Cortez is Riley Roberts, right.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Reporters often ask officeholders to confirm or deny preliminary information, but this request wasn't about politics. Asked Thursday if she's engaged, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn't hedge. "Yep! It's true," she told Insider. Ocasio-Cortez also tweeted the confirmation, after a Hill photo showed an addition to her ring finger. She said she and longtime partner Riley Roberts, a technology consultant, became engaged last month while in her family's hometown in Puerto Rico. Ocasio-Cortez said there are no wedding details to release yet: "We're taking some space to savor this time before diving into planning."

A biography of the New York Democrat said she met Roberts during debate sessions when they were students at Boston University, per People. "He enjoyed intellectual combat," Eric Baker, a friend of Ocasio-Cortez, is quoted as saying in Take Up Space: The Unprecedented AOC. "I think she enjoyed his pushback." Ocasio-Cortez also told followers that she's fine after being out "for the last week or two" because of a health issue that wasn't COVID-19. "I'm back at it today, but was MIA for a bit to recover," she said. "Just wanted to provide you all some assurance that the silence wasn't political or anything." (More Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stories.)

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