Democratic U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has confirmed that she is engaged to marry her partner Riley Roberts.
The progressive congresswoman tweeted "It's true!" on Thursday and thanked followers "for the well wishes" in response to Insider reporter Eliza Relman sharing her article on the engagement, which featured a quote from Ocasio-Cortez confirming the news a short time earlier.
The engagement was first reported by Latino Rebels correspondent Pablo Manríquez earlier in the day. A photographer for The Hill also captured an image of Ocasio-Cortez wearing what appeared to be an engagement ring on Thursday morning.
Ocasio-Cortez elaborated on the engagement on Twitter later in the day, revealing that the couple became engaged during a trip to Puerto Rico about one month earlier.
"We got engaged last month in my family's hometown in Puerto Rico," she added, according to Insider, in a tweet that appears to have been since deleted. "No future details yet, we're taking some space to savor this time before diving into planning."
She also responded to a tweet from journalist and comedian Francesca Fiorentini, who joked that her engagement ring must be "made of tinfoil otherwise the right's gonna flip."
"Close! It's zero emission and recycled gold," Ocasio-Cortez replied, alongside a face with tears of joy emoji.
Following a congratulatory tweet from Representative Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, Ocasio-Cortez wrote that Raskin's "beautiful marriage" to former Obama administration official Sarah Bloom was "an inspiration" to her and Roberts.
Ocasio-Cortez and Roberts, a 33-year-old web developer, first met as students at Boston University and have been in a relationship for several years. According to Insider, the couple met on a Friday afternoon in 2011 during a university town hall event called "Coffee and Conversation," where Ocasio-Cortez reportedly "often drove discussions."
The couple broke off their initial relationship after they both graduated, with Roberts moving back to his home state of Arizona. They reconnected and Roberts eventually moved to New York, with their romance having been rekindled by the time Ocasio-Cortez volunteered to work on Senator Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.
A since deleted LinkedIn page noted that Roberts previously worked as the head of marketing at HomeBinder.com, a company providing services to help maintain the value of homes, according to Marie Claire. He has also reportedly worked as a consultant for tech startups.
Despite his high-profile fiancée, Roberts has not spoken with the press about the relationship and has largely remained out of the public eye, although the couple frequently appear together in public.
When former Trump campaign adviser Steve Cortes commented on a photo of the couple dining outside maskless in Florida last December by taking aim at Roberts for wearing "hideous sandals" that exposed "his gross pale male feet in public," Ocasio-Cortez accused Republicans of being "creepy weirdos" who were "projecting their sexual frustrations onto my boyfriend's feet."
Newsweek reached out to the office of Ocasio-Cortez for comment.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is putting the unconfirmed reports about her love life to rest. While speaking to Insider, the New York politician confirmed that she and her longtime partner, Riley Roberts, are engaged.
“Yep! It’s true,” Ocasio-Cortez told the outlet. She later shared on Twitter, “It’s true! Thank you all for the well wishes ☺️.”
The now-engaged couple met in 2011 while they both attended Boston University, and the now-congresswoman led student townhalls. Roberts, who works in marketing, has rarely stepped out publicly with AOC but made an appearance in her 2018 Knock Down the House documentary.
It’s true! Thank you all for the well wishes ☺️ //t.co/i5cm9awN3S
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 19, 2022
Josh Gondelman wrote about the couple’s relationship in an essay in Take Up Space: The Unprecedented AOC, saying Roberts “doesn’t fit the stereotype of a politician’s partner.”
“He doesn’t seem focus-grouped or media-trained for state dinners and press conferences. We know he’s supportive and encouraging in private,” Gondelman wrote. “And his expertise, as far as his public image goes, is his elusiveness and restraint.”
In Take Up Space, Eric Baker, a friend of Ocasio-Cortez, spoke about the duo’s relationship and how he was a “shitstarter.”
“Riley was just like, ‘This is dumb. Why are we all going around in a circle saying the same thing?’ He enjoyed intellectual combat,” Baker said in the book. “And I think she enjoyed his pushback.”
The news of their engagement comes as the congresswoman shared that she had a “health issue” that sidelined her over the last week. “I’m back at it today, but was MIA for a bit to recover. Just wanted to provide you all some assurance that the silence wasn’t political or anything as I know that worried some,” she wrote.
Did ya see?! Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York just confirmed she is engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Riley Roberts! “Yep! It’s true,” the congresswoman said to Insider. Cue confetti and fireworks!
Insider also reports that AOC and Riley were “taking some space to savor” this sweet moment in their relationship before wedding planning got going. “No future details yet,” she said. “We’re taking some space to savor this time before diving into planning.”
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AOC and Riley go waaay back to their college days at Boston University, where they first met in 2011. After college, they took some time apart but started dating again later in their adulthood and have been together for at least four years. It was just last month that the pair got engaged to be married with a proposal that took place in AOC’s family’s hometown in Puerto Rico. Awww.
While they’re pretty low-key—their friends in college didn’t even know they were dating until after graduation!—you may have caught a glimpse of him during last year’s Met Gala when he attended the event with AOC. Look how cute they are together:
James DevaneyGetty Images
Naturally, all of this only means we had to pull out our finest Sherlock Holmes attire and deep-dive into every single thing there is to know about AOC’s new fiancé, Riley. Let us begin! 🔎🔎🔎
Riley works in marketing
Right now, Riley works for a brand called HomeBinder, which is “an online home management platform for modern homeowners,” per his LinkedIn. He also owns and runs a user-experience consulting company that helps start-ups grow their businesses.
He met AOC in college
More than 10 years ago, Riley and AOC first laid eyes on each other at a weekly student town hall called Coffee and Conversations, according to Insider. Because AOC is nothing if not On Brand™️, she, of course, was often the one driving these discussions, but Riley was known for stirring the pot to keep rigorous and stimulating dialogue going.
“Riley was, for lack of a better term, the shit starter,” said AOC’s friend Eric Baker in the biography Take Up Space: The Unprecedented AOC, which was written by New York Magazine editors. “Riley’s just as smart as anyone you’ve ever met, probably smarter, but he would actively say things just to stir the pot,” particularly when the conversation “began to have the collegiate, navel-gazing feel of collective concord.”
Even though “every guy went through their phase where they had a crush on [AOC],” according to Eric, AOC and Riley dated all throughout their undergrad years and broke up once they graduated. Years later, fate aligned and Riley moved to AOC’s native New York and they rekindled the romance. A love story if I ever did hear one!
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Riley is a desert boy at heart. He even moved back to Arizona after college once he and AOC broke up, but that dry heat couldn’t keep him very long because love in the big city was calling his name. Riley “moved to New York to be with [AOC]” and “commutes between the Bronx and the couple’s D.C. apartment, where he’s continued to work from home,” according to 2019 reports from Insider.
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He’s super supportive of AOC
Way back in 2018 when AOC was running for Congress, a Netflix documentary called Knock Down the House was made about her and four other progressive women running their primary campaigns. The movie premiered on the streamer in 2019.
Netflix
Riley was featured in the film roughly 12 times, and he’s always seen in a supporting role—never in the spotlight. Rachel Lears, who made the movie, told Insider in 2019 that in “everything from the emotional to the strategic to the practical, [Riley] has been a really important partner to [AOC].”
That’s all we have on Riley right now! But stay tuned because there are likely more deets to come as their wedding planning gets rolling.